CREATIVE knitters in Weymouth are helping dementia sufferers in their latest project.

Members of the Let’s Make It community art group, who make things for a good cause, have made more than 35 ‘twiddlemuffs’.

The items are knitted muffs with an item attached so that a person with dementia can ‘twiddle’ in their hands. It is said that sufferers often have restless hands and like to have something to keep their hands occupied.

Let’s Make It brings together residents from all walks of life in the borough and outlying areas to learn new skills and make crafts in a relaxed social setting. They have contributed to Weymouth Carnival and made decorations to mark the 2012 Olympics.

The twiddlemuffs will be presented tomorrow at Westhaven Hospital by borough mayor Christine James. Some will also go to Portland Community Hospital.

Each muff has taken more than five hours to make. Similar muffs can be purchased on the internet for around £35.

Community development worker for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Julie Hursthouse, who co-ordinates Let’s Make It, said the Weymouth & Portland Dementia Action Alliance is working hard with volunteers to try and make the area a dementia-friendly town.

She said volunteers from the group felt very strong about trying to support people who are living with dementia and every volunteer who has made the muffs has been affected by dementia in one form or another.

Cllr James, whose is supporting Weymouth & Portland Dementia Action Alliance as one of her mayoral charities, said: “The muffs are wonderful – they have items on the inside and the outside of the muff, which will not only keep hands warm but have simulating items attached to the muffs to ‘twiddle’ with.”