Wool warriors in knitting challenge

A number of players from the Leigh Centurions visited Wigan and Leigh Hospice (WLH) where the Wool Warriors are creating a giant red-and-white scarf.

Countless squares are being prepared which will then stretch the length of the LSV’s pitch and is expected to be unveiled at a home game.

Centurions’ players Liam Hood, Craig Hall, Nathan Mason, Kevin Larroyer, Jordan Thompson and Matty Dawson-Jones all admired the work in progress and also met some of the hospice’s patients at its Kildare Street headquarters in Hindley.

The Wool Warriors is a project at the Oak Centre, the hospice’s day service for people with a life-limiting illness who have been diagnosed as benefitting from palliative treatment.

Lucy Atkinson, creative therapies co-ordinator at the hospice, said: “The original idea was to make a scarf long enough to wrap around the whole team but it was then suggested by members of the Wool Warriors to create a scarf which would reach the length of the pitch.

“People have reacted really positively to the idea and their relatives bringing them to the Oak Centre are taking part too.

“While their husband or wife, for example, is in an educational programme at the Oak Centre, having physiotherapy or occupational therapy they are able to have a chat and knit, alongside the Wool Warriors.

“It’s been wonderful having the players come and visit us to see the project taking shape and it has inspired everyone to keep on knitting.”

As well as watching the giant scarf take shape the players also left a mark of their visit in the shape of a decorative art work.

The Centurions all did a drawing or wrote a message on a block of wood which was dropped into a large frame at WLH’s base.

Keen knitters in the community are also being invited to help the Wool Warriors reach their target, which will need them to create around 500 squares.

Anyone wanting to pick up their needles should create a square around 20cm by 20cm (or eight inches by eight inches) and it must be red and white to represent the team’s colours.

Find out more about the project here