The knitting group at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, on Randolph Street, has produced over a dozen jumpers for The Penguin Foundation, which raises funds to protect the bird colony on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne.
The island is home to an estimated 40,000 penguins and other wildlife, as well as the foundation’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.
They first launched their “Knits for Nature Program” over 20 years ago, calling on generous knitters to produce jumpers to help save the lives of penguins in the event of oil spills.
The birds can ingest toxic oil while trying preen themselves after a spill. The rehabilitation jumpers are temporarily placed on the affected penguins until their feathers can be cleaned by rescue workers – potentially saving their lives.
The appeal proved so successful – with thousands of knitters across the world contributing – that the foundation now uses them to help raise vital funds for their ongoing work.
When Hazelgrove Court Care Home’s activities coordinator, Sharon Lewis, heard about the appeal she immediately turned to The Knitting Nannas.
The group, made up of residents ranging from their 80s to over 100 years of age, set to work producing colourful little jumpers before they were shipped to Australia.
It is not the first time the residents have taken up their knitting needles for wildlife causes. In December 2024, the group made national and international headlines when they produced blankets for orphaned baby rhinos in South Africa – including three-week-old calf Hercules, who had been attached by hyenas.
Joyce Wooffindin, 83, said: “I cannot believe I am knitting a jumper for a penguin, but this is the sort of thing we do at Hazelgrove.”
Joyce Baxtrem, 94, said: “I have knitted jumpers for both my children but have never knit for a penguin.”
Sharon said: “I love finding worthwhile knitting projects for our residents and they have loved doing these. We have now posted them to Australia and we’ve been in touch with the charity to make sure they arrived safely.
“Our Knitting Nannas group has proved exceptionally popular. The residents love getting involved and using their lifelong skills to support others. It gives them a sense of purpose and pride – and it’s always incredible to receive pictures of cute animals wearing their knitted items.”
Rebecca Passlow, executive officer at The Penguin Foundation, said: “How lovely to hear from The Knitting Nannas at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, in England, and thank you to them for their generous donation.
“The Penguin Foundation and Phillip Island Nature Park’s Knits for Nature programme has been hugely successful for over 20 years.
“Generous knitters and groups from all around the world answered the call to knit jumpers for little penguins to save their lives in the event of oil spills.
“To continue raising vital funds for the Penguin Foundation, we gladly still accept themed jumpers, which we now sell with plush penguin toys in our retail stores. These funds directly support penguin and wildlife rehabilitation, as well as research.”