Members of the Slimming World Group, which meets at the Mount Pleasant Club, have been knitting little hats for Innocent smoothie bottles as part of a campaign run by Innocent and Sainsbury's.

The smoothies themselves are good for weight loss, while the knitting keeps their hands and brains occupied so that they are not thinking about food.

Julie Collis, who runs the Slimming World group in Haverhill, and who also works at the town's Sainsbury's store, said: "This is a fantastic charity, everyone hopefully will get old one day and will appreciate all the good things that the Age Concern charity does for the elderly, including helping them to keep warm in the winter.

"My slimmers loved the quirky idea of knitting these little hats.

"They are being really creative and are so preoccupied with knitting that the weight is falling off them.

"I just wish that I had learned to knit. It is a dying skill and my members are patiently giving me lessons."

The knitting campaign is an annual event and nationally last year saw Sainsbury's staff and support groups knit 23,250 hats – raising £11,625.