A FUNERAL director has donated knitted and crocheted blankets to a church after hearing they endured several winters with no heating.
AJ Wakely in Ilminster organised a ‘blanket drive’ to help Minster church and donate knitted blankets to keep churchgoers warm.
The Minster installed a new boiler after going through winters with no heating but there were problems with its electrical supply.
The funeral director then decided to provide blankets after “a couple of extremely uncomfortable funerals” at the end of last year.
A spokesperson for AJ Wakely said: “I have been organising a blanket drive to help the Minster church in Ilminster which has had a problem over the last couple of winters with no heating.
“They had a new boiler installed but then there were problems with the electrical supply to the new boiler which needed some external work basically meaning the boiler was unable to be used until quite recently and the church has been cold.
“As funeral directors, we use the church regularly and after a couple of extremely uncomfortable funerals at the end of 2023, the idea came to me to provide some knitted or crocheted blankets.
“They could go in baskets at the end of pews so that people could use them to cover their knees or drape around their shoulders just to help a little.
“I actually saw it done in South Petherton a couple of Christmases ago and it was lovely.
“I put out a call to the community and we have even had donations from well outside of Ilminster.
“The photo was taken this morning of us presenting just some of the blankets to the vicar.
“It should be said that the boiler is now working, and the heating is on, however, it is very expensive to run and so it remains difficult to keep a big old stone church toasty warm.
“Hopefully, the blankets will be an ongoing help through the winters to come.
“We will take responsibility for storing the blankets out of season and laundering them.
“I would like to thank all the lovely people who have donated blankets – obviously, without them, this would never have been the success it has been.”
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