Members of Somersham and Pidley Timebank’s knit and natter group knitted an array of twiddlemuffs for residents at a care home.

Trisha Wiggins-Browne and fellow group members decided to knit enough twiddlemuffs for each resident of the Field Lodge Care Home in St Ives.

A twiddlemuff is a knitted sleeve that has buttons or other small items sewn inside. They are beneficial for people with dementia to have something to do with their hands.

In December, Trisha and Sarah Marshall visited the care home and presented residents with the items as an early Christmas present.

Trisha said: “It was a joyous occasion, very colourful and the residents enjoyed choosing their own twiddlemuff. One lady matched hers to her outfit, another who doesn’t engage much actually broke into a huge smile, one lady was animated and played and fiddled and counted the decorations on hers, it was really lovely to see so many people engaging.

“A crocheted blanket went to a resident who is bed bound and another, a gentleman, selected his own one before proudly hanging it on his frame and making off to the residents lounge to show it off.”

Knitters have also been busy creating smoothie hats. The hats were used to decorate the timebank’s Christmas tree during the St John The Baptist Christmas Tree Festival in Somersham. With Christmas over, the hats will be donated to Age UK to be sold on

smoothie bottles to help raise money for Age UK. A total of 119 hats were knitted.

Anyone is welcome to attend to the timebank’s knit and natter groups. The Somersham group runs every Tuesday, from 7-9pm, at the Centurion Club, in High Street, Somersham. The Pidley group runs on alternate Thursdays, from 7-9pm, at Pidley Village Hall. For more information contact Katie Ixer, Somersham and Pidley Timebank co-ordinator on 01487 841359, e-mail timebank@somersham-pc.gov.uk, or log on to Somersham and Pidley Timebank on Facebook.