QUILTERS in The Pludds near Ruardeanraised £715 for Help for Heroes when their latest creation was raffled on Saturday (December 2).

Ann Williams, the group’s organiser, told the Review: “We meet once a month at the Pludds Village Hall to spend a whole day sewing. Every year we do a charity event and one of our members already raises funds for Help for Heroes and suggested we choose them.

“We each made a square and then Loulou Rioux, a professional quilter in Monmouth, added the backing and sewed it together for us free of charge. I added the border and binding and we all started to sell raffle tickets.

“We were pleased to raise over £700, mainly from local people and the man who won the quilt, Roger Niblett, also lives locally.

“We presented the money to Angela Mat­thews, Help for Heroes organiser in the Forest.

“We were also glad that Mark Harper was able to come along. He said he had no idea quilting was so popular and was quite amazed that the Forest could produce such things. He told us that he was pleased to be part of it.”

The quilting group has been running for around four years and has 22 members.

They’ve previously raised funds for breast cancer charity and Project Linus, creating blankets for children in need.

Ann says that there is a waiting list to join the group, but anyone interested is welcome to call her on 01594 544094.

“We’re already thinking about next year’s project, which may be for an Alzheimer’s charity,” Ann added.