YET another 40-plus boxes of blankets, jumpers, scarves, hats and woollen baby garments went off to Romania this week thanks to the efforts of Brecon’s knitters.

The team, coordinated by the Sisters at the Ursuline Convent in Brecon, have been knitting like crazy to provide items to guard against the cold of an east European winter.

The boxes - 43 in total - were packed up at the convent in Glamorgan Street for collection by Paul Hare of the South Wales branch of the Romanian Aid Foundation. The items will now be transported to the city of Dorohoi in north-eastern Romania for distribution to poor families and children living in orphanages.

The knitting team's efforts are packed into empty banana boxes donated by a local supemarket. Once the boxes are unpacked in Romania, they will be recycled as floor covering or wall support.

Much of the wool the team uses is also donated - with some of the knitters so dedicated to the cause they buy the wool they make their garments with themselves.

A consignment of boxes is usually sent off by the nuns two or three times a year.

The knitting has been carrying on since 1974 when the nuns began donating knitted items to Save The Children. The Romanian Aid Foundation became the nuns' charity of choice in 2014.

Sister Finnian Carr thanked the knitters and their supporters for all their efforts. She said: "It's amazing the support we get from across Brecon and Radnorshire.

"If it wasn't for the generosity of the people who give up their time and money, we would not be able to do this."

Dorohoi is an impoverished and very neglected city of about 22,000 people in north-eastern Romania.