Friends
of Gawthorpe
Email: friendsofgawthorpe@gmail.com
Charity
No: 507451
Newsletter - May 2021
Hello
and welcome to our May newsletter.
I
hope during the coming months we will be able to meet again both indoors as
well as outdoors. Let us all hope for a
lovely summer when we can stroll round the grounds of Gawthorpe and maybe bring
the family and a picnic. Am I being too
optimistic? I hope not.
Gawthorpe Hall
The Hall is reopening to visitors from Wednesday 19th
May. It will be open 4 days a week (Wed to Sat) initially and then adding
Sundays on to that from the start of July.
The Hall opens at 12pm –
5pm, last entry 4.15pm. There is a booking system which is on the LCC Museum
service website for booking and safe visiting
information. https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/lei.../museums/gawthorpe-hall/ and
there is a link from the National Trust and Gawthorpe Textiles Collection
websites.
The National Trust have permanently closed their tearoom.
FACEBOOK
FACEBOOK, love it or loath
it, Facebook is great for connecting people, old friends, school friends,
people with matching interests and all those new friends you haven’t connected
with, yet.
We have all missed those connections with friends and family over this past year.
Did you know that The Friends of Gawthorpe have their own Facebook page?
This gives us the opportunity to interact with our members even though we can’t all travel to Gawthorpe, meet for coffee, have a natter and share a bit of gossip etc.
You need to search for The Friends of Gawthorpe once you have logged on to Facebook.
Click on the page that comes up and click ‘LIKE’. That way you will see posts automatically come up on your news feed (I’m getting technical here!)
We would love you to make a comment about Gawthorpe. A nice one, of course. To do that you need to click on the Tab ‘Posts’ or ‘Community’ at the top of your screen. Tell us what you enjoy about Gawthorpe. Tell us what you are most looking forward to, this summer. Is there a particular craft skill you might like to take a class on? Do you have a great idea for fundraising which we could organise?
We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be having our annual Christmas sale, this year. We are looking for new ideas of items to make which the visitors would love to buy as gifts for themselves or for their loved ones. Post a picture of your suggestion, tell us how many you could make, offer some simple instructions or a simple ‘How To’ diagram.
We are also looking for a Social Media wiz, so if Twitter or Instagram is your particular thing, please do get in touch with Maureen (anoffice_temp@yahoo.co.uk) to find out more. Many thanks.
News from
Christine - National Trust Ranger
I have
been able to get the volunteers back (under safe working practices) and the
team have been doing some really great work. We have been concentrating on the
picnic areas and flower beds, the walled garden, footpaths and of course the
natural play area. Your donation has been put to good use this past month to
make and install a bird screen, accompanied by a bird table and some bird
carvings. We are now moving onto the ‘spider’ and this has proven tricker than
first thought, with all the different angles, slopes and spans the ex-engineer
volunteers are finding this a great task to get their teeth into!
Laying out the Spider
Natural Bird Screen
We have
also completed our annual breeding bird survey with good counts of different
bird species including moorhens on the pond, jays near the office, garden
warbler in the walled garden and whitethroat at the swamp, and of course not to
forget our many woodland bird assemblages including nuthatches, tit species,
wrens, robins, blackbirds, chiffchaff and chaffinches. It was lovely to walk
amongst the bluebells whilst hearing the morning bird song, if you get a chance
do come for a walk around the woods it is beautiful at this time of year.
LCC – News
from the Hall
Can I say thank you so
much to everyone that has helped with making the quilt, it is just fabulous and
looks just perfect on the bed in the Dressing Room. I will make a label
to go in the room and might ask you for a bit of the detail.
I put it out on the
Museum Service's twitter account (which has over 10.3k followers), you can see
that below and it has had a lovely comment from BAfM at the bottom. I
have asked if they want an article about it for their magazine (if they are
still doing that?) and will let you know what they say.
I would also like to
do a press release about it, perhaps after we have reopened later in the year.
I will list the
quilt on the LCC inventory of objects at Gawthorpe Hall, so that there is a way
of recording who made it, when and why and which room it is displayed in – and
in the future it doesn’t get mixed up with Gawthorpe Textiles Collection
objects, I will pass over any paperwork to FOG. I have attached some of
the photos that I took yesterday but we do need to do some more.
Please pass on my
thanks to everyone who was involved with this, and thanks again for all of the
hard work.
Rachel
Upcoming Talks in Our Online
Programme
Our current online talks programme will run up to the end of June and we
would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us by
attending these events so far.
We've had some great guest speakers as well as our own inhouse font of all
textile knowledge, Curator Rachel. It has been fantastic to be able to share
aspects of the collection that often don't have an opportunity to be seen. We
hope that you've found lots to interest you throughout the past year!
There's still time to book on our upcoming events via Eventbrite.
Last few places available on Costume Inside and Out (Repeat Showing) Thursday 27 May, 7pm
Collection
Showcase: Lace (Repeat Showing) Thursday 10 June, 7pm
Collection
Showcase: Shoes Thursday 24 June, 7pm
We'll be adding a new season of talks to Eventbrite later in the year
so look out for details in future newsletters.
Animation Project to Bring Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth's Story to Life Announced
We're very excited that Community
Rail Lancashire have secured funding to create an animated film about none
other than our own Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth. Leading on from the 2018
publication Discover Amazing Women by Rail, Huckleberry Films have been
commissioned to create the film. The project is part of an initiative to
promote leisure use of the Todmorden Curve rail service and encourage visits to
the local area. We're looking forward to supporting the research behind the
film and getting involved in introducing Rachel's life and textile collection
to local school children taking part in the project.
Read more about the
project on the CRL website.
Floralia Exhibition – Nikki Parmenter
Floralia, our exhibition by Nikki Parmenter will continue to run through the 2021 season. This vibrant exhibition by the Cheshire based mixed media textile artist includes two specially created pieces, an impressive 7-foot-tall Flower Power Tower which takes its form from 17th Century Dutch ceramic tulip vases and the Gawthorpe Casket, both of which combine motifs from Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth’s life and pieces in the collection such as the Tree of Life bed hangings and the Elizabethan herb pillow. Alongside these are other stunning sculptural pieces such as the Silk Peacock originally made for an exhibition at Macclesfield Silk Museum. The piece is inspired by Indian iconography, Thomas Wardle and William Morris; modelling its shape on a crinoline dress. Nikki’s pieces have layers of symbolism and meaning as well as strong environmental themes running through them, which create wonderful stories to be explored. Nikki recycles and upcycles lots of materials in her pieces to give them their 3D forms - anything from pipe insulation and lino to yogurt pots and milk cartons are used alongside fabrics and threads – not that you would ever know, given the layers of embellishment and her expert handling of the materials.
Lancashire’s Textile Treasures
GTC’s Lancashire’s Textile Treasures: Connecting Communities; Curating Heritage is one of 12 projects selected nationally to receive funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund Digital Skills for Heritage initiative. Lancashire’s Textile Treasures is a two-year collaborative project between the Textiles Collection, University of Central Lancashire and Super Slow Way. The project will use heritage textiles as a catalyst for engaging and upskilling community members to become digital community curators, building connections, sharing knowledge and skills. We will work with community members from a range of cultural backgrounds to explore the multi-cultural significance of textiles, learning from participants, creating connections and drawing out personal, cultural, social and heritage-based stories. We will also work with other heritage venues, archives and commercial organisations within the region and beyond to digitally map textile heritage assets. From this we will produce a resource which allows us to better understand what we hold and care for in the region and to create opportunities for greater collaboration in sharing it with the public.
Please
visit our website for more information www.gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
I hope there will
be something in in the Newsletter of interest to everyone.
Best wishes
Dianne
Keep up to date with our
blog: www.friendsofgawthorpe.blogspot.co.uk
or
Friends of Gawthorpe
Charity No: 507451
December News 2020
Dear Friends,
Now we’re in
December, like me, many of you will probably be thinking about Christmas and
all the things you normally look forward to at this time of year, one being the
Victorian Christmas weekend event in the Hall and catching up with friends
there. Although we can’t actually meet
up we can still think of everyone and perhaps we don’t have to miss out
completely, we could all raise a glass or cup to all our Friends on Christmas
Eve?
The quilt is progressing slowly,
but is gradually being assembled. It is
hard for members to get together. An
applique border had now been added. How
long will it be before we can get back together to add the wadding and the
backing?
Corner detail
Please go
to the Gawthorpe Textiles web site for more information, or to book for any of
the zoom talks: www.gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
Winter
programme
Later in the Newsletter you will find the flyer with details of the winter
talks programme.
- Ruth Singer's
Textiles in Lockdown talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ruth-singer-textiles-in-lockdown-tickets-130683779703
- Twigs Way's
Marianne North talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marianne-north-victorian-botanical-painter-and-traveller-tickets-130100675623
All talks are a
standard rate of £5 per ticket and will be carried out as Zoom webinars.
Sharing Keep Your
Stories of Textiles in Lockdown
Although the Tetiles Studio At Valley Street Community Centre is
currently closed due to the Covid -19 restrictions, the Sew Social group are
currently meeting by Zoom. This enables
the group to keep in touch with each other and compare notes on their current
textile projects. In addition the group
are working on a Covid Quilt for Burnley as part of the National Patchwork
Project which plans to co-ordinate groups from across the country to make local
quilts reflecting on the effects of Covid on their community. The aim is to use the quilt making as a way
of keeping connected and sharing our creative ideas whilst we are unable to
meet in person. Each person is working
on their own blocks which will be joined together into a big quilt when we meet
again. There are groups from all over
England involved in the Patchwork Project and it is hoped that the final quilts
will be shown at an event in London next summer.
If you are interested in joining the group or contributing to the quilt
please contact Community Engagement Officer Bev Lamey: b.lamey@gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
ReFashion T-Shirt Competition
Would you like to do more to reuse and repair your clothing? Would you like to get some ideas for ways to
refashion and repurpose your clothes? We
all have old t-shirts that have seen better days – this is a chance to give it
a new lease of life instead of it being thrown away and put into landfill.
The competition is open to all young people in the Burnley area and in
three age categories – ages 10 to 13, ages 14 to 16, ages 17 and 18.
To enter, all that you need to do is to take an old t-shirt and
transform it into something better. It
might be your t-shirt or someone else’s, for example, it might be fun to take
your dad’s old t-shirt and make it into something for yourself. (Just make sure you ask him first!)
This activity is part of the Ethical Textiles Project funded by the
Reaching Communities England National Lottery Community Fund, supporting our
work to engage local communities in the Burnley area.
News from National Trust Ranger, Christine Greenwood
Gawthorpe has been rather quite. With the second lockdown we put
volunteering on hold but myself and Nik have been kept busy with contractors on
both estates, you might have noticed on Twitter Gawthorpe’s Great Barn and
estate buildings have the gutters cleared and moss removed from the roofs!
These past couple of weeks we have also been planting Sphagnum moss on Holcombe
Moor, we have 7000 plug plants to plant – no small feat in December!
We have also had a some lovely wildlife photos taken and sent by
a local photographer (please see images below).
From the team here we wish the Friends of Gawthorpe a very Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year.
What lovely
pictures of the birds
Best wishes
Dianne
Friends of Gawthorpe
Charity No: 507451
October News 2020
Dear Friends,
I hope you are all well and
coping with the present situation. As
groups worldwide are finding it almost impossible to plan events in advance,
both large and small. we are not on our own.
I look forward to meeting up with you all again soon and being able to
participate in all the events we had planned.
2021 will be a busy year, the number of events that have been rearranged
by so many groups and organisations mean we will all have very full
diaries. Fingers crossed.
The Hall opened to the public on
2nd September with reduced hours and visits by appointment every 15
minutes. 227 visitors were recorded in
the first two weeks which is pleasing.
The
Hall - LCC
Rachel Pollitt
has written another blog about Gawthorpe Hall which is on the Museum Service
website, link below
https://lancashiremuseumsstories.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/sleeping-at-gawthorpe-hall/
1850s plans of the Hall are shown as
well as photographs of the Huntroyde bedroom with the crewelwork bedspread made
by Miss Rachel and adjoining dressing room with a red and white patchwork
quilt. The patchwork quilt being made by the Friends
at the moment will alternate to let the red and white cover ‘rest’.
News
from National Trust Ranger Christine Greenwood
Currently
I have the volunteers in two mornings a week and it is great to have them back.
We are restricted with Covid but we are working our way through the job list
slowly but surely. The volunteers are
itching to get back on with developing the natural play area being funded by
the Friends.
Unfortunately,
I’m not able to welcome back Burnley College students just yet but I’m hopeful
it will be before Christmas so we can do some tree planting. Gawthorpe
fared well over the lockdown and I have lots of plans for the future.
Ranger,
Nik Taylor, is busy over at our other site (Holcombe and Stubbins), with the
works on the moor and creating a new bothy for volunteers and educational
groups.
Textiles Collection News
The Hall
reopened to the public on 2 September and it has been great to finally be able
to share Nikki Parmenter’s Floralia exhibition with the public. Jenny Waterson
did a fantastic job with Nikki in mounting the exhibition prior to her leaving
us at the end of March.
Nikki
creates large 3D sculptures from textiles, plastics and other materials
creating stunning, tactile and vibrant pieces. For the exhibition she created a
new piece – the Gawthorpe Casket, inspired by Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth’s life
and embroideries. As the Hall is only open for a limited period in 2020, we
will be extending Nikki’s exhibition until the middle of 2021 to give plenty of
opportunity to see it. For more information about Nikki and her work visit her
website: https://www.nikkiparmenterartworks.com/
Textiles
in Lockdown
Ruth Singer
was commissioned over the summer to work on creating a digital archive
capturing the impacts of lockdown on textile making. Craft has become a way of
life for many over the past few months as a means of something to do, learning
new skills, helping the health and care services with making PPE and to support
wellbeing. We felt that it was important to capture a snap shot of this time to
add to the collection. To this end Ruth has been busy capturing individual
stories and discovering textile projects that have been taking place locally
and nationally. She is currently collating all of the material that she has
gathered and will be producing an e-book and podcast that will be available
from the end of September via our website. www.gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
New Team
Members
After a
delay in being able to recruit new project staff earlier in the year due to
lockdown, we are pleased to now be able to welcome Mike Whitworth as Commercial
Development Officer, and Bev Lamey as Ethical Textiles Community Engagement
Officer. Mike will be working with us over the next 12 months to develop our
product range and take advantage of commercial opportunities to help generate
income to support our activity and care of the collection.
Bev will be taking over leading workshops at our Valley Street Textiles Studio 2 days per week, working on a Lottery Reaching Communities project. This project will work with community members to promote more ethical approaches in the use of textiles and educating on fast fashion. Reusing and recycling will be explored to substitute everyday plastic items with textile alternatives that can be made easily and cost effectively. We will be showing how we can all make small changes in our lives to help society to become more environmentally conscious and sustainable.
Introducing Mike Whitworth, the new Commercial Development
Officer
“Prior to joining the
brilliant team here, I spent over 20 years as Head of Commercial
Operations at Manchester Museum and Whitworth Art Gallery where I worked with
their very active Friends group, so I`m really looking forward
to working alongside the Friends here.
I thought it would be nice to celebrate the re-opening of the Hall and
hopefully soon the return of the Friends, by offering a special Friends
discount of 15% off purchases from our online GTC shop with its tremendous
collection of products. With this in mind I`ve put together the attached
information that I am hoping you can put in your upcoming newsletter to
let the Friends know about the offer.”
Amazing Autumn Discount Offer
Exclusive to
The Friends of Gawthorpe
We here at the Gawthorpe Textile Collection would like to
offer the friends a special Autumn Discount of 15% off all purchases in our
online shop to celebrate the re-opening of the Hall. We currently have a
tremendous range of gifts on offer so why not treat yourself or shop early for
Christmas.
To access your
discount just enter the following code SYB22ME at the checkout. The
offer is available on all Gawthorpe Textile Collection Shop items between
October 1st and November 30th 2020, so hurry to take advantage of
this special offer.
Find the shop online at
Keep safe and well. Best wishes
Dianne
Friends of Gawthorpe
Charity No: 507451
May News
Hello
I hope you are all well and
finding plenty of things to keep you occupied.
I am sure you will all now have cleaned your cupboards and wardrobes,
fixed all the squeaky doors and have a weed free garden.
I have found it difficult to
think of something for a newsletter for you all. Rachel Pollitt has said she is happy for me
to pass on the newsletter she has prepared for the Hall volunteers.
The Textiles collection have been
busy trying to put features and ideas on line to keep us all amused. There have been pattern packs to
download. These had only just been
photographed by the volunteers during the winter. Pictures to download and colour – taken from
the Gawthorpe colouring book and news from the library. The Textiles Collection web site: www.gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
You may also have seen an online a
talk by Rachel Midgley about some of the embroideries in the Collection. It
sold out really quickly if any of you missed out Rachel is repeating the talk
later. She has sent the link for anyone
interested. The repeat of the event is 23rd
June, so if you are interested use the following link to book:
The Friends subs were due on 1st
April and because the AGM was cancelled no one has yet had the chance to
pay. Frances said members can send a
cheque for £10 single membership, £18 for families, payable to ‘Friends of
Gawthorpe’ to her home address:
Mrs Frances Singleton, 12 Andrew
Road, Nelson, BB9 8BX.
Frances has put together the nine
patch and embroidered squares for the Gawthorpe quilt the Friends are making
for the bed in the small room on the top floor, next to Miss Rachel’s bedroom. She cannot go any further until the quilt
group get together again, to decide the next step.
Keep safe and well.
Best wishes
Dianne
Friends of Gawthorpe
Tuesday
17th March
2 pm
|
Annual General Meeting
The Old Tea Rooms, Estate Building
There will be a display of our workshops and Christine
Greenwood, National Trust Ranger will be telling us about the exciting things
being made in the grounds of the Hall by the Trust volunteers.
Refreshments, Raffle,
Subscriptions are due.
|
Wednesday
29th April
10 am
to
3 pm
|
Needle Tatting - Workshop with Gail Marsh *
Stockbridge Room, Estate Building
Gail will help students try this fascinating technique. Students will be tatting motifs to decorate
greetings cards.
Members £20, Non Members £22
Lunch is available in the NT Tea rooms or bring your own packed
lunch. Beverages will be available all
day in the workroom.
|
Wednesday
13th May
10 am
to
3 pm
|
Crazy Patchwork - Workshop with Alison Metcalfe*
Stockbridge Room, Estate
Building
Students will be able to look at some of the beautiful crazy patchwork
quilts from the Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth Collection. Inspired by the quilt designs, students
will sew and embroider a needle case.
Members £20, Non Members £22
Lunch is available in the NT Tea rooms or bring your own packed
lunch. Beverages will be available all
day in the workroom.
|
Wednesday 24th June
|
Finger Looping – Workshop with
Gail Marsh *
Stockbridge Room, Estate
Building
Learn this fascinating 16th Century technique to produce
narrow cords and braids.
Members £20, Non Members £22
Lunch is available in the NT Tea rooms or bring your own packed
lunch. Beverages will be available all
day in the workroom
|
Wednesday
29th July
11 am
|
Summer Walk with National Trust
Ranger Christine Greenwood
Christine will walks round the grounds telling us snippets about the
wildlife, what is happening on the estate and the work being done by the
hardworking group of volunteers. See
the new features made for the family area in the grounds funded by a donation from the Friends
No Charge
|
More
events being planned for later in the year
|
Tel. 01282 773 963. www.gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
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