Where it all began
We first got our needles out in 2003 when we knitted 20,000 hats to raise £10,000 money for Age Concern. Since then The Big Knit has grown every single year and in total we've raised over £370,000 since then.
The reason is simple – to raise funds for Age Concern to support older people in the winter months. It's a really sad and largely unknown fact that almost 25,000 older people died of cold-related illnesses last winter. Year by year we have been receiving more and more hats and last year we were overwhelmed when 400,720 came flooding in. This equated to £200,000 and this year we're aiming for even more.
Where's the money going?
Health, housing and heating all affect older people’s ability to keep warm and stay well in winter.
Age Concern provide services that support older people in winter, including hot meals, room thermometers, warm blankets, safety checking electric blankets, and advice on how to handle rising energy costs. The money raised from the big knit will go towards these types of activities.
Not only does the knitting raise money to support the most vulnerable older people but they’ve knitted a fair few themselves. Here are a few stories:
Gladys, 85, knitted over 200 hats with every single one being different. Gladys has very bad arthritis and a heart condition but knitting the hats made her forget her troubles and reignited creativity in her that she had not used in years.
Doris, 80, and her grand-daughter, Amanda, 15, worked together on the hats. Doris knitted 500 hats while Amanda made the bobbles and sewed them on. Amanda would visit Doris at weekends and sometimes in the evenings to work together on the project. Doris loved spending so much time with her granddaughter and it has brought them so much closer.
Gateshead story
The money raised was spent on providing special exercise classes to help keep the older people who use the day centre mobile and warm, which is vital during the cold winter months in Gateshead. The older people that visit the day centre are very frail and isolated and the exercise and social interaction really boosted their spirits.
More info:
You can also watch a short film we made about The Big Knit if you like.
And here's some more on Age Concern's fight the freeze campaign.
