Knit a woolly hat and help a good cause

Homeless charity St Mungo’s is launching The Big Yarn, calling on supporters to knit a woolly hat to pledge their support for homeless people in the UK.

In the past year, there has been a 23 per cent rise in rough sleepers across the UK and 43 per cent in London alone.

Through The Big Yarn, St Mungo’s wants the public to help knit 5,678 orange bobble hats before this year’s Woolly Hat Day on Friday, October 26 when the hats will be offered for sale to raise vital funds for the charity. The 5,678 hats represent the number of people who slept rough on the streets of London last year.

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Anyone can get involved by visiting the campaign Facebook page here - and pledging their support. Milton Keynes knitters can download a pattern from the page and are encouraged to customise it or make their own design to create a hat that’s unique to them.

Tanya English of St Mungo’s said: “We are calling on Milton Keynes residents to pick up their needles and knit a hat for Woolly Hat Day and help us to raise awareness and funds for our work supporting homeless men and women.

“The idea behind The Big Yarn is not only to get people knitting in support of St Mungo’s but to encourage them to personalise their creation – each hat will have a story just as each individual who ends up rough sleeping.”

The hats donated by the public as part of Woolly Hat Day will be put on sale alongside hats from celebrity supporters including Daniel Craig and Roger Federer. Proceeds will help to fund St Mungo’s work, providing support to people as they recover from homelessness including access to health services, education and training.

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Woolly Hat Day packs containing fundraising tools and ideas can be downloaded from www.woollyhatday.org or by telephoning 08452 WOOLLY (966559).

Like the St. Mungo’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/StMungosUK