St Annes knitters busy for Edward's fund

Elizabeth Dee (front left) with Linda Deacon and the knitters at Bonney Fabrics

The team based at the Bonney Fabrics shop in St Annes has produced more than 1,000 knitted Christmas trees for the Edward Dee Fund, in memory of the youngster who died of meningitis in 2016.

Next month sees the second anniversary of his death, aged 10, and on a date around that time, the aim is to leave the tiny trees at various locations around town.

Anyone finding one is then asked to take a picture of it and post it on social media.

Edward’s mum Elizabeth hopes it will raise awareness of the fund, which was set up to aid local community projects after more than £100,000 was previously raised in Edward’s name for the Meningitis Now charity.

In co-ordinating the knitted trees initiative, Elizabeth has worked closely with Bonney Fabrics proprietor Linda Deacon, whose knitting group already regularly crafts hand-made figures for the emergency services.

“The response has been phenomenal,” said Elizabeth.

“We chose trees because of Edward’s love of them and the outdoors.

“December is a poignant time for us as we lost Edward on December 5 and the last thing we did together as a family was decorate our Christmas Tree, on the morning of the day that Edward took ill.”

Linda Deacon said: “It’s a very special cause. We have now made more than 1,000 trees and we look forward to people looking out for them around St Annes.”