Oaks residents come to the party

Marion Pinfold with one of the prized quilts.

Flood-ravaged families in Hawkes Bay, first responders, and low-income families in south Auckland are benefiting from the work of an enthusiastic group of Cambridge Oaks Village residents.

Soon after Cambridge Oaks opened around 2019, one of the many groups formed within the village was a craft group. Comprising knitters and sewers, the group gravitated to focus on quilting. Membership over the past four years has grown to about 15 women, about half sewers and half knitters.

The group meet twice a week, usually for five hours in each session, meaning that an impressive 150 hours labour each week goes into our work. Each member typically has one or two quilts on the go at any time.

Quilting is quite a challenge. It’s expensive in both time and materials, and there’s a real precision required to selecting exactly the right colour matches.

We’ve been lucky to have generous donations towards our materials like backing and batting from groups such as Cambridge Lions, as well as residents within our village. And we’re lucky being in a village with ample community space where we can spread our work out easily across the tables.

It was the Hawke’s Bay floods that really focused us on cranking up production. Early this year 27 quilts were sent to Gisborne though a church organisation. They were followed by another 12 quilts and some blankets to Wairoa. Now a marae out of Napier which has become “home” to 30 children and some adults will become the next group to benefit and the quilters hope to deliver these in person this month.

The quilts, many of which are collectors’ standard, have also become sought after as raffle prizes for village residents, with proceeds used to buy more materials.

Our group have found the projects have given inspiration, focus and meaning to our gatherings. The results have been astounding and well received.

Village manager Sarah Turpitt is thrilled with the group.

“Cambridge Oaks has a unique, vibrant village culture, and it is great to see so many residents give so willingly of their time, get involved, and develop special friendships,” she says.

“It’s particularly inspiring to witness the impact Cambridge Oaks residents have on the wider community through voluntary contributions such as this”.