Woolton 'Knit and natter' group help keep Kosovans cosy

A group of 'knit and natterers' are helping the people of Kosovo to keep warm this winter.

The Sunflower Centre Knitting Group, which forms part of the Liverpool Community Health Liveability project, are appealing for more knitting yarn so that they can continue to create hats, gloves, shawls and scarves for the Kosovan people.

The group, whose average age is 70-plus, along with their partner clubs at Garston Park Church and at the United Reformed Church in Allerton, have been knitting for the people of Kosovo for years.

Anna Briggs, 63, who leads the groups, said: “There are a lot of people who are on their own but who would like to get out and make more friends, and the knitting group allows them to do that.

“Knitting in this way prompts people not only to help themselves, but also to help others, and we work with two charities – Hope and Aid Direct, which take a convoy of deliveries to Kosovo every six months, and Samaritan’s Purse, which delivers Christmas shoeboxes to impoverished countries. We make up extra hats and gloves to go in the shoeboxes to keep children warm in the winter months.

“We have also given blankets and rugs to the homeless centres and nursing homes in Liverpool, and we make shawls for people who are going through difficult times.”

Diane Singleton, Lead Nurse for Older People, from Liverpool Community Health, said: “The women who form the Sunflower Centre Knitting Group are a real inspiration. They all look after each other.

“People need networks, and quite often when they work all their lives and then retire, they find they don’t have any. This group, and the Liveability service as a whole, helps them to keep good social networks and, as a result, good health.”

The Sunflower Centre Knitting Group meets between 1.30-3.30pm on Thursdays at the Sunflower Centre, Woolton, and new recruits are always welcome. To donate knitting yarn, please contact Anna Briggs on 07943819826.

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