LEDBURY Rotarians were privileged to hear an inspiring and moving talk by Carol Wright, who is a member of a small sewing group in Ledbury.

Carol learned about Chain of Hope, an organisation that exists to provide treatment for children who are severely ill suffering from cardiac diseases, through her daughter, Susan, who worked as a nurse in Brompton.

Carol then became aware of the work being done mostly by volunteers including leading heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.

Prof Yacoub learned about the plight of children overseas who had no access to the medical procedures and with his interest in global healthcare, he and volunteer nursing and support teams have brought those young people to the UK and Europe for the most serious open and closed-heart surgery.

There are also overseas missions in Egypt, Ethiopia, Jamaica and Mozambique. It was in Mozambique that Carol’s daughter, Susan had worked for the charity and she and two other nurses had been passengers in a bus which had a tyre blowout and crashed, killing all three.

Carol went to visit the hospital in Jamaica where her daughter had also worked and while there was shown the laboratories where she saw photographs of diseased tissues in hearts.

These amazing pictures inspired her to draw designs and print the images onto patterns for fabric which she and other members of the sewing group could embroider in order to raise funds to help this extraordinary charity.

The five large-framed articles with intricate stitches, colours, sparkles and embellishments were taken to Mozambique and now decorate the wards in the hospital where Susan and her friends worked.

Carol met Prof Yacoub, who admired her work and she is now in the process of embroidering a picture for him. JAN LONG