Kind-hearted woman hopes to raise money for charity with her hand-made toys
A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER is raising money for this Friday’s Children in Need appeal by making 100 miniature Pudsey bears from her home in Cardiff.
May Brown has been creating the mini-Pudseys for five years and raised £120 last November for the fundraiser which supports over 2,000 charities across Britain.
The 85-year-old with a passion for knitting is being helped by her granddaughter Laura Coles, who is selling the bears online for £3 each.
“She’s knitted these Pudseys for years so this year I decided to post on my social media to try and sell them for her to try and raise as much money as possible,” said Ms Cole.
“She loves to knit, she always made us hand-knitted teddies when me and my siblings were young, she also enjoys knitting things for her great-grandsons.”
The mini-Pudseys are being sold on the Lots of love Facebook page, which was set up by Ms Cole and her sister at the end of October to help local parents in the run-up to Christmas with its personalised festive items.
The bears are available for collection from Ms Cole’s house in Llanrumney but are also available for delivery.
Ms Cole is also hoping to get the support of local schools to help sell the 100 bears made by Ms Brown over the past few months.
The duo have raised £50 so far but are hoping to hit a target of £300.
Children in Need has raised over £1.5 billion since its first TV appeal in 1980, for charities supporting disadvantaged children and young people including 20 projects in Cardiff.
“I think fundraising programmes like Children in Need are extremely important,” said Ms Cole.
“They support local charities and projects (and) not only are they raising money, but they are also raising awareness for people to get the help they need.”
In October, Children in Need announced it would provide £3 million in extra funding to help support organisations struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.
Over 3.9 million children and young people are currently living in poverty according to Children in Need, while almost a third of children are worrying about their families’ finances.
