innocent Big Knit: Littlehampton group presents thousands of tiny knitted hats to Age UK West Sussex

Thousands of little hats in a wide variety of designs have been created by enthusiastic knitters in Littlehampton and Rustington for the innocent Big Knit in partnership with Age UK.

Arcade Knitters, a small local charity, presented more than 3,300 hats to Laura Newell, community agent at Age UK West Sussex, during their meeting on Saturday.

Organiser Elizabeth Benson, the Arcade Knitters treasurer, said: "We are delivering more then 3,300 hats for innocent smoothie bottles. For every hat that is sold, Age UK gets 25p, so obviously this is really, really good fundraising for them and fantastic for us to be able to give back to the wider community.

"There is an enormous range of designs. Age UK provides some patterns and there is a massive range online. The little hats are fantastic for knitting because you don't have to concentrate. It's also perfect for using up wool."

Arcade Knitters meets every Saturday from 2pm to 4pm, at Parkside Evangelical Church in Littlehampton on the first and third Saturday of the month, and Rustington Methodist Church on the second and fourth Saturday.

Elizabeth said: "That works really well because we have people who will come to one, some to the other, and lots of people come to both. We have 40 to 50 members. A lot of people do their own projects and we have a lot making things for charity."

The group makes blankets for various organisations, hats and gloves for the local refuge, baby hats for Worthing Hospital and twiddle muffs for dementia cafés, among other projects. They previously gave hats to Age UK in May 2017 and May 2019.

Also in the news:

Related topics: