Penarth knitters complete mile and a half of colourful garland

On April 27 group organiser Christine Kerr decided she needed something to occupy her time, and wanted to do some good during the pandemic.

“I knew if I was in the house doing nothing every day I would struggle,” she said.

The team hanging the garland at Llandough Hospital

“I’d done all the housework you could think of and I just couldn’t stand sitting around, so I got in touch with the girls and the health board, and it went from there.”

The small team, who have been assisted by other volunteers throughout lockdown, includes Julie Eyre, Jean Walker and Trish Williams.

Christine

“I can’t thank these girls enough, they’ve been my mainstays,” said Christine.

Julie and Jean have spent lockdown in their own bubble, while Trish and Christine have done the same, and the pairs have regularly met to hang the garland around the town.

“If you’d have asked me how my lockdown had been now, I’d say 'fantastic', and that’s down to them,” Christine added.

Christine, Jean and Julie (L-R)

“Knitting gave so many of us a sense of purpose and we found that the days whizzed by and each rainbow completed gave a sense of achievement.

“When I started out there was no real plan. If the girls hadn’t been with me I’d still be here knitting next year!”

Garland up Llandough Hill

The garland travels from the entrance to Dingle Park, on to Windsor Road, through to Cogan and along the leisure centre.

It then progresses through Andrew Road up Llandough Hill and finally to the entrance of Llandough Hospital.

It was a cause close to Julie’s heart too, who used to work at Llandough Hospital, where the garland finished on Wednesday morning.

“We’d like the money raised to be used for doctors, nurses and hospital workers here in the Vale,” she said.

“We wanted to achieve something in lockdown and it feels great to have got here.”

To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christine-kerr4.