Bath’s knitters are being invited to take part in a very special event to raise funds for The Big Issue Foundation. Details below - we'll be there!
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The Bath Big Knitathon will take place at St Michael’s Without Church
on Broad Street between 2.00PM and 6.00PM on Saturday 17 November and
will form part of a nationwide attempt to break a Guinness World Record
for the most people knitting simultaneously.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the Foundation’s work and of
homelessness and is being held in conjunction with the magazine’s 21st
birthday celebrations, following on from other fundraising drives such
as The Big Sleep Out.
The Bath knitters will be aiming to produce a large volume of knitted
squares which will be made into a patchwork blanket after the event. It
is hoped that the blanket will be put on display to continue raising
awareness of the issue of homelessness in the city.
The Big Issue Foundation is a national charity which believes in
giving a hand up, not a hand out. It provides homeless people with the
opportunity to earn a legitimate income and connects vendors with the
support and solutions that enable them to move away from homelessness
and to rebuild their lives.
Each week around 100 people turn to the Big Issue for an opportunity
to help themselves at a time of personal crisis and at any one time,
across the UK, the Foundation is supporting 2,500 vendors.
The Bath Big Knitathon is being sponsored by Sharon Spencer of Great
British Yarns, a mail order knit company which is supplying the wool for
the campaign. It will be opened by the Chairman of Bath and North East
Somerset Council and will begin with a talk from Samantha Grief, Vendor
Service Broker at the Foundation’s Bridewell Lane office, who will then
introduce a vendor who has agreed to share their story.
Bath vendors who will be taking part in the Bath Big Knitathon
recently took part in a knitting lesson as part of Aspirations Week, an
annual event which aims to encourage vendors to find new passions or
learn new skills. They are looking forward to putting their new skills
to good use during the record breaking attempt.
The Big Knitathon is open to people of all ages, genders, and
knitting abilities and anyone who wants to take part but who can’t make
it to the St Michael’s event is encouraged to think about holding their
own event, perhaps in their local church hall, library, café or even
their living room. The campaign is about communities and friends getting
together to raise as much sponsorship as possible to donate to the Big
Issue Foundation. Participants can knit anything, from hats and clothes
to blankets, and could even donate what they knit to their local vendor.
To register for the Bath Big Knitathon at St Michael’s Without please email [email protected].
For further information about arranging your own event and to request an event pack, contact Lizzy Ellery at [email protected] or Samantha Grief at the Big Issue Foundation at 01225 337050 or by email at [email protected].
You can follow the campaign on Twitter, @Bigknitathon.
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