Ready, teddy, get knitting! (From Gazette & Herald)

Ready, teddy, get knitting!

DEPRIVED youngsters in war-torn Romania and Kosovo are being given a cuddle for happiness - thanks to 90-year-old Alice Barton, of Helmsley.

For Mrs Barton makes teddy bears which are sent via Helmsley's Family Circle, an inter-denominational church group, to the children.

In addition, she makes the teddies to sell on stalls at coffee mornings and other events held in the town in aid of charity.

"I started knitting them a year ago," said Mrs Barton. "I find I can happily knit away while watching television."

Mrs Barton has lived in Helmsley nearly all her life, but worked in Leeds where she learned the art of confectionery and cake icing.

She later became a NAAFI manager during the Second World War, in Lincolnshire, and, on her marriage, returned to Helmsley where her late husband was manager of Atkinson's grocery store.

For many years, Mrs Barton had a reputation for icing wedding cakes but has now switched her skills from the icing gun to knitting needles!

Updated: 12:28 Wednesday, May 21, 2003