An East Ham pensioner is starring as Knitty Nora in a 2013 charity calendar for a Hackeny hospice.

Lilian John, aged 90, who has been knitting since the age of nine, appears in the calendar for St Joseph’s in Mare Street, Hackney, as a ‘knitty Nora’ covered from head to toe in wool with her friend Arlene.

Lilian said: “I was the fastest knitter in my class at school and I always knitted for my husband, my kids and myself. I used to get paid a shilling an ounce by the local knitting shop.”

Other hospice patients feature in wrestling or motor racing scenes and on trips to exotic beaches. One even appears as Popeye, complete with tattoos, pipe and can of spinach.

The specially commissioned calendar was created by St Joseph’s arts co-ordinator Susannah Hewlett.

She said: “Patients chose a hobby, interest or setting for which we made props and costumes. Using digital photography I created visual scenes to place patients within. It’s a fun and easy way to provide people with a bit of escapism.”

The calendar, titled These Are a Few of My Favourite Things, is on sale in the St Joseph’s cafe or from the fundraising department, priced �5.