A CARDIGAN woman’s dream to send more than 2,000 knitted cardigans or jumpers to refugee children is well on the way to becoming a reality.

Eileen Johnson has been knitting for more than 75 years and is the inspiration behind a community project at Stiwdio3 in the town to knit and send 2,020 jumpers to children in desperate need to keep them warm for the winter of 2020.

And this week, the project, which started in August last year, passed the halfway mark as knitters from throughout the Cardigan area rally to the cause.

A contribution of 90 jumpers from Llangoedmor Church Knitters proved a welcome boost.

Debbie Mossman, from Stiwdio3, has just dropped off the first batch of 500 jumpers which will go to children on the Greek island of Lesvos through the charity Care UK.

“I never thought it would take off like it has,” said Eileen, who can knit a jumper in as little as six hours using a couple of balls of wool.

“The way people in the area have responded is simply fantastic – if they can do something to help someone, they will.

“And while this will benefit refugee children, it has also had a beneficial effect on people here as well. It has given people purpose and a number of people have told me it has helped them through the long winter nights.

“People now regularly come in to Stwidio3 for a knit and a natter.”

“It has developed into a real community project and for many involved it has provided a lifeline,” added Debbie.

And Margaret Smith, from the Llangoedmor Church group said they were delighted to become involved.

“We started out in 2017 with three of us when we decided to get together rather than sit at home on our own and now there are around 12 of us,” said Margaret.

“We have helped many groups including Alzheimers, local nursing homes, Glangwili Hospital, Cardigan cancer care, The Wallich homeless charity and now we are delighted to be doing this for Eileen.”

A simple pattern is available from Stiwdio3 and people are more than welcome to pop in for a ‘knit and natter’.