A NEW breed of charity fund-raising ducks has been seen nesting in Dulverton.

The Beaky Ducks are descended from the Dulverton Ducks which became famous in 2017 and were even featured on television.

The cute knitted ducks were made by volunteers in Dulverton and sold in the local Thrift Shop to local people and visitors from all over the world to raise funds for the community’s Dulverton Town Hall.

Then, in 2022 the volunteers knitted blue and yellow Dohlyad Ducks to support refugees from Ukraine, taking their name from the Ukrainian word for ‘care’.

Cancer patients in Musgrove Park Hospital's Beacon Centre are being helped by sales of Beaky Ducks in Dulverton.
Cancer patients in Musgrove Park Hospital's Beacon Centre are being helped by sales of Beaky Ducks in Dulverton. ( )

Now, town hall charity trustee Shuna Bland together with Gwynneth Jarman and seven other volunteers have knitted a new version of the famous duck, named Beaky Duck.

The new version of the duck will be sold to raise funds for Musgrove Park Hospital’s Beacon Centre Fund, which provides care for cancer patients and their loved ones.

Beaky Duck is bright pink with sparkly pink wings and head and costs £3.

The knitters have produced more than 200 Beaky Ducks and they are available in Dulverton’s Thrift Shop.

Ms Bland said many people buying the ducks had been ‘very generous with donations’.

She said: “It is a cause that has touched everyone’s hearts.

“The knitters and the volunteers have all been fantastic.”

Musgrove Park Hospital’s Beacon Centre Fund supports the centre in developing the space and improving patient experience and wellbeing in cancer care.

The fund is currently partnering with the Beacon Day Unit to support an increase in space for more treatment chairs from 24 to 36.

It plans to reconfigure the area to make the space feel less clinical and more welcoming.

The chairs cost about £2,000 and can be used between two to six times a day all year round, giving a total of about 2,000 uses per year.

Recently, the Beacon Centre Fund has paid £3,900 for a radiotherapy app prototype, £4,800 for design and print of a cancer manual, £17,000 on scalp cooling equipment, £56,000 for the Beacon Centre self-check in kiosks, and has supported staff education with £200,000 since 2014.