7th Nov 2024 - Written by Brunelcare
Reading time: 3 minutes
One of our amazing tenants and lifelong knitter Joan is appealing for help from the local community and beyond so she can continue her incredible work creating knitted baby boxes, blankets, and teddies for babies who are stillborn.
Joan, 71, who lives in our Colliers Gardens Extra Care Housing site in Fishponds, began creating beautiful knitted garments for babies who are born sleeping after she witnessed a mother and father taking home their tiny baby in a plain box. Joan started knitting sleeves for ice cream tubs so mothers and fathers could take their babies home in a beautiful box with a blanket and a teddy bear.
Joan creates between 10-15 baby boxes per month and said the idea came to her when she was donating other goods she had knitted to Southmead Hospital.
She said: “I witnessed a young mother receive her stillborn baby in a box, and I felt so sorry for her. Seeing this sparked an idea, and I knew then I wanted to make a huge difference to the mums and dads and how their born-sleeping babies are taken home. I knew I was capable of creating something far more personal and compassionate.
“Each family goes home with two knitted blankets: one for the baby and a small gift box for the mother, filled with thoughtful items to offer solace at such a difficult time.”
Since that day, Joan has been knitting small sleeves that cover ice cream tubs, lovingly outfitted with other knitted goods for both mother and baby. In total, Joan has created over 600 boxes and has spent over 11,850 days making the boxes for Southmead Hospital.
Joan said: “I started knitting at the age of just four after being taught by my grandmother in 1957. I absolutely love it! I have dedicated the past 22 years to creating knitted items for charity. People say, ‘You ought to be out enjoying yourself,’ but I am enjoying myself, knitting in my home.”
Julie Walker, Manager of Brunelcare’s Colliers Gardens Extra Care Housing site, said: “Joan is known for her selfless dedication to others, and I know that she has become a familiar face at Southmead Hospital, where her knitted donations have provided comfort and dignity to grieving families. However, to continue her great work, Joan has a rather unusual request for oval ice cream tubs, which will enable her to continue supporting families. It’s a real pleasure having Joan with us at Colliers Gardens, and as a team, we are pulling together to get the ice cream tubs for her.”
Producing an estimated 10-15 boxes per month, Joan has reached out to the community for help as she struggles to find her usual 1-litre oval ice cream tubs, specifically the Carte D’or tubs that have been essential to her design. Despite reaching out to the company, they were unable to provide or donate tubs to her. Joan is now appealing to the community to donate these containers, to ensure she can continue providing these comforting gifts.
If you have Carte D’or tubs that you could spare and would like to donate, please contact our Colliers Gardens team.