POLICE staff who deal with 999 calls have turned their hand to knitting to help our troops in Afghanistan keep warm at night.

Workers from the force control room at West Mercia Police headquarters in Worcester have been making woollen beanie hats as part of a Royal British Legion appeal.

In their spare time, the team and their relatives have managed to knit more than 100 hats which will go straight to soldiers fighting on the frontline.

Force control supervisor Joan Turnbull came up with the idea after noticing a flyer from the Royal British Legion in a shop.

She said: “I found out that the legion was looking for volunteers to knit for our troops out in Afghanistan.

“I’ve heard it gets as cold as minus three degrees out there, so thought it was a good idea.

“I thought it would be something good to do at work so I sent out an e-mail about it. A lot of the girls have done knitting before but many of them hadn’t done any for ages. It was quite a simple pattern.

“It was all done in our spare time though – not while we have been dealing with 999 calls.”

Mrs Turnbull said about 25 members of staff had been involved, with relatives taking part as well.

So far, the team has knitted 120 hats which have been handed over to the Royal British Legion and will now be sent out to soldiers from the Mercian Regiment.

Mrs Turnbull said Dot Hughes, whose daughter works in the control room, deserves a special mention after knitting 50 hats on her own.

Mrs Turnbull said: “The RBL are in close contact with the Mercian Regiment, which is currently out in Afghanistan so it is good to know that the hats are going to our local troops out there.

“We just wanted to do our bit to try and help them.”