Woolly thanks to Wombles

Spalding’s ‘Knitting Nanas’ have provided a public thank you to the army of volunteers cleaning up the town that’s even received the approval of the man who created the Wombles TV show.

Jan Neal and Carol Usher were so inspired by the work of the Wombles of Spalding Common, they decided to knit a womble along with a message of thanks for the work they do.

The pair had previously knitted a host of works that were displayed alongside the River Welland, but had become slightly disillusioned after previous creations were vandalised.

But they’ve continued to knit, particularly focusing on clothes for premature babies at local hospitals.

And they created the womble alongside their friend 95-year-old Kitty Dickenson who knitted the scarf.

It’s in the garden of the Georgian Court sheltered housing scheme off Haverfield Road where the trio live.

“It’s just our way of saying thank you,” said 77-year-old Jan. “We’ve done quite a few knitted creations over the years but some have been spoiled including one being thrown in the river and a Father Christmas lasting just a week.

“But we wanted to do this to thank the Wombles, so we’ve put it up in our garden.

“We’ve given him a bag for him to put the rubbish in and he’s got an umbrella which he’s definitely needed in the past few weeks.”

It’s certainly proved a hit with even the original creator of the Wombles TV series, Mike Batt, getting in touch.

“We’ve had lots of interest.” Jan continued. “Mr Batt sent us a couple of messages to say he thought it was wonderful as was what the Wombles of Spalding Common are doing.”