A stitch in time is helping to save lives!
Scunthorpe Medical Laboratory Assistant and Phlebotomist, Glenda Coates, has raised more than £200 for the Lincolnshire Emergency Blood Bikes through her love of crafting.
Glenda, who is based at Scunthorpe General Hospital, loves nothing more than getting out her crochet hooks and getting creative.
And it was back in February when she first decided to use her skills to help raise money for the charity, creating Valentine’s hearts filled with chocolates to sell.
She said: “Crafts are my go-to way of relaxing. Whenever I am not at work I’m doing craft stuff – mainly crocheting.
“In my role, we work closely with the Lincolnshire Emergency Blood Bikes. It’s a completely voluntary service, which takes samples and blood products all over the country.
“They do so much for us – we’re picking up the phone three or four times a day asking, ‘can you take bloods here? Can you take bloods there?’ and I wanted to give something back.
“This was around Valentine’s Day and I thought, ‘what could we do? I can crochet lots of hearts’, so that’s what I did. I put crème eggs in them and sold them to colleagues for their loved ones. Lots of the team got involved too, donating eggs to go into the hearts.
“When Easter came around, we did the same again – but this time I crocheted lots of different bunnies and chicks – anything I could put a crème egg into!”
The team also arranged a Grand National sweepstake, with half the money going to the charity – and now she’s busy coming up with ideas for the next fundraiser.
Glenda said: “My first target was £100 – I thought ‘if I can raise £100 I’ll be happy’ and then we have doubled it to £200 and I am absolutely thrilled to bits.”
Taking on large scale projects is nothing new to Glenda.
In fact, one of her most recent creations – a Dalek postbox topper created for the Brigg Yarn Bomb festival – proved so popular a Dr Who fan club messaged her to ask if they could take it on tour!
Glenda laughed: “It’s been travelling around the country with them and they keep sending me updates. There’s one of the TARDIS door opening and he’s coming out of the TARDIS!”
If you’d like to support Glenda in her fundraising, you can find out more about the Lincolnshire Emergency Blood Bikes Service, make a donation, and find out more about volunteering on their website.
