PEOPLE trying to lose weight have taken up knitting to avoid reaching for an evening snack.

Weight Watchers members who attend meetings held at Whitecross Hereford High and Hope City Church have been reaching for their knitting needles instead to create 137 knitted squares for the charity Woolly Hugs.

Volunteer helper Ruth Davies reached her goal weight with Weight Watchers in 1971 and has been a Gold Member ever since, keeping to her goal weight for some 47 years.

As well as knitting squares herself, she took the time to teach her Weight Watchers coach to knit.

The squares have been sent to Woolly Hugs by post so that volunteers from the charity can stitch them together to make beautiful and practical blankets.

The many current projects include the Refugee Project in which volunteers accept donations of knitted squares and stitch them together to make blankets for refugees in Syria and other locations.

For more information about Woolly Hugs go to www.woollyhugs.org