York House residents knit blankets for premature babies

Three residents at York House in Dereham have banded together to form a knitting circle, creating over 500 squares to be turned into blankets for premature babies in local hospitals.

Josephine Barrett-Leonard, Cynthia Turrell and Tricia Pead are accomplished knitters, having been practising the hobby for many, many years. Staff noticed that the three ladies were often found watching television in the lounge or in the armchairs in their room with bags of wool on their lap creating beautiful knitted treasures – and they had an idea.

By starting a knitting club which meets monthly they were able to encourage friendships between the three women who clearly had similar interests and a wonderful initiative was born.

Having heard that local neonatal units throughout the East of England were calling out for knitted blankets for premature babies the ladies got to work.

At their meetings, and in the majority of their free time, they knit perfect squares carefully counting the stitches to ensure that all of their squares can be sewn together to create blankets just the right size for the tiny babies.

They fill carrier bags with beautifully crafted knitted squares before they are then picked up and taken to a local centre where a separate group of volunteers stitch four of the squares together to form one blanket.

The finished blankets are then transported to hospitals across the region to help keep the babies warm.

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