Knatty Knitters Strathcarron Donation is Sew Good

Generous knitters have handed over a cheque for £1420 to Strathcarron thanks to their creative skills - as they begin to wind down their amazing fundraising after a decade of supporting the Hospice.

The ‘Knatty Knitters’ from Bridge of Allan Parish Church have been using their special talents to fundraise for the Hospice for 10 years, raising tens of thousands for the charity during that time period.

Lynda Stuart, May Johnstone, Janette Harper, Catherine Morton, Joanette Wright, June Munro, Rona Burns and Christina Paterson (Rona and Christina not pictured) have been making unique knitted items to sell within the local community including teddies, ducklings and Christmas puddings.

Lynda, who started knitting as a hobby 60 years ago, said: “The hospice means a lot to people. Everyone in the village has a connection to the Hospice. It was even one of the staff in the local Strathcarron Hospice shop that gave us the nickname the ‘Knatty Knitters’!

“My daughter Kaye Bechelli did a lot of fundraising for Strathcarron for 34 years as part of Bridge of Allan Friends of Strathcarron, so we thought this would be something we could do in our own small way to help. Each of us has our own special things we like to create – one of the ladies like to make teddies, another likes to make hedgehogs for example.

“We have raised over £7000 in the last 12 months alone for the Hospice through knitting, which is hard to believe sometimes, but we are all proud of the support we have been able to provide.”

The ladies are currently creating items for one final sale of work at Christmas time for the Hospice.

Lynda added: “We won’t be hanging up our knitting needles completely as we will continue to create some knitted items to donate to Forth Valley Royal Hospital. However, due to the drop in supermarket donations of chocolate for our novelty items - such as chocolate oranges to put inside our knitted Christmas puddings - they have become too costly for us to continue to be able to make and sell.

 Supermarkets have told us the price of cocoa has risen making it harder for them to be able to donate chocolate to the group.”

The group will continue to make items for the Larbert hospital, including cannula covers, twiddle muffs for dementia patients and items for the maternity department.

Lynda added: “We have made over 7000 hats and over 1000 jackets for the neo natal unit over the years and special items for memory boxes as keepsakes for parents whose babies have passed. It keeps us busy and we feel happy to be able to help others.”

Melissa Duffy, Community Fundraiser for Strathcarron Hospice, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the wonderful Knatty Knitters for their incredible support over the last 10 years. It is an amazing amount for this community group to have raised for Strathcarron - every pound raised is vital for our work to be able to continue.”