BANGLA BEANIES

There is a need to be grateful for the existence of local newspapers.

Not only do they have sport and local business interest but also they have room and time for reaching the soul of the district.

As a response to the article published about making ‘‘Beanies For Bangladesh’’, on behalf of those Bangladeshi children I wish to thank [the Northern Outlook] so much for that generous help.

The response from knitters was remarkable.

Without the help of both the newspaper and the kind-hearted knitters I could never have achieved what I thought would be impossible, having set my goal at 150 ‘‘Bangla Beanies’’.

The joyous part of it all was not only was it achieved that number but that ‘gift of caring’ was almost doubled.

The article made it possible for our residents, of what would be considered a mere village by world standards, to warm the heads and hearts of little children thousands of kilometres away.

Hugh, my friend teaching in Bangladesh, while on leave, has collected them, they are all now in Dhaka, and waiting for him to personally go to the poor schools, and an orphanage, to distribute them.

But I live hopefully. While winter is still upon us I am aiming for another dash of the Beanies (or any woolly donation) to be collected when he returns at Christmas. Backing on to the Himalayas the Bangladeshis face a very bleak winter – exacerbated in advance by a very recent cyclone what wiped out even the tin sheds they live in. Photos have arrived. As my computer has had a recent and second ‘heart-attack’ I would be glad if those knitters who did make such a brilliant effort please contact me so that I might replace the emails I have lost.

With grateful and heartfelt thanks,

Frances Ryman