Pictured above: Miss Barbra Williams gets to work on another blanket, watched by (left to right) Lynda Cooke from Riverside, Mansell site manager Martin Sollars and Jodie Fisher from Riverside

Elderly residents of a new Sandwell housing regeneration development have been saying a big "thank you" to Mansell and Riverside employees who made and distributed blankets to help them keep out the cold.

Mansell and Riverside staff and relatives, along with Harvills Hawthorn resident and super-knitter Miss Barbra Williams, knitted and crocheted more than 40 blankets for elderly residents on the estate to keep them warm during the recent freezing temperatures earlier this year.

Representatives from Mansell - who are working on a multi-million pound urban regeneration programme in Sandwell - and Riverside delivered the blankets to the oldest residents along with winter survival kits donated by the Salvation Army and Sandwell Primary Care Trust. These kits included light bulbs, gloves, soup, a personal alarm and information on how to keep warm.

Mansell's Stourbridge-based Western Region Partnership Housing division is carrying out the Sandwell Pathfinder PFI project work on behalf of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Riverside.

Mansell's divisional head of Partnership Housing, Simon Liversage said, "Many of the residents couldn't possibly leave their houses to equip themselves with these badly-needed items so we were delighted to come to their aid and make sure they didn't suffer from the extreme cold we had earlier in the year."