A 78 YEAR old Bradley grandmother who has raised more than £9,000 for the NSPCC by knitting woollen festive novelties is gearing up for her Easter sale.

Eleanor Monks has been tirelessly knitting festive novelties such as Christmas tree decorations and Easter egg cosies for more than 13 years for the UK’s leading children’s charity.

She first got involved with the charity because as a mother, grandmother, former Brownie leader and foster carer, was passionate about helping children, and knitting as a way of helping the charity was a natural choice.

Eleanor was taught knitting when she was five years old by her mother, and by the age of 11, she was knitting for her local shop for pocket money.

“I started knitting for the NSPCC after seeing appeals on the television and began sending the money I raised to London. But about five years ago I found out about all the work they do locally and now all the money I raise goes to the NSPCC’s work in Wharfedale.”

She is very keen to help her community but children hold a special place in her heart, and is modest about the amount of money she has raised.

She said:“I don’t think of it like that, it helps keep me active and occupied especially on dark winter evenings. I have grown up children with children of their own, I have been a foster carer in my time and Brown Owl for 14 years, so I have always enjoyed being with children.”

She is also keen to stress the benefits of knitting her novelties to others. “It is not just about helping the children but I hope others can see that by coming together, knitting can help alleviate loneliness and help all sorts of people keep active. My husband died 29 years ago and I have always said no one is going to come knocking on my door, to ask me to play out so you have to motivate yourself to go out and find other interests.”

Eleanor’s home is stacked with the Easter egg cosies ready for shipping out to her family and shops, who sell her knitting wonders and help her raise funds for the charity.

“If it wasn’t for their kindness in selling my woollen creations I wouldn’t have been able to raise such a sum of money for children who need our help. I would like to say a big thank you to them all and to all the wonderful people out there who buy my creations,” she said.

Elaine Kaye, community fundraising manager said: “Eleanor’s dedication and efforts to help the NSPCC are truly remarkable and I can’t praise her enough. It would be great if more shops or knitting enthusiasts would like to sell Eleanor’s creations, please do get in touch.

“Thanks to Eleanor’s efforts we can be there for even more children when they need us most whether it be through Childline, our schools service or through our Yorkshire service centres who run a number of therapeutic services for children and their families struggling with abuse and neglect.”