The aim of the project was to knit a scarf long enough to wrap around his building, a historical residence for elderly people in Victoria Square, Ancoats in Manchester, as a big thank you for taking him in several years ago.
As the building is listed, the scarf, which consisted of almost 300 1.5 meter-long units, tied together with ribbons, could not be attached to the walls, so the plan was for the knitters to hold the massive scarf around the outside of it and pose for photographs! There was also to be a celebration in the form of a party.Jim is in his early eighties and thought he would try to raise some money with this project for prostate cancer research www.prostatecanceruk.org/ He has already raised £100 for this great cause. Please mention Jim if you wish to donate.
After the event, I rang Jim and asked how it was all going. Unfortunately, through being ill, I had not 'phoned him for a while and had missed the event. It had all gone very well, apparently, and there are some photographs from the day, and a video is also being made. Jim said that the scarves had now taken up residence in his flat, and in one spot, were as high as the ceiling!
I took it on myself to ring around some charities for the homeless to ask if they needed any scarves, which all but one did. I have just rung Jim and found out that the bulk of the scarves have now been collected and will be distributed amongst the homeless people at Life.matters, riverside.org.uk and refugees boaztrust.org.uk/ in Manchester and I will be taking those knitted by my friends and myself to the Loaves and Fishes Project in Salford www.salfordloavesandfishes.co.uk/ Incidentally, I looked on the Lifeshare website, www.lifeshare.org.uk/ a charity for young homeless people, situated in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, which has taken some scarves, and they also have a great need for shoes and boots, socks, men's jackets and jeans, if anyone can spare them any clothing and live in Greater Manchester.
Please leave feedback with your email address if you wish to hear more about Jim's Project.
Should you wish to donate to any of the charities, please copy and paste the links if they do not work. Many thanks for reading!
