Dedicated Natland knitter meets her CancerCare chicken challenge (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Dedicated Natland knitter meets her CancerCare chicken challenge

6:30pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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Doreen Galbraith would never dream of chickening out of a challenge – especially not when it’s for a cause as worthy as CancerCare.

Over a period of nearly 14 years, the 74-year-old grandmother of six reckons she has raised some £10,000 for the charity thanks to the Easter chickens she spends all year knitting.

Her little feathered friends take about half an hour to craft – including sewing on their tiny beaks and ‘stuffing’ them with a Cadbury’s Cream Egg.

Mrs Galbraith – from Natland - then distributes the chickens to various outlets, including Country Harvest at Ingleton, Kitridding farm Shop at Lupton, Westmorland Vetinary Group in Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, and at the Post Office at Levens.

Mrs Galbraith isn’t the only member of this particular hen party ... the founding knitter was former Kendal vet’s wife Margaret Chadwick.

“I’d only planned to offer Margaret some wool but she roped me into knitting the chickens as well,” said Mrs Galbraith, whose 2010 chicken count is 1,200.

Taking delivery of the latest batch at Country Harvest, gift buyer Pat Towler, told the Gazette: “We must sell about seven or 800 of the chickens every year. People look forward to them arriving in the shop and buy them because they are for such a good cause.”

And when you have eaten your cream egg, the chickens make excellent boiled egg cosies – cheep at the price!