Off to Ireland

Five local men will be heading halfway around the world later this year to represent Australia in the 2023 International Tag Federation World Cup.

The Kiama and Gerringong locals – Jarvis Austin, Kynan Ward, Cooper Lee, Cooper Roberts and Keiron Duncan – will join 2,000 players across 20 nations in Limerick, Ireland, in early August.

The Kiama branch of the Knitters Guild NSW is 21 years young.

Many of the founding members were among those who gathered last weekend at the Uniting Church to celebrate the anniversary of the organisation started on February 18, 2002.

The occasion brought a strong call for younger members to come along and learn the age-old arts of knitting, crochet, dying and spinning wool, scrumbling (freeform knitting or crochet), frame weaving, Tunisian crochet and more.

Iman Azis, the branch’s secretary, joined the group 18 months ago and says that as a new member she feels really privileged to be part of such a group of really strong women who have great skills that they are able and willing to share with everyone.

“There were 21 inaugural members,” says Iman.

“Sadly, some have passed on but eight are still current members today, which is a wonderful achievement.”

One inaugural member, Pat Wilson, won Best in Show at the Kiama Show for a tablecloth she made while in hospital, as well as taking away three more 1st prizes and three 2nd prizes,

Sue Daley, the inaugural Convenor of the group in 2002, says that post COVID – “which made a mess of everything” – the group needs to refocus.

“We need to find out what really interests us, get reorganised, modernize and motivated. It’s alright sitting around knitting, but we need to learn something new, even though we are old,” she says.

The group already has a tradition of organising top class speakers, workshops and excursions to learn new skills, as well as being committed to charitable work for the Homeless Hub, Wrapt in Love and Project Kindness.

“Wrapt is getting a big consignment together for Turkiye and Syria. How are those people living through the winter without a home?” asks Boni Maywald from Wrapt.

You can visit the group up to three times to see if it’s the right fit before joining the Knitters’ Guild NSW and then the local branch.

Kiama Knitters meet the 3rd Saturday of every month at the Kiama Uniting Church, Manning St, 1-4pm.

by Perrie Croshaw

Thursday 2 March, 7pm at Fillmore’s (behind the Patisserie on Manning St), Minnamurra Progress Association is also continuing its tradition of hosting a Meet the Candidates event, dedicating its March meeting to the event. Each candidate will speak, and then questions submitted by the public will be pulled out of the hat

Tuesday 7 March, Minnamurra Progress Hall, 7.15pm With Central Precinct not holding an event, the Kiama Uniting Church has stepped up. Questions should be emailed to kiamaunitingchurch@ outlook.com beforehand.

Saturday 4 March, Kiama Uniting Church Hall, Manning St, 4pm