HUNDREDS of knitted hats are on their way to children in Albania who were left homeless by the 2019 earthquake in Durres, after a successful appeal from the former director of the Friends of Albania, Primrose Peacock, in the Church Times (News, 31 July).

Miss Peacock, who is 85, said on Monday that she had received 500 hats from across the country since her appeal was published. The first batches are due to be posted overseas next week to arrive in time for Christmas. They are being directed to Porto Romano, Durres, and Korce, where temperatures reach below freezing, and where snow is common in the winter months.

The hats — of the pull-on type, bonnet, beret, or balaclava, to fit children aged two to 12 — had been knitted mainly by individuals and parish knitting groups. “Only two were so bad they were binned,” she said.

On Monday, Miss Peacock received a further 67 hats from St James’s, Hereford, including a generous donation for postage beyond the 50p suggested, which others had also given.

Over the past two months, Miss Peacock had also received correspondence from knitters, she said, which “often reflected isolated loneliness” during the coronavirus lockdown, particularly among elderly single people. “There appears to be a fine line between occupational therapy and [a] response to an appeal.”

Any hats that were knitted in adult sizes have been donated to the Mary Potter Palliative Care Centre Associates, in Korce. The last dispatch of hats will be on 15 November, when the project ends.