A MINISTER'S wife is spreading the good word - about the benefits of crafts and crochet while helping charity.

Creative queen Mairi Coventry hopes to create a community of crafters from her new shop in Greenock's town centre.

She is also using her passion for crafts to help her husband Paul in his mission at Greenock Baptist Church minister.

In a bid to celebrate the power of creativity she opened the doors of her premises - The Wee Crafty Owl - for a charity coffee morning.

Mairi, 55, said: "Activities like crochet, crafts and knitting are really good for people's mental health.

"When you do an activity like knitting you focus on what you are doing and you forget your worries.

"It is a great way to get out to chat to people as well.

"I want the Wee Crafty Owl to be somewhere people come for company.

"There are a lot of people on their own out there and the only time they get a chat is when they come into a shop.

"I sit outside the shop with a chair and crochet and it is amazing the people who stop to talk.

"It is a great way to get passers-by talking.

"I want to people to come in here and spend time with us."

To encourage people to feel part of the community Mairi decided that Ardgowan Hospice should benefit from the coffee morning.

Mairi, who has four grown up children, added: "We want people to come in, sit down and chat.

"The hospice is a charity that touches so many people."

Mairi also runs craft groups at Greenock Baptist Church, which plays a big role in the wider community.

Mairi added: "There is a growing appetite for crafts. I have loved things like knitting and crochet since I was a wee girl. It was passed on from my mum and gran."

Ardgowan Hospice fundraiser officer Elaine McNeill was delighted to be presented with a donation of £130 from the coffee morning.

She said: "It is wonderful to be supported in this way by Mairi and her new shop."