A knitted Christmas tree has been unveiled in Ewell as part of Co-operative’s community initiative.
In 2017 Co-op announced a scheme to bring communities together and promote local causes and there are now over 1000 staff working as ‘Member Pioneers’.
Anna Holt is the Ewell representative and has this year worked with the community to create a knitted Christmas tree, which was unveiled on 14 December at Barking Marvellous dog groomers.
Holt said: “This time of year can be particularly gloomy and where we’d normally be out shopping and enjoying social time with friends and parties, this year there was nothing. Little things like this just put a smile on someone’s face.
“It was also really good for the community to feel like they were contributing to something and give them a purpose. It was really just to cheer up the community.”
The project was supported by the Yarn Bombers of Ewell, the knitting group responsible for starting the craze of creating hats for post boxes, and has seen at least 15 people contribute to the tree.
Holt continued: “I shared it with the group and they nominated me to lead it, all of a sudden I found myself knee-deep in knitting.
“They’ve been inspiring people all around the UK to start knitting hats for their post boxes. It’s going national now!
“We put out collection boxes and I promoted it across social media. We had loads and loads of people wanting to contribute.”
Every year, Co-op supports three causes in each region, which this year includes Express CIC, a charity offering assistance to young people with autism and their families, who have organised a Zoom call with Santa Claus.
They are also supporting MyTime4Carers, who are running doorstep Santa visits, and Phab, a charity who organise activities for people of all ages with and without disabilities, who held a Christmas raffle.
As if this wasn’t enough, Holt has also been supporting a local food bank and is hoping to provide the charity with more cooking equipment in the new year.
Holt added: “As well as food, they also provide furniture to people who perhaps have just been given by a house by the council and have absolutely no furnishings or anything.”
You can see the knitted tree for yourself at Barking Marvellous dog groomers in Ewell Village High Street.
Featured image credit: Ewell Community Matters
