Huddersfield Railway Station is to be wrapped in a giant knitted ‘scarf’ this summer.
This year’s Woven Festival will take place from June 5-27 and will launch with the unveiling of a spectacular, woollen, rainbow coloured yarn bomb of Huddersfield Station on the opening weekend.
An army of knitters and crocheters have already been knitting brightly-coloured squares to feature in The Big Rainbow Knit installation which will cover the six grand pillars at the front of the station building.
Now people can knit but also raise funds for The Kirkwood by signing up on the organisation’s website.
Once registered participants will receive a fundraising pack and can start collecting sponsorship using a special just giving page set up for the campaign.
Anyone raising over £100 of sponsorship will receive a limited edition commemorative mug whilst the person who raises the most will win a luxury knitting hamper with lots of crafting goodies included.
Nat Walton, Woven Festival curator, said: “We’re delighted to be able to team up again with The Kirkwood for this year’s WOVEN festival and give their huge network of supporters an opportunity to get involved but raise valuable funds for them at the same time.
“We still need lots of brightly coloured knitted squares for The Big Rainbow Knit installation so we’re asking as many people as possible to get knitting and of course get fundraising for this great, local charity.”
Elspeth McGloughlin, senior occupational therapist with The Kirkwood, was involved in the 2019 event said: “The Big Knit in 2019 was an amazing event for The Kirkwood, it enabled the patients we support and their families to join forces with our team and open our doors to the wider community, for an incredible day of crafting.
“Despite social restrictions that are affecting us all, we want our supporters, employees, volunteers and service users to again feel part of the wider community, promoting creativity and well-being, whilst supporting our work across Kirklees. We hope you will all join us again to make this event even better than the last!”
Clr Paul Davies, portfolio holder for Economy and Climate at Kirklees Council, added: “It gives me great pleasure to support an initiative such as the “Big Rainbow Knit” particularly when it will help raise much needed funds for one of key community assets – The Kirkwood.
“The ‘’Big Rainbow Knit’’ will provide a fantastic opportunity to add vibrancy and colour to the Community of Kirklees during these difficult times. I encourage you all to become involved, age and experience is not a barrier and we look forward to the end result in June 2021.”
WOVEN is a Kirklees Council-funded initiative which connects strong heritage with today’s innovative developments in industry, university research, arts and crafts expertise together with the creative expression of the district’s rich and diverse communities.