Beryl Paul at Griffith Central Markets on Saturday 17 September. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Griffith’s 79-year-old grandma Beryl Paul has dedicated her retirement to knitting garments to raise money for The Fred Hollows Foundation, a charity that funds eye health care to those in developing nations.
Ms Paul spends around three to four hours per day on her needlework. She makes toys, baby clothes, tea cosies and the like, sells her products at fates and local markets, then deposits everything she earns into The Fred Hollows Foundation charity bank account.
She said a chance meeting in a church in the late 1970s with the late Fred Hollows, the acclaimed eye surgeon who launched the charity, was a life-changing moment for her.
“He was such a funny and inspiring man. He told me that doing nothing is not an option,” Ms Paul said.
“I figured the bit of money I’m going to earn for my knitting is not going to change my life. But if I give it to someone who needs eye surgery, it will certainly change theirs.
“I want to be able to do whatever I can to help.”
Ms Paul is also part of the Griffith Natty Knitters, a group of grandmas who have been knitting together at Griffith City Library every Saturday since 2007. The knitters started as a group of friends making garments and toys for local events, but before long they joined a variety of charity movements that knit for good causes.
The group have knitted an entire garden that went on display at Griffith’s Pioneer Park, including plants, flowers and a dog kennel. They also make toys for the local ambulance services, who give them to children impacted by trauma.
Ms Paul’s products. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Ms Paul’s main charity of choice is The Fred Hollows Foundation. Most of their work, spread across 25 developing nations, is aimed at training local eye doctors, nurses and health workers to deliver affordable eye health care and treatment to those who cannot afford it.
She has been knitting regularly ever since she moved to Griffith 14 years ago, to be close to her daughter and grandkids. Ms Paul has been married to husband Richard for 58 years. She attributes her marital longevity to two factors: “I keep my mouth shut and never pick a fight I can’t win,” she joked.
On Saturday 17 September, she set up a stall at the newly instituted Griffith Central Market Day, where stallholders sell a variety of products on the third Saturday of every month. The event is now so popular that the usually sedate shopping centre seems like Westfield Bondi on market days, when parking places are at a premium and throngs of people edge their way through the stalls.
Ms Paul will return to the next Griffith Central Market Day, which is scheduled for Saturday 15 October. Further information can be found on the Griffith Central Facebook page.
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