Yes, 9 years ago, on the Friday preceding the August Bank Holiday, the Knitting Friends met for the very first time.

There were seven of us at that first meeting. We all knew each other from meeting on Tuesday evenings in The Plough pub in Heaton Moor. I saw that there might be a need for a daytime knitting group and as I was already a Friend of Heaton Moor Park, meeting in the park’s pavilion would be a good way of supporting the work of the Friends as well as providing a local venue for the new group. And so it started…

Two of the original members are still active members of our group: one is Margaret C who unfortunately hasn’t been able to Zoom while we’ve been in lockdown but keeps in touch via email and text, and the other one is me. Catherine D joined us just a month after we started and has provided invaluable support ever since. I wasn’t sure whether the group would be at all viable and certainly never imagined it would still be going strong after all this time.

Over the last nine years people have come and gone. Some called in for just a few visits, some came for as long as they were able to; others came, saw something they liked, and stayed. We currently have 19 members who are actively and regularly involved in the group. We still raise funds for park projects but also treat ourselves a little too. We would have celebrated today’s anniversary with a ‘bring and share’ lunch in the pavilion. With luck and a defeated virus, we’ll be able to do this soon, when we resume meeting in person.

So, happy birthday to us today and a big thank you from me for the beautiful birthday bouquet.

We had another quiz today and showed off some of our projects. Sheila visited Black Sheep Wools a few days ago and shopped till she dropped. May has been making beaded Christmas decorations. Each of them takes 3,500 beads!

I’ve knitted a bag using a remnant – one ball of yarn, that was in our group’s stash.

Others, if not knitting, have been painfully hobbling due to gout, delving into genealogy, escaping across the Pennines for a break, doing this that and the other…..

A surprise, to celebrate the anniversary, was a raffle, won by Maggie L. The prize was a box of Milk Tray chocolates. Maggie hasn’t been able to Zoom with us but I’m hoping to arrange for the chocs to be delivered to her by a handsome man in the middle of the night, clad in black, with soft music playing in the background. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, have a look at this Youtube video.

Lastly, an interesting question from the quiz:

In which decade of the twentieth century did divorce become legal in Italy?

Answer: 1970’s.

Who’d have thought?

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