Purple Hearts at Kilbeggan Library

The Knitting and Crochet group in Kilbeggan Library have been busy creating purple hearts as part of a new initiative at Regional Hospital Mullingar. Elizabeth Donaghy, Grace McPaul, Emma Cassidy, Mary Connolly and Patricia Dowd have used their skills, knowledge and time to crochet purple hearts which will be given to bereaved families in the hope of providing them some comfort. The group started working on this project when Elizabeth Donaghy spotted a request on social media looking for volunteers. The ladies in Kilbeggan felt it was a lovely and thoughtful project and were very enthusiastic to participate.

The project aims to provide each family with two hearts, one heart which will remain with their loved one and one heart which can be taken home by the family. The heart represents a symbol of the continuing bond families will have with their loved ones after they have passed away. The pattern for these crochet purple hearts can be found online along with more details on the project.

Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore are hoping to build up their own collection of 1,000 purple hearts to provide to families when their loved ones pass away. The Kilbeggan knitting and crochet group are now coming together to provide purple hearts for this collection. If there any groups or individuals that would like to participate you can contact Frances Gardiner in the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore for further information and to receive the knitting and crochet patterns. She can be contacted at gardiner.frances@gmail.com.

New members are always welcome to join the knitting and crochet group in Kilbeggan Library where they can chat and share ideas, skills and patterns. The group meets every Monday at 2pm. For more details or information please contact Kilbeggan Library by email killib@westmeathcoco.ie or telephone 057 9333148