The visually impaired super gran that knitted hundreds of snowmen for charity

73-year-old Linda Miller experienced a stroke six years ago, which left her with impaired vision and dementia, but that hasn't stopped her from knitting snowmen for another year in lockdown and raising money for Derian House Children's Hospice, Chorley.

Linda first rose to fame last year when her dedication to knitting landed her a spot on the ITV national news as part of their feature on Christmas heroes.

But she has spent the last six years knitting and selling the snowmen and raising funds and says she knows the pattern by heart.

And the snowmen, that she sells for just £1, became in demand with £635 raised for the hospice this year - her highest yet.

Linda said: "We have been inundated. I’ve sold all 420 snowmen I made this year and lots of people were telling me to take a fiver and keep the change because they knew it was for Derian House.

“I usually sell the snowmen on a stall in the local supermarket but this year we couldn’t because of Covid, and so my husband Jim decided to go online and sales went mad.

Despite suffering two heart attacks and spending time in hospital recovering last year, Linda continued with her knitting.

“My eyesight has gone but I just keep plodding on. I’ve been in hospital and not been well this year but I just keep going because it's my way of supporting local children.

"I know this year has been hard work for a lot of families and this is my way of doing my bit. In a lot of ways knitting keeps me going and it’s also helping my favourite charity."

Linda’s funds have helped Derian House Children’s Hospice to look after local children and young people with serious illnesses from across the North West.

It costs the charity £4.8 million to run services every year, but only a small percentage of this comes from government funding, so Linda’s fundraising is greatly appreciated.

Caroline Taylor, Communications and Marketing Manager, said: “Linda is one of our most loyal fundraisers at Derian House and we absolutely adore her.

"She has not only raised a significant amount of money for us over the years but she always flies the flag for Derian House and raises awareness of our work.

"Linda was one of the original fundraisers who raised money to buy the land the hospice was built on 27 years ago and she is still helping us out now – she is so dedicated and has helped so many families over the years with her fundraising. We can’t thank her enough.”

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