A NUMBER of Joey pouches, made by the crafty hands of a group in Boscastle, have been shipped to Australia to help orphaned, injured or abandoned animals who have been affected by the recent bushfires.

The Post previously reported that a group of women from the Boscastle area had met at the Cobweb Inn to knit a final batch of items, as part of the UK Crafters for Australia Animal Rescue Effort’s national appeal to assist rescue centres in Australia, following devastating bushfires that tore across parts of the country in the new year.

Organised by Cobweb Inn landlady Tracy Bright and local resident Jill Williams, the 16 ladies came together to put their skills to good use each Monday in January in order to provide some warmth and comfort to recovering Joeys, koalas, bats and other wildlife, whose habitats and families had been lost to the fires.

On Thursday, January 23, Tracy and Jill spent the morning sorting through and bagging up all the pouches and other items people had made locally, with crafts coming from as far as St Teath and Bude being delivered to the Cobweb Inn for sorting.

Tracy and Jill have since dropped the collected items to a woman in Redruth who will distribute them to the main depot to go to Australia.

Tracy and Jill are confident that they have made a big contribution with their knitted crafts. Jill said: “We concentrated on mainly larger pouches. I knitted five pure sheep’s wool smaller ones and made up the cotton liners for inside. Bude did a lot of smaller pouches, but as for numbers we really haven’t had time to count!

“There’s going to be a mass stock take over the weekend so they can see what’s been made and what they still need making. It’s taken off on a worldwide scale, which is wonderful.

“I’d like to say a massive thank you to all who came and helped us.”