Dementia patients at Queen’s and King George hospitals will benefit from colourful twiddlemuffs, knitted by members of the Mercury Mall’s breakfast club.

The knitted hand-muffs, adorned with buttons in a mixture of shapes, sizes and textures, can help dementia patients by keeping their hands busy – so they are stimulated and engaged during their time in hospital.

Around six members of the breakfast club, which meets regularly at the mall in Romford, are keen knitters and, after donating 150 blankets for babies on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Queen’s Hospital around Christmas time, were keen to find another way to help patients at the hospitals.

Vijay Elias, dementia support practitioner, said: “We are so grateful to receive these twiddlemuffs. They will really benefit our dementia patients.

“They can alleviate boredom, keep our patients stimulated and can even help keep them engaged and encourage them to take part in other activities. So we are very pleased that these local knitters have donated these to us.”

The twiddlemuffs were donated to the King George and Queen’s Hospitals Charity on Tuesday 24 April.

Carol Fletcher, one of the knitters, said: “My mum has dementia and this is very close to my heart so I’m delighted we were able to help.

“I absolutely love knitting after my mum taught me to knit when I was 12 – I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Pictured above are Vijay Elias, knitters Linda Allen and Carol Fletcher and Marina Sherriff, from our charity.