Maureen Parkinson appealed for readers' help when she ran out of wool to make jumpers which are sent to children in Africa for the Feed the Children charity.

In the past few days, she has been given more than 50 bags of wool – and they just keep coming.

The 82-year-old, of The Saltings, Langstone, said: 'I've been absolutely overwhelmed by the response. Yesterday I had a call from a gentleman who said he had some wool for me.

'It was actually brand new and when I asked him where he'd got it from he said he'd spent £100 on it because he likes to help charity. I was totally amazed.

'There has been such a big response that I'm overwhelmed.'

Mrs Parkinson has been knitting for charity for the past 30 years and believes she has knitted 3,000 stripey jumpers with odd bits of wool in that time.

She knits constantly to keep her mind stimulated and her favourite pass time is to sit in front of the television watching Countdown while whizzing through another of her creations.

The problem now is that she has too much wool. If you need some wool contact our reporter Elise Brewerton on (023) 9244 1706 or e-mail her on elise.brewerton @thenews.co.uk