WHILE the Great Tapestry of Scotland’s proposed move to the Borders has been making the headlines recently, a new group in the region has been working on their own grand design.

The Focus Crochet group, which held its first meeting in Galashiels in March, has created a large blanket which it plans to raffle at the Macmillan Big Coffee Morning on Wednesday, September 24, from 9.30am to 11.30am.

It attracts around a dozen regulars to the classes every week and each has crocheted squares for the blanket.

Galashiels Community Council secretary Tracey Alder, who helps run the group, said: “It looks lovely and I am very proud of the ladies and what they have achieved in such a short time.

“I was taught to crochet by an old aunt when I was five, I’m disabled and thought it would be something I could teach sitting down.

“Tackling teaching a skill has given me lots of confidence.” The Crochet Group meets at the Focus Centre in Livingstone Place, Galashiels, every Wednesday, from 9.30am to 11.30am. A six week session costs £10.

With the blanket finished the group is now working on a World War One wall hanging depicting a poppy field scene to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of war in August 1914.

They plan to donate the finished work to the Galashiels branch of The Royal British Legion and hope to have it completed in time for Remembrance Day in November.

Everyone is invited along the coffee morning next week for a coffee and a yummy cake.