Primary School has been running a co-curricular group this term called Knitting Club, where students have united with a local seniors’ group called Seniors Alive to knit a blanket for those in need in the mountains of Thailand. Karen Barnett (Coordinator of Seniors Alive) has given us some background to the project:
Seniors Alive is a community group that Honour Church has been running for the past four years out of the Innes Lake Community Centre. They are a group of seniors who live in the Innes Lake residential area that meet weekly to exercise for an hour, followed by morning tea.
Over morning tea one morning earlier this year, the Seniors were talking about the various knitting groups they were involved in and how they would love the opportunity to pass on their love of knitting to the younger generation. After a few cups of coffee (and many pieces of Dimity’s almond cake), the idea was born of a SCAS knitting club where the Seniors Alive group would teach the students how to knit, and each student would create a square that would go towards creating a blanket to send to Thailand. I had just recently spent time living in Thailand and I knew that a blanket made by young people in Australia would be warmly welcomed in the mountains near Chiang Mai, Thailand, bordering the countries of Myanmar and Laos. And now here we are! After spending the whole of Term 3 learning to knit, every Wednesday at long break, we have completed over 50 knitted squares to make a blanket!
Many thanks go out to all those who participated! The Knitting Club students: Roxana Bowan; Madelyn Beattie; Imogen Hindes, Erina Chung, Tessa Ryan, Mia Kemp, Lily Fraser, Ava Smith, Ilsa Newby, Imogen Farley, Sura Al Kinani, Liam McCann, Torah Pauls, Bridey Graham, Sophia Skitek, Lily Barlow, Annabelle Pollitt and Lillian McCombe. The teachers who were involved also deserve thanks – Mr Marten Hilberts, Mr Joshua Barnett and Mrs Lisa Gooding. And last but not least, the wonderful Seniors who absolutely loved spending time with the students and were so impressed by their persistence in learning to knit and their lovely attitude in relating to them: Mrs Beth Marris, Mrs Beryl Baker, Mrs Gale Brown, Mrs Lynne Smith, Mrs Margaret Bartlett, Mrs Cath Smith.
The students enjoyed the Knitting Club so much, we have been invited to continue on next Term with a new project.
