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Ace Fund grant for Bootle sewing project

A Bootle-based sewing project that will create bespoke items of clothing for cancer sufferers and premature babies is the latest organisation to receive funding from a south Sefton grant scheme.

Sew Good has received a £500 grant from the Regenerus Ace Fund for a new initiative that will also help grieving families.

Volunteers from the project will use their sewing and dressmaking skills to make items of headwear for cancer patients in a local hospital who are losing their hair because of chemotherapy. They will also make bags to enable patients to carry medical equipment such as syringes around discreetly.

The project will also include the creation of tiny outfits and pram-sized blankets for babies in the maternity unit.

In addition, Sew Good will be working with a local hospice to create special jewellery purses and larger bags which they can use to return patients’ belongings to relatives after they have passed away.

The Ace Fund grant will be used to buy a range of fabric and haberdashery supplies including cotton, buttons, zips and decorative edgings.

Norma Fessey from Sew Good said the new project is designed to offer a helping hand to south Sefton residents at particularly stressful periods in their lives.

She explained: “We hope that these hand-made items, created with a lot of thought and care, will show the residents who receive them that people in their community care about the problems they are facing.”

Regenerus Chief Executive, Cate Murphy, added: “We are delighted to be able to support this very caring project which will make a difference to the lives of local residents at a time when they are in very difficult circumstances.”

Following new sponsorship from four local businesses the Regenerus Ace Fund will in future provide a grant of £700 each month to a project that will help to improve life in the organisation’s core south Sefton operating area.

Applications from established community and voluntary organisations are welcome, but the Ace Fund is also open to informal groups of local residents joining forces to work on a one-off, environment-related project.