JULIA’S House, the Wiltshire children’s hospice, is delighted after their partnership with the Larmer Tree Festival 2015 raised more than £1,500 and helped recruit more vital volunteers for the charity.

Julia’s House, which provides free respite for families of children with life-limiting illnesses across Wiltshire and Dorset, and is looking to open a hospice in Wiltshire soon, was delighted to be picked as the festival’s charity partner and hosted a crochet workshop where festivalgoers could learn to crochet a granny square to contribute to a blanket.

Over 80 squares were made by the people that dropped in, from complete beginners to seasoned crocheters. These squares are now being assembled to create a Larmer Tree blanket for the Julia’s House hospice in Corfe Mullen.

Amy Kidd, community fundraiser at Julia’s House said: “We couldn’t have had a warmer reception than we did onsite. People of all ages and abilities joined us to crochet a square for the Larmer Tree Festival blanket; it was great to meet so many people and to see piles of squares for the blanket grow hour by hour. Everyone was so generous with their time and donations.”

Julia’s House was also one of the community groups to create a beautiful peacock, which perched in the branches of a specially-commissioned art made by Circus Kinetica to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Larmer Tree Festival. The peacock will now go on display at the charity’s hospice.

Lucy Babb, Larmer Tree Festival manager, said: “We’ve really enjoyed working with Julia’s House throughout this year, and we were delighted to see how popular their crocheting tent was at the festival. We’d like to thank them for joining us and also thank our festivalgoers for donating so generously to them throughout the year and onsite, and also for helping create so many crochet squares. We can’t wait to see the finished blanket go to its new home.”