EVEN bishops can sew. Under instruction from Frances Townsend, the Bishop of Brixworth, the Rt Revd John Holbrook, made a colourful girl's dress out of a surplus pillowcase. He was doing his bit in the project "Dress a Girl Around the World", which uses recycled materials to make simple clothes for girls in the poorer parts of Africa, India, and the Philippines.

Having started in the United States, the project has been taken up in a big way in Peterborough diocese. Materials of all sorts are being used - redundant curtains, duvet covers, pillowcases, even T-shirts. It seems that a man's T-shirt can usefully be turned into children's shorts. And those who prefer to knit are making baby clothes for the same project.

I am told that, in some of the poorest countries, newborn babies can be wrapped in newspaper; so a simple knitted top and woolly hat seem infinitely preferable.