Calling all knitters Help make the biggest ever Big Knit for Age UK Age UK Merton is calling on nimble-fingered knitters in the borough to get their needles clicking at double the speed to make Age UK and innocent’s Big Knit the biggest event yet.

Now in its 13th year, budding knitters are being challenged to reach a whopping target of two million miniature woolly hats. The colourful creations will adorn innocent smoothie bottles, and for each be-hatted smoothie sold, innocent will donate 25p to help Age UK fund national and local projects that keep older people warm and well in winter.

Charmaine Bennett, Chief Officer of Age UK Merton said: “We are calling on local knitters to get as many hats as possible to us by December 31st. As the smoothie bottles don’t go on sale until October 2017 there’s even more time for knitters to keep sending hats in throughout the summer to help Age UK reach the bumper target.”

Each winter, one older person dies needlessly every seven minutes because of the cold. Every hat donated to Age UK Merton will help fund local services such as providing information and advice about how to keep warm in the winter and ensuring people’s homes are as energy efficient as possible.”

Last year alone, more than 800,000 hats were lovingly created, with designs including the Wombles and Mr Men, cupcakes, colouring pencils, lots of animals and not forgetting the traditional bobble hat.

Sim Viney, innocent drinks, said: “We have had such great support for the Big Knit over the years, we are positive knitters across the country will take the challenge to make this year’s event the biggest ever. Even if you’ve never knitted a stich, creating a little hat is a great way to start and won’t take long. We’re massively grateful to everyone who joins in and helps make this year’s campaign a huge success.”

Please send completed hats to Age UK Merton at Elmwood Centre, 277 London Road, Mitcham, CR4 3NT. The hat knitting pattern is available to download, to find out more visit: www.ageuk.org.uk/bigknit or pop into our centre in Mitcham to pick up a leaflet.

Based on information supplied by Rhianon Larkman.