Staff at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital have been overwhelmed by kindness following an appeal for help on facebook.

Ward Housekeeper, Sarah Hames, issued the call-out via the hospital’s facebook page after the Labour and Delivery Ward began to run short of knitted hats for newborns.

Within hours, the appeal had been shared far and wide, reaching in excess of 215,000 people in the first 24 hours. And the buzz created by the post has now translated into hundreds of new baby hats, bundles of which are continuing to arrive daily at the Women and Children’s Hospital.

Sarah says:

“We like to be able to give every baby born in the hospital a knitted hat which they can take away, as it then makes a lovely keepsake for both parents and the child in the years to come.

“We have a number of groups who knit for us on a regular basis to ensure both newborns and premature babies can each receive a hat.

“Due to recent holidays and other reasons, we began to get low on hats, and knowing that knitting is becoming more popular as a hobby again, we thought we’d ask to see if anyone could help us and the babies in our care in the short term.”

Over 500 knitted hats have already been received since the original request was made two weeks ago.

“Local knitters have done us proud, but hats have also been received from as far afield as Scarborough and Scotland,” Sarah continues.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of people; we had no idea when we asked for knitters to help plug the gap that we would receive so many beautiful hats, and we appreciate every single one.”

Staff on the Labour and Delivery Ward are sending thank you cards to those who supply their contact details with their parcels.

The hospital continues to welcome donations of knitted hats only. Hats must be close knit and washable to 60 degrees. Donations should be addressed to the Ward Coordinator, Labour and Delivery Ward, Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Hull HU3 2JZ.