Frome volunteers have knitted more than 100 hearts to support palliative care patients and their families.
The hearts were donated to the Royal United Hospital in Bath following an appeal, coordinated through the Co-operative Funeralcare – Frome, which called on local knitters to create hearts using a specific pattern.
The appeal came after a Frome resident introduced the team at the Co-op to the Compassion Memory Hearts scheme following her uncle’s death, when a heart had been left on his pillow.
The scheme sees volunteers knit pairs of small hearts. One heart is left on the patient’s pillow, while the other is given to their family as a keepsake, offering comfort and connection when they cannot be together.
The resident has thanked volunteers after the appeal resulted in 97 pairs of hearts and 12 single hearts being collected.
She said, “I have known some people to put one heart in the coffin of their loved one. The scheme is lovely and when my uncle was in the RUH last year, it was just really nice to know that somebody else had thought of him.”
Kelly Morris, memorial consultant at the Co-operative Funeralcare – Frome, said the scheme is ongoing and more knitted hearts are welcome.
She said, “Anything that we can do to try and bring some comfort to the families, we definitely endeavour to do.
“We are happy to do as much as possible for our families to try and offer some comfort at the worst time of their lives. This was a really interesting one, but we try and do our very best for families to help them in this time.”
Printed patterns are available to collect from the Co-op. Knitted hearts can then be dropped off at the Co-op shop or the funeral home on Nunney Road.
