The women of the Kettering congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-dy Saints were invited to share their knitting skills with the Linus Project in Northamptonshire and knit coloured squares to make into blankets for sick and distressed children.

The ladies started to meet for one morning a month and for the first few months shared their knowledge and skills. The less practised knitters learnt new skills, forgotten skills were revised and the first blankets were made. The women formed a group and called themselves the Busy Bees and it wasn’t long before they were able to sew the squares together and send nineteen blankets off to the Linus Project.

A small group of women brought their sewing machines along and started a patchwork and quilting group to run at the same time as the knitters. Over the months this year they have been knitting baby blankets and clothes for the Baby Basics charity in Northampton, which the Kettering Ward supports as a local donation centre. Tiny baby hats for Kettering General Hospital’s baby unit were also made and delivered. The patchworkers have completed several quilts including some special small sized quilts that are given to sick children in a local hospice to wrap their teddy bear in while they receive chemotherapy treatment.

The group is open to all women and their neighbours and friends and is an opportunity for all to get together at the Rothwell Road meeting house, Kettering. They knit, sew, laugh and chat while working to help those in need.