The Knitters
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HELPING HANDS KNITTERS NEWS
01792 423359 or Alyson Thomas 01792528754 THE HELPING HANDS KNITTERS We are a community group who meet every Thursday between 12 and 3pm at the Memorial Hall. You can stay for the whole session or just drop in or out as you feel. Do you fancy knitting a sea horse, star fish or lifeboat man. The more weird and wonderful the better Come along and find out what we are doing and why. We have loads of interesting sessions, trips and activities planned for 2009 including Wonderwool Wales in Builth Wells, Creative Stitching and Hobbycraft in November. We have planned sessions in felting and a horse racing fundraiser as well as our knitting in public sessions. We have just sent 90bags of clothing and bedding with a cheque for £250 to ' Support for Romania.' We have fun with a serious purpose. Helping disadvantaged people with our skills and network of friends and helpers, The group came together as a result of the Knitathon held for Great Ormond Street Hospital when we knitted items for the Giant Gingerbread House Exhibition. You are very welcome to join a mixed ability group. Absolute beginners can come along and have free lessons. There is always plenty of natter, tea and biscuits and if you are lucky Ruby will have baked cakes. All this for just £1 . Please read this and if you can help in any way then get in touch. Cllr.Alyson Thomas is our secretary-01792 528754
Thank you everyone who attended our Butterfly Tea for Ty Hafan. We donated £400 to Ty Hafan and Longford
Bowls club donated £100 also. Another great success for the group. We are currently working together with Inner Wheel to support 'Feed the Children' and other charities as well as raising funds for the group and other charities such as BLISS- Premature Babies. Breast Cancer Research. Local Nursing Homes. Falconer Orphanage, Zambia. Currently, we are working to assist Neath Women's Aid and Rough Sleepers in Swansea. Wherever you look the Hands are Helping. This is what we worked on in 2007. With the generous help of 3M's we sent 3 pallets of baby goods to South Africa with an approximate value of over £5,000 message to members from Alyson- Fan-flipping-tastic! You lot are unbelievable! What is the Baby Pack Project. The Baby Pack Project is a small charitable project aimed at providing under-privileged mothers of newborn babies on the lower south coast of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, with a pack of the most basic items needed for a new born baby. The Baby Pack Project came about in 2005 when local lady Gill Richardson, saw newborn babies leave Ntabeni clinic in Kwa Zulu Natal wrapped in newspaper because the mothers had nothing else to wrap them in. The Baby Pack Project has grown out of that small seed of compassion sown by Gill back in 2005. 
Each pack contained: a nappy (diaper) and pin a waterproof (rubber baby pants) a jumper (sweater or cardigan) a baby gro a bib a vest booties or socks a blanket soap a little knitted toy The Helping Hands Knitters are clacking away right through the summer. In their last meeting they received a letter from the Inner Wheel Overseas Development officer thanking them for their contributions. The Knitters knitted and collected and enormous amount of baby clothing, blankets and other supplies for Inner Wheel which have already been sent out as emergency aid to Liberia and Zambia.
The Knitters are currently working on a project for Oxfam, creating a giant patchwork blanket. Each patch on the blanket represents a woman whose life was lost during childbirth. We take so much for granted in the UK that is not so in the rest of the world. The blanket will be divided and sold to raise money for Oxfam for all the work they do.
Coming to an end now are the knitted hats that the group has sent in following the Save the Children appeal from Paul O'Grady. Babies in Tibet often die of hypothermia so people were invited to knit a hat for a baby. We have lost count of the number we have sent but it must be over 400!
HAVE YOU ANY WOOL?
Helping Hands always welcomes new members but as important are the donations we have from the public of wool, needles, buttons etc. which we cannot do without. We will use any amount no matter how small and you know it will do someone somewhere a lot of good.
Like to join us? A warm welcome awaits you whether beginner or expert. We meet weekly at the Memorial Hall, Longford on Thursdays between 12 and 3pm. Or contact Val on 01792 423359
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