Cheshire care home resident knits hundreds of dolls for children who have none

Mary Harcourt, who lives at Heathercroft care home in Warrington, spends her days knitting small dolls for children all over the world.

The 90-year-old, has always knitted Aran jumpers for her family but following a fall and breast cancer, she has been unable to do so as she now has limited use of her right arm and poor eyesight.

Despite this, she was determined to carry on with her beloved knitting.

Care home manager Helen Caul, who calls her "inspirational", said: “She went to the library and got a book on doll making. However the dolls were too big and difficult for Mary to cope with. She was then inspired by watching ‘the Borrowers’ (a film about a tiny family who live under the floor of a house and ‘borrow’ from the big people).

“So she asked her son to cut down some small needles for her to use and she has now designed her own range of beautiful, individual, small dolls.

“The staff very rarely see Mary without her knitting needles in her hand."

She is currently busy knitting 50 dolls that will be travelling to Sri Lanka in October to be distributed to orphanages.

Mary, who has lost count of how many dolls she has made, said: “I’m happy, it passes the time and my dolls are all over the world”.