Young students knit hats for Special Care Baby Unit

Make It Happen Tutoring students have knitted hats and donated them to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Glangwili Hospital.

Make it Happen Tutoring is a private tutoring business owned by Rachel Isaac that supports students with a dyslexia diagnosis or dyslexia tendencies.

Rachel said: “It all started with a young student who came in one morning and told me he did not feel he was good at anything – most of my students come to me for reading, spelling and writing support. A majority have a dyslexia diagnosis. They come to me for extra support so that they can catch up with their peers or just feel better about themselves.

“On this particular day, the student saw the knitting machine. My thought was that if he could learn to use it and make something useful, he would see he was good at something. He watched me knit the first hat using a small knitting machine. He quickly picked up the skill and the others joined in, during their individual lessons, as they saw the pile of small hats growing.

“When they realised that the small hats would fit premature babies, they set me on the task of finding a hospital that would accept and use them. I challenged each student to make as many hats as they could before a cut-off date. They surprised me and their parents with the enthusiasm and effort they all put in.

“I explained that it would make the hats very precious to parents if they were given a letter by a student when the hats were handed over. They all rose to the challenge and faced spellings within their letters.”

Nicola Llewelyn, Head of Hywel Dda Health Charities, the official charity of Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “We’d like to say a massive thank you to Rachel Isaac and her talented students for making such lovely hats for the premature babies on SCBU.

“The support of our local communities enables us to provide services over and above what the NHS can provide in the three counties of Hywel Dda and we are extremely grateful for every donation we receive.”

For more details about the charity and how you can help support local NHS patients and staff, go to www.hywelddahealthcharities.org.uk