Trowbridge knitters' devotion to Operation Christmas Child (From Wiltshire Times)

Trowbridge knitters' devotion to Operation Christmas Child

8:30am Wednesday 4th November 2009

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A group of women have donated hundreds of toys and clothes they knitted during the past year to the Operation Christmas Child appeal.

The four friends, who meet almost everyday at sheltered housing complex Teazle Ground Court in Trowbridge, have donated cardigans, blankets and cuddly toys they have made to the shoe box appeal.

Eve Gerrish, who lives opposite Teazle Ground Court, said: “We have been meeting up for the past year or so and knitting. I have been knitting for years and it is a hobby I love.

“We like to donate what we make as we have everything we need in this country and those poor kids have very little.”

Mrs Gerrish, meets with Doris Liddle, Violet Browne, and Valerie Mills, who live in the sheltered housing and are now starting on next year’s knitting, following a visit from volunteer Judith Whalley, from Westbury, who took their donations to the charity’s warehouse on the Bowerhill Industrial Estate.

Mrs Whalley said: “It is fantastic what these ladies are doing for us and we were delighted not just by the quantity of the items, but also the quality of them as well.

“The coats and cardigans they have knitted must have taken them a while and they will come in so useful to the children we send the boxes too.”

The women are just some of hundreds of people across the county donating shoeboxes to the appeal, which are being left at a variety of drop-off points, including the Wiltshire Times' offices in Duke Street, Trowbridge.

The gift-filled boxes will then be taken to the charity’s warehouse in Bowerhill, where they will be sorted by 200 volunteers, before being transported to children in Liberia, Serbia, Belarus and the Ukraine.

A contribution of £2.50 is requested towards costs, and shoeboxes should be ready by November 18.

Anyone who wants to take part in this year’s campaign should visit www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk or call the helpline on 0870 011 2002 or 07966 135638.

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