The local knitting queen sold items made during lockdown to raise money for the Huggard Centre
A RHIWBINA resident has raised more than £350 for a homelessness charity by selling homemade Christmas gifts she knitted during lockdown.
Mary Brooke, 79, organised the Christmas Gift sale on Saturday outside Calon Rhiwbeina, a neighbourhood boutique. She sold a variety of items, including scarfs, jumpers, gloves and homemade soft toys that she’d machine-knitted and hand-spun from fleece and wool whilst stuck indoors last year.
A prolific knitter, the Rhiwbina resident began machine-knitting over lockdown with a sewing machine donated to her by a member of her embroidery class.
“I had a lot of free time, not being able to go out,” she said. “So over lockdown I just went overboard and I produced so many things.”
Mary admitted she was delighted by the reaction from the local community, and is now considering making the sale an annual event. “I had no idea that so many people would come,” she said. “It’s been quite popular and people seem to like it – people have been spending money on the gifts, but they also give a little more because they know it’s for the Huggard Centre.”
“It’s an incredibly unselfish thing for her to do,” said Jo Griffiths, from Rhiwbina, who came out to help her sell her homemade gifts.
Mary decided to raise money for the anti-homelessness charity after experiencing first-hand how difficult Christmas alone could be during last year’s winter lockdown.
“I’m used to spending Christmas with my family, but last year I was on my own which wasn’t very nice,” she said. “I just thought, wouldn’t it be so much worse if you were homeless as well?”
Since it opened in 1988, the Huggard Centre has been one of the leading organisations providing practical help for rough sleepers in Cardiff. The charity’s Critical Intervention Hub on Hansen Street is open 24/7, and offers rough sleepers hot drinks and meals, as well as shower and laundry facilities.
I’m used to spending Christmas with my family, but last year I was on my own- I just thought, wouldn’t it be so much worse if you were homeless as well?
Mary Brooke
The Huggard Centre also runs a 20-room hostel, and manages 14 shared houses across Cardiff where formerly-homeless residents receive personalised support from charity workers, in addition to substance misuse programmes and advocacy services for those who need them.
“As a charity, we are extremely grateful to Mary and all our supporters who generously give their time to raise money for us,” said Hefina Rendle, a spokesperson for the charity. “Their support is very important and means we can continue our work.”
Despite the Welsh Government’s stated aim in their 2019 homelessness strategy of making homelessness in Wales “rare, brief, and un-repeated”, rough sleeping continues to be an issue across the country, and especially in Cardiff.
Last year, the city reported the highest number of households assessed as homeless in Wales, with 2,226 households being classified as legally homeless.
