Since lockdown began in 2020 Elaine Calvert has been a familiar face to many at St Elizabeth Hospice’s retail shop in Southwold, through her dedicated support and regular visits to the shop to donate her latest knitted creations.
From Eye, in Suffolk, Elaine has been knitting for many years with her passion beginning when she would knit items for her eldest child when they were a baby.
When the pandemic broke she decided to use this talent to support St Elizabeth Hospice, through creating knitted mermaids and lavender ladies for the hospice shop in Southwold.
After nearly 18 months of busy needles and frantic fingers, she passed the landmark 1000th knitted creation in early September. A milestone she is dedicating to Joan Maynard, a former chairwoman of the friends of St Elizabeth Hospice, based in Eye.
“Joan was a lovely caring lady and was a fantastic supporter of my knitting, so it seemed very apt to dedicate this milestone to her,” explained Elaine.
“Prior to supporting the Southwold hospice shop I would sell my lavender ladies at Eye Country Market and Yaxley Craft Group before donating the money to St Elizabeth Hospice.
“However, I thought the mermaids would be perfect to sell in Southwold by the sea and so it has proved the correct decision, they are very popular! People also love the lavender ladies and enjoy finding ones that look like the person they are buying them for, they are a lot of fun.”
All funds raised by Elaine and other generous supporters of the St Elizabeth Hospice shop in Southwold go towards St Elizabeth Hospice and its work in partnership with East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) to provide free specialist palliative care services to patients and their families throughout Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
Since launching in April 2019 more than 2,000 people have been supported by the partnership via the service’s 24-hour advice line OneCall, at Beccles Hospital, in the community through hospice clinical nurse specialists working across Waveney and Great Yarmouth visiting patients in their homes or received support through the hospice’s emotional, wellbeing and bereavement support service, LivingGrief.
To buy one of Elaine’s knitted lavender ladies and mermaids visit St Elizabeth Hospice shop in Southwold, located on the High Street. Open 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 4pm on Sundays.
Further information about the partnership’s services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney can found by visiting www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/how-we-can-help/hospice-care/great-yarmouth_and-waveney.
To contact the 24-hour specialist palliative care advice line, OneCall, call 0800 567 0111.