Limerick knitters show heartwarming spirit to support bereaved families

LIMERICK volunteers have once again shown incredible kindness and generosity, knitting more than 60 colourful hearts to give to people bereaved after losing loved ones.

St Mary’s Cathedral in the city centre welcomed members of the Limerick Craft MeetUp and other people for a knit and natter.

It came after Rev Scott Elliott, curate assistant for the Limerick city parish, issued an appeal on social media for people to help out.

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Taking up the story, he explained how cathedral Dean Niall Sloane is on the end-of-life committee at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

“The appeal started from there. The chair of that committee had said they were knitting hearts they crafted for bereaved families, but they had run their course and they had none left,” said Rev Elliott.

As a result of this, Dean Sloane decided the Limerick City Church of Ireland parish would contribute to the effort for knitting more of these woolen hearts.

Rev Elliott, his colleague, who recently joined St Mary’s Cathedral took on the challenge, and appealed for people to join the knitting effort.

“We thought we’d get a few people. However, we didn’t expect it to blow up in the way it did. When it was advertised on Facebook, I think within a day, it had 30,000 hits. The positive comments that came through rapidly spread across the forums on Facebook,” explained Rev'd Elliott.

It was the response to the appeal which prompted the cleric to open up the cathedral space for an afternoon.

“There is something lovely about people in the community all coming together. Talking to the people who attended, some of whom had never been in St Mary’s Cathedral. Some were coming for the first time to craft together. It wasn’t just members of the (Limerick Craft MeetUp) group, it was widely attended by people in the community,” he said.

Almost 30 people were present for the knit, mainly women, with the cathedral offering them a space to meet, socialise and form friendships.

As part of the afternoon, they enjoyed a tour of the church, the oldest building in Limerick, dating back to 1168.

In the next few weeks, Rev'd Elliott will be handing the hearts over to the end-of-life committee at UHL.

They will then donate them to bereaved families across Limerick.
“There is something lovely that the knitted hearts we crafted in St Mary’s are going out into Limerick communities regardless of what church they attend, or who that person is. There is something heart-warming about that. It’s an ecumenical and intercultural link,” Rev'd Elliott reflected.

“We are a living breathing community and we want to support all those within our community in Limerick. Initiatives such as knitted hearts seem small, but they mean a lot in that they show we care”.

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Off the back of the event, the curate assistant is hoping to establish a craft group meeting more permanently at the cathedral.

“We didn’t expect the initiative to take off in the way it did. It’s opened my mind. I come from a Church of Ireland community in the north of Ireland. Knitting is in our lifeblood - my grandmother was a knitter, as were her family. We had many initiatives up at home in Enniskillen,” he said.

Later on this year - most likely in October - UHL will host its annual multi denominational remembrance service at St Nessan’s Church in Raheen, near to the hospital campus in Dooradoyle.