Village Groups & Activities

Crafts in Action in the Church – posted 29 January 2013

We shall be holding our Craft Day again on Saturday 16th November 2013 in Helmdon Church and this is to give all art and crafty people in the village plenty of time to get prepared!

If you would like to display your work, book a table for the day and/or sit and demonstrate your craft, then please do let me know as space will be limited.

Woollen Helmet Inserts Knitted For Our Soldiers In Afghanistan – posted 23 December 2011

The Stitchers have knitted 34 woollen helmet inserts for the soldiers in Afghanistan, with more to be completed.

Also 150 knitted Christmas piuddings have been made and sold for Chrismas at the Katherine House Hospice in Adderbury. Pauline Payne made 100 of these, and Mary Nash made 50.

It was a delight to once again hold the Craft Day in Helmdon Church last Saturday 15th October. This is the 6th Craft Day we have organised since 2002.

We couldn't have packed more into the Church and the old walls were full of cards and cushions, jewellery and jam, paintings and pickles, boxes and bags, soaps and spiders (only toy ones!), glass and gifts and much more

It was wonderful to have a steady stream of visitors through the door who stayed and looked and wandered and chatted - and enjoyed the delicious refreshments provided by the hard- working ladies of Helmdon W.I.

Thankyou to you all who helped set up the Church (quite a challenge!) and put it back to rights again. Thankyou to all the stall holders who brought their wares and were generous in their donations. Thankyou to the givers of Raffle prizes and the ticket sellers. Thankyou to the W.I. Thankyou to Rev Adams for allowing us to use the Church. And most of all a huge thankyou to the visitors who came and supported our day.

We are very pleased to have been able to give £50 to Church and £358 to the mental health charity MIIND at Anchor House in Northampton.

The date is Saturday, 15 October, 10 am to 4 pm in the Church, and the event will be hosted this year by the Helmdon Stitchers.

This is a celebration of local artists and craftsmen and there be stalls for ceramics, knitting, greetings cards, jewellery, produce, needlework, Christmas gifts, art and photography, and craft demos. Ploughman’s lunches and other refreshments will be on sale.

If anyone in the village is interested in being involved in any way please contact Louise Stothard on (01295) 760816

The Helmdon Stitchers knitted 150 chicks for the Katharine House Hospice for Easter.

Margaret Reardon and Pauline Payne delivered them and the staff were highly delighted and very grateful to receive them.

Pauline made about 100 with her nimble fingers, Mary Nash and Margaret knitted about 50 between them. We are looking forward to the next challenge!

Another Wonderful Contribution To The Katharine House Hospice – posted 16 December 2010

The Helmdon Knitters again made a wonderful contribution to the Katherine House Hospice with their knitted fundraisers, filling 36 of the 115 Christmas stockings knitted.

In their letter of thanks, the Hospice particularly mentioned the 103 knitted puddings Mrs Pauline Payne had made and donated, complete with Ferraro Rocher chocolates.

The Hospice added that the consignment of knitted ‘goodies’ couldn’t have come at a better time as their stocks were running very low, and they had many supporters wishing to sell them at their events.

The Hospice was also extremely grateful for the Nativity set that was knitted, which has already been despatched to a delighted supporter.

Knitters of the Christmas ‘goodies’ were Margaret Reardon, Pauline Payne, Shelia Oakey, Mary Nash, Doreen England, Jean Brookhouse, Louise Stothard, Pauline Butler, Jan Harrold, Sylvia Richardson and Zena Balch.

£53 was raised at the Women's Club from the sale of even more knitted Easter chicks and the Katharine House Hospice thanked the Stitchers for their continuing, valued support.

21 lovely little Easter chicks, compete with Cadbury’s Crème Eggs, were stitched and donated to Katharine House Hospice this Easter.

120 Easter Chicks have been knitted this year for the Katharine House Hospice 2009 Easter Chick Fundraiser. They were beautifully made, particularly with the ribbons tied around their necks! The hospice were as usual delighted, and commented in their letter of thanks that the Helmdon Stitchers has knitted to date almost 600 chicks and Christmas stockings for their funds.

Once again the Katharine House Hospice has benefited from the hard work of the Stitchers – 14 more stockings were knitted and donated, together with three knitted blankets, which will also go on the hospice stall.

Miniature Stockings Made For Katharine House Hospice – posted October 2008

The Helmdon Stitchers have been knitting Easter Chicks for Katharine House and recently sent 167 to the hospice (see right).

The demand upon the hospices for the chicks has been overwhelming, and so far they have sold 2000!! And have demands for even more, including a request for 200 from a local junior school.

As a result the Stitchers has been asked to supply as many as possible to meet this unprecedented demand.

The chicks are filled with a Cadbury Easter Egg and sold at £1 50 to raise funds for the Hospice.