For some time now the Craft Group has been sending knitted items to New Hope Rural Community Trust who work in Orissa, set up originally to help Leprosy patients. As they were starting to see the end of treating new cases of leprosy, along came AIDS! so they now require blankets and baby clothes for HIV babies and for babies abandoned by their families due to fear and destitution.

As well as the knitting, we recently sent them the following Virtual Gifts valued at £108:-

• Bundle of love - which includes clothes, blankets, towels, toiletries and footwear for a destitute person
• School equipment- school satchels, slates and chalk ,writing and reading books, pens and pencils
• 3 Water filters
• The gift of eyesight-to restore the vision of an aged tribal person or a blind leprosy patient
• A dozen chickens
• We had a lovely ‘Thank you’ card from Jill Ghanouni, secretary and trustee
• We had a small Dedication in their Newsletter for all our 'Wonderful Knitting'!

What a privilege to be able to help in a very small way such a worthwhile organisation, impossible to tell you all that they are involved in in such a small article, but I will update you in the future, and thank again all our wonderful knitters and crafters who work so hard.

Chris Shepherd