A GROUP of Farnham ladies will be making many under-privileged children smile this Christmas after spending the past year knitting for Operation Christmas Child.

Farnham-based United Quilters have spent the past year sewing and knitting items to sell and raise funds to send over 400 Christmas gift boxes to Operation Christmas Child (OCC), one of the world’s largest Christmas projects run by Samaritans Purse.

Sue Hockey, one of the quilters, who has been involved in OCC for many years explained: “Each year our group decides on a charity to support and this year we decided it would be OCC.

“These Christmas boxes will go to very needy children in areas such as Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. Last year over 25,000 boxes were sent from the Guildford and Kingston area and so our contribution is a fantastic result to help in this year’s appeal.”

Each box costs £3 to send and this is on top of the money for the gifts. To help raise funds for the contents, the group had a stall at the Bourne Show in July and raised over £400 selling different types of quilted bags from peg bags to shoppers.

Members also donated lots of gifts including dolls, toy cars and wrapping paper to cover the boxes.

Sue added: “The result has far exceeded all my expectations and I’m so grateful to everyone for their help in supporting this very worthwhile charity. Our children are often so lucky at Christmas, it is important to remember those who are less fortunate.”

For more information about Operation Christmas Child email [email protected]