A nimble-fingered pensioner has knitted 24 teddies for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) to help comfort children who are affected by traumatic incidents.
Pauline Robinson has been knitting ‘trauma teddies’ for several causes for more than ten years and recently donated her latest batch of teddies to the charity.
The 86-year-old from Hartlepool said: “Somebody told me that the police were wanting them for when they went to any tragedy that they had to attend where there was a child that might be upset and I thought ‘what about the air ambulance, when they go to different things, would they be interested?’ and they said yes, so I’ve knit them one or two teddies and I hope to keep on knitting for them.”
GNAAS carries trauma teddies on board its aircraft and the crew hand them out to children who are affected by difficult and traumatic circumstances, to comfort them and provide emotional support.
GNAAS doctor Jeff Doran said: “Thanks to Pauline who has kindly knitted these trauma teddies in her own time. As operational crew we keep these teddies on the aircraft with us and we use them to try and help relieve suffering in case we come across a young person in distress.
“Pauline’s been hard at work and her donation of teddies will keep us going for quite a while now. We really appreciate her efforts.”
Mrs Robinson is a long-time supporter of GNAAS and as well as knitting teddy bears, she has held stalls in the past where she has sold jam, marmalade, pickles, ginger beer, and other knitted items with all of the proceeds going to the charity.
She said: “The air ambulance needs to be supported, if we all just gave a little bit, we wouldn’t need to worry about getting the pilot on the helicopter.”
Dr Doran said: “Pauline embodies the spirit that keeps us flying. Last year we responded to 1042 call-outs, which simply wouldn’t have been possible without this kind of selflessness.”
If you would like to support GNAAS, please call 01325-487263 or visit www.gnaas.com
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