Knitters in Nairn ‘purl together’ to help Ukraine’s people
Caroline Gage and Anna Blakie, members of ‘The Knitting and Crocheting Group for Refugees’. Picture: James Mackenzie.
A NAIRN group has been knitting a storm to help refugees in Ukraine.
Founded about five years ago, the Knitting and Crochet Group for refugees (also known as START – Start to Aid Refugees Today) has donated a lot of handmade blankets to charity group Highlands for Ukraine.
Caroline Gage (69), who founded the group, said: “We have been struggling through Covid because it was not possible to send blankets anywhere abroad, so we are very pleased that we are able to send them and help people in Ukraine.
“It will be so cold out there and I hope this will help.
“We started a few years ago. Back then I saw on the television that the UN were pleading people to make blankets or something warm for the refugees, so that’s how I started.
“After a few days I realised that on my own I wasn’t going to go very far! I asked some people at my church and soon there were quite a few people who came forward and we created our group.
Some of the blankets going to Ukraine.
“We managed to send blankets to Calais, Greece, Lebanon and Syria.”
She said she hopes that they will be able to keep on working with the charity for future goods to send to Ukraine. The group is formed by Ann Addy, Anna Blaikie, Marjorie Bradbury, Linda Gordon, Susan Urquhart, Elsie Tough and Caroline Gage.
Helen MacRae, from Highlands for Ukraine – a charity that supports both Ukrainians living in the Highlands and that sends support abroad through the Polish Red Cross – said: “There is desperate need in Ukraine for blankets, warm clothing and generators – anything that keeps them warm as half of the country is in blackout.
Caroline Gage and Anna Blakie, members of ‘The Knitting and Crocheting Group for Refugees’. Picture: James Mackenzie.
“We are really grateful for this donation. What makes it special is that Caroline, Anna and the group have made the blankets with love and care and this makes them much more precious, and this means a lot to the Ukrainians. It’s such a lovely gift they have given us, we are very very grateful.”