Mum's knitting spree tto help African babies (From Stourbridge News)

Mum's knitting spree tto help African babies

11:06am Tuesday 1st July 2008

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A WORDSLEY mum-of-two has been busy knitting hats to help vulnerable South African babies after being inspired by a TV appeal.

Ellen Kemp, of Fernleigh Gardens, decided to take up the challenge for Save the Children after seeing an appeal on the Paul O'Grady show.

Following a visit to Free State, South Africa, where more than one million babies do not survive beyond their first day of life, the TV presenter screened a film of his trip and urged viewers to back the charity's campaign to get people knitting life-saving bonnets for babies to give them a better chance of surviving the first few months of life.

Since then, the charity has been inundated with more than 20,000 woolly hats - which could mean the difference between life and death for newborn babies as they cannot regulate their own body temperature, making them prone to life-threatening illnesses such as pneumonia.

Inspired by the cause, 52-year-old clerical assistant Ellen has knitted more than 50 brightly coloured hats for the charity - despite barely being able to cast-on before she started.

She said: "I wasn't much of a knitter before, but I've probably spent more than 100 hours on the hats so far."

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