Weekend Wonders

(Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

27-29th September 2013

There has been a carnival atmosphere in Skipton this weekend with not one, but two fantastic events taking place and the Embroiderers' Guild have been at both!  

The Yarndale Festival brought the town to a standstill (quite literally since there were so many cars and coaches descending on the venue).  Miles of bunting made from crocheted pennants sent from all around the world festooned the halls of the usually dour Auction Mart.  They continued outside, around the trees, along the fences, through the park and into town leading the many thousands of visitors to this hub of creativity. The Guild had display in the entrance hallway with examples of work and details of our programme for this year and 2014. Many of us took turns to man the stand and we enjoyed meeting visitors from as far away as America, Germany and Spain.  Guild Secretary and organiser, Brigida Martino said "It was lovely to talk to people about the Guild and hear about their embroidery projects. We have been trying to dispel the myth that you need to be "good at embroidery" to join the Guild. Everyone is welcome at our meetings."

The other, but no less important event, was the Skipton Puppet Festival which took place at various venues around the town, including several marquees, a yurt and a very tiny caravan.  

Over the last six months a group of Guild members have been working with Broughton Road Women's Group and artist Jackie Lunn to make a triptych of story cloths telling how group of farmers from Kashmir swapped a life in the fields for the textile mills of North Yorkshire in the 1960's.  

The cloths are made from felted wool and hand-painted calico and are embellished with the stories of life in the old country, the journey to Skipton, work in the local mills and settling in the community.  They tell of changing means of communication: telegram, letter, cassette tapes, phone and now Skype.  It is a celebration of the women's cultural roots and their life as modern British-Asians.  The cloths were displayed on board the Kennet barge which has also played a part in this story as it brought bales of Australian wool from the Liverpool docks to the mills of North Yorkshire.

It has been an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable weekend.  Thank you to everyone who helped to make both of these events happen.

Photos Brigida Martino, Claire Ketteman

AGM

(Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

Monday 16th September
Members returned this month from their summer holidays full of tales of quaint haberdashery shops and textile treasures gleaned from far-flung places.  We started with our usual stitching session and an informal show-and-tell as items were brought in for the forthcoming Yarndale Festival which takes place 28/29th September at Skipton Auction Mart.  Nan Clough brought in the fabulous crochet blanket shown in the photo.

After an excellent Jacob's join lunch we settled down to the AGM.  Jane Holmes read the minutes of last year's AGM and thanked the outgoing committee for all their hard work. Jane and Eileen Hillery resigned as Chair and Treasurer respectively and Jan Dowman resigned from the committee so that she may focus on Grassington Guild.  Jill Maloney was duly elected as the new Chair along with Claire Ketteman as Treasurer and Brigida Martino as Secretary.  Christine Patrick takes over as Programme Secretary for 2014. Clare Hutchinson and Sally McGonigle join the committee for 2013/14.

Photo:  Clare Hutchinson