Pensioners go out on a charity winter warmer

Oct 7 2008 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A GROUP of big-hearted pensioners have gone the extra mile to support a Perthshire world record bid after knitting a sensational 200-metre scarf.

The epic winter warmer began when Christina Robb (72), from Banchory, read about the attempt to knit a 23-mile scarf in the PA.

The project was organised by Loose Threads, formerly of St John’s Place, to raise money for CHAS and Help the Aged.

Explained Christina: “After my husband and I saw the article in the PA we sat down, started knitting, and soon the ball got rolling and some of our friends got involved.

“Soon there was a little group of us – all in our seventies – working together and now there is 200 metres of wool lying up in my attic – not bad for a bunch of old timers!

“I tried to take a photo of it, but I couldn’t find a camera big enough to get it all in!”.

After the store’s closure last year, it was feared the project could unravel, but Wendy Farquharson – formerly of Loose Threads, now working with McEwans of Perth – has come to the rescue.

“We initially asked for individual one-metre donations to attempt to break the world record,” explained Wendy.

“But, as we started getting more and entries, storage became a mammoth task and – since the shop shut – we simply had no space.

“However, we will be passing on any entries that are still out there to the Blythswood Care Trust to make blankets for children in Africa, so nobody’s efforts will go to waste,” she pledged.