Cardigan woman aims to knit 2,020 cardigans for child refugees

A woman is trying to knit 2,020 jumpers and cardigans in a year to donate to child refugees.

Eileen Johnson, 79, from Cardigan, Ceredigion, said she got the idea from a giant cardigan knitted in 2011 to mark the town's 900th anniversary.

She spends some of her time sitting in the window of a cafe knitting and teaches children who may come in.

More than 100 items have been knitted among her team of volunteers and the aim is to complete by September 2020.

"I was born during the war and my mum taught me how to knit while in the air raid shelter when I was three years old," she said.

"I've lived through a war and I know a bit of what they [child refugees] are going through.

"I've never been without needles since. Wherever I've been, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, I've always got my knitting needles with me."

She said the response had been "tremendous".

"I couldn't have asked for it to be better," she added. "The people of Cardigan are coming in with wool and needles. Somebody came in with 17 [items]."

To hit the target by September 2020, an average of 39 jumpers or cardigans need to be knitted every week.

Debbie Mossman, who is in charge of the cafe and community activities at Stiwdio 3, has been involved with a charity in Calais which works with refugees.

"They'll make a lot of difference, not so much in Calais but throughout Europe where there are a lot of children living in desperate conditions and to have a new jumper that is created for them," she said.

"Eileen came in with the idea of knitting cardigans on the basis we had the giant knitted cardigan in here.

"We have community activities in here which try to encourage people to come and join in with community knitting and crochet sessions.

"We thought working together, we could involve a lot of the community in creating these jumpers for refugees."