Knit wits knit away at Wits
PARKTOWN – The legendary birthdays were merged into one with a record-breaking knitting marathon which took place at Wits.
Over 700 people took up the challenge to crochet simultaneously in one place for 27 minutes at the Linder Auditorium at the University of the Witwatersrand.
These ‘knit wits’ from 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela took up their fifth world-record attempt to crochet up a Guinness record-breaking storm.
The event undertaken in collaboration with Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, was also in celebration of the organisation’s fifth birthday and the birthday of Mozart who was born in 1756. The 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela initiative has won several awards and smashed world records in its desire to continue Madiba’s legacy by keeping thousands of people around the world warm.
“Beautiful music for a beautiful cause, conducted by maestro Richard Cock – what more could we ask for as a fifth birthday present?” said Carolyn Steyn, founder of the 67 Blankets initiative.
Nelson Mandela Foundation‘s Mandela Day outreach manager, Yase Godlo said in the year following the centenary of Madiba’s birth, they were honoured to continue their revolution of knitting in his name.
“We are thrilled to again be partnering with the 67 Blankets initiative, which continues to touch so many lives through the sterling work it does to propagate Madiba’s legacy and live his values of compassion and empathy. As they enter their fifth year and fifth world record attempt, we wish the ‘knit wits’ well as they again set out to make a concrete difference, stitch by stitch,” said Godlo.
When the cymbals clang, everyone began crocheting within the allotted time which is 27 minutes – a minute for every year that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. While the knit wits were crocheting up a storm, maestro Richard Cock was conducting musicians as they performed a selection of Mozart works. These included Elize Kruger playing one movement of a Mozart piano sonata, a string quartet performing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and a marimba band adding to the Mozart- and Madiba-inspired merriment.
Cock said, “The Johannesburg International Mozart Festival (JIMF) is extremely excited about teaming up with 67 Blankets for this world record attempt. JIMF loves getting involved in different things, and when we discovered the synergy between JIMF’s birthday, Mozart’s birthday and 67 Blankets’ birthday, we just couldn’t resist.”
Participants were requested to bring along cans of non-perishable food to benefit students in need at Wits University. This gesture of gratitude to the Wits Food Programme by the event organisers and participants was to help ensure that young people study with dignity.
The Wits Citizenship and Community Outreach (WCCO) office operates the food programme which is an institutional response to food insecurity among students at Wits.
For more information email 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela at info@67blankets.co.za
Email projects you are doing for the community to the editor of the Rosebank Killarney Gazette at ashtynm@caxton.co.za
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