At the end of October you may see 182 colourful decorations appear at key locations in the cluster of streets and estates that radiate from St Mary’s Church in Summerstown. Look closely and you will see that each of these ‘Stripes of Peace’ is a personalised tribute acknowledging that the location was once the home of a serviceman who died in World War One (WW1).

Geoff Simmons developed the Summerstown182 project alongside researcher Sheila Hill, the idea being to plot where the 182 individuals on the St Mary’s Church WW1 memorial lived. This quickly evolved into four years researching each of their stories all of which are documented on the Summerstown182 website.

In partnership with Big Up Films, Summerstown182 secured Heritage Lottery Funding in 2016 working with schools and promoting the project to the wider community through walks, talks and exhibitions. The financial support allowed Geoff to take a sabbatical to devote a year to the project. Summerstown182 has won two Wandsworth Council Civic Awards and in 2015 were one of Sadiq Khan’s Tooting Community Heroes.

Geoff said: "We wanted to do something memorable, colourful and creative to mark the end of the commemoration period, really taking it to the heart of the diverse community in this area, involving as many people as possible."

An initial idea was to hang giant strips of material between the two tower blocks on the Hazelhurst Estate, but it proved too complex. Local artist Judith Lawton developed ‘Stripes of Peace’ into a beautiful easy-to-make craft concept, allowing participants to decorate ‘doves’ with ribbons, scrap materials and a personalised identity tag. Very sadly Judith passed away at the end of the summer and this project is now very much also a tribute to her.

Having just held an outstanding workshop at the Broadwater Road Fun Day, over one hundred tributes have now been made but there are still 82 to do so all hands are needed at St Mary’s Church Summerstown 2-5pm on Saturday, October 20. Geoff explained "You don’t have to come for the whole day - pop in, make a dove and have a look round one of Wandsworth’s most beautiful churches."

Once they are all in place the ‘Stripes of Peace’ will be a very visible way of showing the extent of local contribution in the conflict, extending the Remembrance period at this significant centenary moment. Join the ‘Walk of Remembrance’ on Saturday, November 10, starting at 11am from St Mary’s to see many of the tributes and hear the stories of the men behind them.