A BURY woman is lending her knitting skills to a campaign to promote organ donation.

Linda Gardner has made a flock of sheep as part of the Lost Sheep campaign, set up by double lung transplant-survivor Joyce Herdson, from Radcliffe, earlier this year.

The 66-year-old, of Woodhill Fold, was inspired to join the crusade by her son Robert, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia three years ago and has since undergone a double stem cell transplant.

She said: "They couldn't find a bone marrow match for him and the chemotherapy didn't work, so he ended up having a double stem cell transplant two years ago.

"It has been a very tough time for us and we nearly lost him a couple of times, but he's doing absolutely brilliantly now and we are very proud of him.

"Even though this campaign isn't directly connected to Robert's disease, it is a very good cause. Organ donation is incredibly important and really makes the difference between life and death.

"Hopefully what we do will encourage people to sign up to the register and maybe save a life."

Linda began making the sheep, each of which is named after a loved one and the place they were knitted, during a touring holiday through France and Spain and soon became hooked.

The plan now is to send them all to Preston University, where her daughter Kathryn is a lecturer, to spread the word across campus.

"There are about 40 sheep and I'm absolutely sick of the sight of them," she joked.

"We thought it would be a good idea to let Kathryn take the sheep and drop them around the university so that the students can get involved and maybe create a bit of a buzz around the campus."

Mother-of-two Joyce came up with the idea for the campaign while recovering from her operation last year, having been diagnosed with incurable lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2012. The sheep were initially being placed around the Bury and Bolton area, but the aim is now to get them as far away as possible.

For more information on the Lost Sheep campaign: visit facebook.com/HomeforLostSheep or thelostsheep.org.uk