Cancer charity's appeal to knitters

NORTH Devon s keenest knitters are being called to join a leading cancer charity s Comfort Blanket Campaign and help raise awareness while they knit.   Macmillan Cancer Support is inviting experts and amateurs alike to pick up their knitting needles and c

NORTH Devon's keenest knitters are being called to join a leading cancer charity's Comfort Blanket Campaign and help raise awareness while they knit.

Macmillan Cancer Support is inviting experts and amateurs alike to pick up their knitting needles and create anything from a single patchwork square to a full blanket.

Macmillan wants this to be a sociable occasion and is suggesting knitters sign up to their flagship fund-raiser, World's Biggest Coffee Morning, where they can meet up with friends and stitch their comfort blanket together, with a mug of coffee and some freshly baked cakes at hand.

Blankets that are donated to Macmillan will be used to support and raise awareness of the charity's campaign to freeze out fuel poverty for cancer patients.

Macmillan offers grants to vulnerable cancer patients struggling to pay their fuel bills so it's vital that more people register for a coffee morning, therefore helping Macmillan to provide services to even more people affected by cancer.

Alex Folkes, Macmillan Fundraising Manager for North Devon said: "People undergoing cancer treatment have to spend more time at home as they're often too ill to work. They feel the cold more because their immune system is weakened, and put the heating on more so their fuel bills are higher; all at a time when their household income plummets - they're trapped. It's a vicious circle and that's why it's so important to freeze out fuel poverty for cancer patients."

Macmillan is supported by leading knitting magazine, The Knitter, and designer handknits company Rowan, who have lined up some of the biggest stars of the knitting world to design patterns for the campaign, including Debbie Bliss, Alice Starmore, Meg Swansen, Marie Wallin, Jared Flood and Teva Durham.

The first pattern is in the August issue of The Knitter and all of the patterns are available as a free download from the Macmillan website www.macmillan.org.uk/theknitter, where people can also register for their coffee morning or make a donation. The World's Biggest Coffee Morning takes place on September 25.