Purls at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital have demonstrated it is the season of good will by knitting and crocheting 10 blankets for people who will be sleeping on the street this Christmas.
Ten keen crafters from the Hospital have been busy creating the lovely warm blankets for The Purfleet Trust.
Needles have been furiously turning out more than 1,000 knitted squares over the last few months to help ensure that homeless people in the King’s Lynn area will be able to keep warm during the cold winter nights.
Contributors were Nicola Ward, Sarah Byatt, Karen Asher, Melanie Buxton, Sharon Yates, Jackie Cartledge, Melanie Jackson, Sue Carter, Carol Williams and Sarah Berry.
The woolly blankets will form part of the latest ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’ donation by staff on Tilney Ward. During December, the Tilney team has been collecting boxes of dried and canned food to help members of the community over Christmas.
Medical secretary Nicola Ward came up with the idea to create the blankets after becoming a member of the Facebook group Blankets for the Homeless, which is run by Jayne Roper in Kent.
She said: “I am so grateful to those who have made squares or enlisted their family or friends to help out. The response has been amazing. I am also very grateful to those who have joined the squares together and for the hours of work which have gone into these beautiful blankets.
“We hope that the blankets will help the homeless feel a little warmer this winter, inside and out, knowing that their blanket was made especially for them.
“We are also very grateful to Cherry Drew for letting us donate these blankets via the Tilney Reverse Advent Calendar. What a great idea!”
One of the people behind the Tilney Reverse Advent Calendar is Ward Clerk Cherry Drew.
She said: “Every year, the ward runs a charity collection but this year we wanted to do something special for a local organisation. The Purfleet Trust staff and their volunteers do an immense amount of work to support vulnerable people in West Norfolk and we wanted to support that.
“The response from staff to the campaign has been fantastic. We have had donations of food from across the Hospital.
“I would also like to thank Peter Coates for delivering the boxes.”
—ENDS—
Pictured from left are: Karen Asher, Cherry Drew, Sarah Berry, Sharon Yates, Sarah Byatt, Nicola Ward and Jackie Cartledge (Picture: Victoria Fear)
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