Crafty Ladies knit like mad for a good cause

The teddies will be given out to children who have been affected by a fire, or have been caught up in any other kind of frightening incident, like for example, a crash.

The ladies, who meet once a fortnight at Northowram Library, are no strangers to making crafty creations for charitable causes.

They heard about the trauma bears from member Adela Illingworth, whose husband Paul serves as a firefighter at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and works as part of the Urban Search and Rescue team.

Adela said: “I made a couple, then 20, then I got a few of the ladies involved and here we are!

“I was really happy for our ‘gang’ to make ‘trauma teddies’ for such a good cause. There are now over 100 bears and we are still knitting more!”

The bears, depending on size, take hours to knit. Although some are quite large they are small enough to be held snugly by a child, knitted in colourful wool with smiles and eyes stitched on.

The ‘trauma teddies’ will be individually wrapped and will be sent out to all districts across West Yorkshire.