Pensioner Irene Mackenzie is knitting comforters for people with dementia and raising money for charity after she was inspired by the actions of Captain Tom Moore.

Irene, who lives in Haddington, has spent her time in lockdown knitting twiddle muffs and aims to produce 100 to donate to Alzheimer Scotland.

The colourful muffs provide people with 'restless hands' a distraction and can be a comfort and distraction for some.

Irene, 89, first began producing them six months ago and has used her time at home to challenge herself with her new target.

And she has launched a JustGiving page for people to support her efforts and donate to Alzheimer Scotland at the same time.

She said: "Like so many elderly and vulnerable people, I’ve found the recent Coronavirus lockdown situation difficult to adjust to in numerous ways.

"Luckily for me, whilst nowadays I’m a bit unsteady on my feet, I’m still very keen and pretty capable of doing all sorts of crafts and so have been filling the many hours, days and weeks of social isolation by knitting twiddle muffs.

"There are actually several advantages to knitting twiddle muffs.  Of course, the first and most important benefit is to the recipients ... people with dementia often have restless hands and like to have something to keep their hands occupied.

"A twiddle muff provides a wonderful source of visual, tactile and sensory stimulation, and keeps hands snug and warm at the same time.

"But I’ve found there are also benefits for me too – not only is knitting keeping me physically and mentally occupied, it’s also making a great dent in my enormous stock of gorgeous textured and coloured wool that I’ve been buying and hoarding for years ... one of my guilty pleasures!"

So far Irene, who lives in Monk Muir Park, has doubled her target of £500 donations on her JustGiving page which stands at £1,115.

She said: "Watching Captain Tom’s recent endeavours to raise such an awesome amount for the NHS has been an inspiration to us all."

Irene is asking everyone to support her as she carries on knitting by donating to the charity.

She said: "I’m now delighted to be donating all the twiddle muffs I’m knitting to Alzheimer Scotland for distribution to those in need and I’ve set myself a target of knitting a total of 100 muffs.

"To help motivate me I’m hoping that all you generous people might help me raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland, which is Scotland’s national dementia charity, whose aim is to make sure that nobody faces dementia alone.

"They provide support and information to people with dementia, their carers and families, including providing a 24 hour freephone Dementia Helpline.

"Alzheimer Scotland campaigns for the rights of people with dementia and funds vital dementia research.  Please donate what you can to inspire me to keep these knitting needles clacking."

To donate go to bit.ly/3aC5OrO