NHS staff got together to painstakingly sew together nearly 1,000 knitted squares into blankets to help families in need.

The Rayleigh and Rochford Association for Voluntary Services was delighted to receive nine hand-knitted blankets from staff at NHS Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group.

The blankets were made from green knitted squares which were previously transformed into a Christmas tree and have now been recycled into blankets and will be handed to families over the winter months.

Wendy Eighteen, performance and corporate services analyst at the commissioning group, who led the knitting project which included running lunchtime knitting clubs and teaching staff to knit, said: “I love Christmas and knitting so this was a great way for me to combine two of my favourite things.

“It seemed like we were making slow progress at first, but gradually the bags of knitted green squares got bigger and bigger. I amdelighted we are now able to help our community by providing RRAVS with these blankets.”

Lisa Swallow, partnerships and development manager at RRAVS said: “We are thrilled to receive such lovely unique blankets.

“Each year our families in need coordinator raises money to support families and frail elderly residents of the district providing food hampers and toy parcels and these lovely hand knitted blankets will be such a nice addition and will be very well received.

“We cannot thank the staff at the CCG enough for their time and efforts.”