By Sarah Curran
A DONAGHADEE woman says she will not let vandalism deter her from brightening up the town with her knitted creations.
When Helen McFarland discovered one of her crocheted creations had been stolen over the weekend, she decided not to be discouraged from adding a bit of colour to the town with her handmade constructions.
Helen, is one of the knitters involved in a community knitting group called In Stitches, run by local artist Sharon Regan.
The group work together to brighten up Donaghadee by covering unsightly service boxes with creative knitted scenes.
Helen was the creator of a well-loved kitted service box cover of a seagull and a puffin which had been placed outside Rainey’s Fish and Chip shop in the town.
However the beloved puffin was ‘brutally ripped’ from the scene over the weekend, leaving the seagull on his own and many residents upset at the mindless vandalism.
Undefeated by the news, Helen not only took the topper home to repair it, she created a cat named Marmalade, to be installed outside Gordon’s Chemist in New Street in the town.
Speaking about the group, Sharon explained: “In Stitches is just a wee community group that gets together to create things for people to look at in the town and brighten things up.
“In Donaghadee there are quite a lot of service boxes around the town, so the idea is to just take something that is a bit of an eyesore and make it jolly and attractive.”
Sharon said the group enjoyed watching smiles break on people’s faces when they came to inspect the colourful creations around the town.
Each of the toppers take a lot of hard work and can take days or weeks of work, depending on skill.
When Sharon heard about the puffin going missing, she said she was in disbelief, noting how last year she displayed a fairy garden outside her house, located near the crime scene, which went untouched.
She said: “There was no damage or vandalism to it. In fact, people added bits to it.”
When the knitted creations began to crop up around town, Sharon said the community enjoyed them and so were up in arms online after they discovered the missing puffin.
Sharon praised Helen for not letting the vandalism deter her from creating more bright displays, adding that she hoped the thief had been a person of low income who took it for a child who wanted it, as any other reason left the community deprived from enjoying it.
“It is a testament to Helen that she won’t let one bad experience put her off,” Sharon concluded.
In Stitches meets on Tuesday nights at the Snug in Grace Neill’s. It is a free community group open to people from all areas of the borough and all abilities, with offers of shared material for all.
