GAZETTE & HERALD: MARGARET Tutka, an enthusiastic knitter who has provided blankets and infants' clothes for desperately poor immigrants over many years, is appealing for donations of wool so she can keep on making baby clothes for a maternity clinic in Israel.

Mrs Tutka, who lives in Chippenham, has knitted baby clothes for the last 12 years, creating hundreds of blankets, clothes and booties for the infants of poor immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia, who arrive in Israel without a penny.

She began her marathon knitting effort in Cambridge, along with six fellow knitters, and continued with the project when she moved to Chippenham just over a year ago.

Mrs Tutka would now like to hear from other knitting enthusiasts who would like to join her. She would also like to hear from anyone who has wool to donate to the knitters.

Every year she travels to Israel to visit her son and takes a huge suitcase packed with baby clothes to the hospital.

"Last year I got a good lot of wool, but that's run out now and I need some more," she said.

Anyone keen to knit or donate wool can contact Mrs Tutka on (01249) 443844.