Nutty about knitting?

OVER 50 kind-hearted folk are expected to ‘knit one and purl two’ when they head to Ballymoney next week for a knit-a-thon.

The event, which is being held at Castlecroft on Saturday, August 18 from 9am to 5pm, aims to raise funds for the Fields of Life and a mission trip to Uganda in October.

Six people from Ballymoney will be joining 11 others from Portadown on a two week trip to help build a school and sink a well in Northern Uganda.

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Ann Cousley from Ballymoney, one of the volunteers going to Uganda explained: “Hundreds of thousands of East African children are without basic primary education, and large numbers of them could end up in the streets looking for a way out of the trap of deprivation. For them, an education is literally a chance for survival; a lifeline where they will get an opportunity to contribute to their community and nation’s much needed development. They don’t want handouts; they just want a chance to help themselves!

“The Fields of Life Trust now builds schools, drill wells and provides health education and income generating projects in some of the poorest areas in East Africa.

“The six Ballymoney volunteers are myself, Jonathan and Wendy Gault, Teresa Dowey, Sarah Beattie and Faith Hannah and we will set off on October 18 for two exciting and life changing weeks.”

Over the past few months the local team have been fundraising holding coffee mornings, concerts and bbqs. They have also been handing out quiz sheets and much more.

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Ann added: “We have already held a number of fundraising events. Each volunteer has to pay for themselves to go on the trip so all the fundraising money collected goes entirely towards the Uganda projects.

“This Saturday’s knit-a-thon is another way for us to collect funds. On the day it is hoped that the local community will come out to help support the event whether its to take part in the knitting, donate wool/cotton, help fundraise or simply offer their encouragement throughout the day.

“We will be collecting money and there will also be competitions and prizes for those who guess the number of squares knitted in the eight hour period.

“We are expecting between 50 to 100 people to come along and help us knit throughout the day. Knitters can simply come down cast on and do a couple of rows and then pass on their square to someone else. The squares will actually become cotton cloths which we will be taking over to Uganda and giving to the ladies there.

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“For a few weeks we have been knitting cloths to take but it will be really interesting to see how many is actually made on Saturday 18th.

“Sue’s Wool Shop on Church Street in the town sells wool/cotton and she is giving a good price for those coming to the event and buying from her.

“It’s going to be a fun packed day and I would urge those to come along, with or without wool/cotton and size six knitting needles, and help us knit our way to success - hopefully our fundraising money grows as fast as the squares.”

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