Community knits teddies and clothes to support Ukraine

A community in Rochdale is knitting and crocheting warm clothing for Ukrainians in need. Mandy's Wool Shop in Heywood is hosting a 'commit to knit' campaign, where people can knit or crochet items which will go directly to Ukrainians in need.

Items could include baby clothes, scarves, jumpers, hats, gloves, blankets and even cuddly toys. The wool shop is giving away free balls of wool to anyone who is willing to knit items for the campaign.

READ MORE: British Red Cross needs volunteers to help raise funds for Ukraine this week - how to apply

The knitting campaign is being funded by Heywood transportation company Sharp Freight International.

Owner of Mandy's Wool Shop Lynda Spaven, 59, from Heywood, decided to start a knitting campaign for Ukraine after completing a similar campaign last year.

She explained: "Last year, I did a 'commit to knit' campaign, making hats for the homeless in our local area. We had a really good response from people.

"We had around 150 hats come in, but people were still bringing them in. So I thought , ‘well, we’ve got hats here, and we’ve also got odd balls of wool here, so how about we do a 'commit to knit' to making hats, gloves and blankets for the people of Ukraine?'

"A company in Heywood has donated some money and I have put some money in so that we are able to give away some balls of wool if people are willing to knit or crochet for that purpose."

Lynda described the response to the knitting campaign as "amazing".

She continued: “On Facebook, we had over 200 responses and shares. People are coming in for wool and some people said they’ve already got things knitted, that they wanted to bring in and donate.

"Other people said ‘I will make a blanket’ or ‘I will make a hat’ or ‘I’ve got some