Embroiderers Guild and West Midlands Region Information and Communications

2014/2015
 

Consultation with Members - Branches
This consultation follows on from the new Articles of Association approved at the EGM in June 2015 by a majority of 89% of the members who took part in the vote either in person or by proxy.
The context for this consultation is the status of the Guild as an educational charity, its charitable objects, its vision for the future and what will define its success as an organisation dedicated to making a difference in the short and longer term future of stitch and textile art.
Our Vision is that the Guild is recognised and valued as a central educational and inspirational resource - a hub for all who are attracted to or experienced in embroidery/stitch, textiles, and related arts and crafts. It is seen as being supportive of all levels of ability whether for personal enjoyment through an increasingly rewarding and enriching experience or personal accomplishment in the furtherance of historical skills, technical and artistic excellence.

Our vision includes our Charitable Objects. Our charitable objects are to…
 ENCOURAGE new generations to stitch whether it is for pleasure or technical/artistic merit
 SUPPORT all who teach, learn, explore and extend the boundaries of the art of stitch
 PUBLISH the history and contemporary research in relation to stitch and textile art
 COLLECT, preserve and exhibit items of historical and contemporary significance

Strategy and Values: With the charitable objects of the Embroiderers’ Guild forming a point of reference for all concerned the Guild will seek to realise its Vision by …
 Seeking the active engagement of members and our network of branches and regions to work together in a co-ordinated way to make our Vision a reality.
 Crafting a relationship with members and branches that is non-judgmental and mutually beneficial, a relationship based on the future and not the past.
 Adopting the lowest cost, digital administration processes, and communications and use social media to greater effect to improve our engagement with the wider community.
 Developing educational initiatives on a scale where it is possible to make a meaningful contribution to teaching, inspiration and learning.
 Acting in ways and achieving synergies that will enable the Guild to ‘make a real difference’.

These strategic approaches are underpinned by the following set of values…
 Excellence
 Inspiration
 Inclusiveness … members, top practitioners, tutors, speakers, teachers, partners, cultural groups and the public
 Mutuality… Having a common purpose and acting together in mutually beneficial ways

The latest date for responding to this consultation is Friday 22nd January 2016. Final proposals will be published to members early in February 2016. These will be the subject of a Special Resolution to be voted on at the AGM in May 2016.

Branches of the Embroiderers’ Guild
An educational charity

Aims:
 Invite branches to become an integral part of the charity, working with it in pursuit of its charitable ‘Vision and Aims’.
 Establish expectations and optional levels of support that work for all branches.

Why Change:
 Branches conduct their own affairs almost wholly independently of the Guild. Not a criticism, just a fact.
 Branch websites have few links to the Guild in design or content.
 There is no combined effort to achieve a set of common aims either for the Guild or for stitch and textiles.
 If the Guild as a whole, including its branches, is to succeed it must create a united message and work together to achieve the ‘Vision and Aims’.
 Branch programmes and meeting timings vary considerably. Programmes and timings need to be attractive to potential, often time-constrained, new members.
 Many branches express a reluctance to increase membership, although a small number have a waiting list.

Suggested Changes:
 Invite branches to become integral partners of the Guild – Partner Branches. In doing so a Partner Branch might…

Send an incoming Branch Chair to attend a Guild induction programme.
This would help all branch chairs to understand how the Guild works, how best to work with it and benefit from it.

Take part in Guild promotions (to be developed) to increase awareness of the Guild locally. The current 3-part credit card-sized invitation is just one example. The National Celebration of Stitch would be another.
These will help the branch build membership, find new blood, and at the very least, help maintain membership numbers at the level needed for the branch to be a success.

Run at least the ‘Inspired to Create’ Level 1 course annually, available to members at a discount but promoted to the public. See website and notes sent to Branch Chairs.
Directly fulfils the charitable aims of the Guild and has been a proven route to attracting new members in the past. Would generate a contribution to branch funds.

Join a ‘Programme/Events Coordinator’s forum’ to share ideas and experiences.
Due to start in 2016 this should prove invaluable to branches when planning new programmes and/or running interesting programmes at the lowest cost.

Support regional and national initiatives to involve the public in stitch and/or present them with the potential of the enjoyment and artistry.
Being part of a team approach to realising the ‘Vision’ and ‘Aims’ of the Guild as an educational charity.

Use the Guild paper-based or, preferably, Excel bookkeeping software.
Makes the Branch Treasurer’s life so much easier. Makes the year-end process as simple as possible. Saves a great deal in time and money currently spent on support, particularly at the year end.

Raise money to support all outward-facing activities.
People give time and money in support of activities that benefit others. Inevitably, this results in spin-off benefits for the participating branch.

Use the Guild’s branch website software without paying a hosting fee.
Having a web presence at no cost to the branch and have Guild support for updating the site, bringing in the branch site national and regional content automatically and presenting the branch as being
part of a national charity.

Have at least one ‘Guild member (Fellow’ or Master/Accredited Fellow) on the branch committee.
Would ensure the branch committee was kept fully in touch with Guild activities. Would ensure the Guild got direct and regular feedback from branches.

Promote EG regional events in the branch locality and establishing links with other community groups (e.g. WI).
Opportunities for… finding new members, reciprocal speaking slots (perhaps at no cost), joint projects, participation in community projects/initiatives.

Supply and replace promotional leaflets for Stitch and Embroidery in local retail outlets.
If just 5 people per branch agreed to place leaflets in just 2 local shops or garden centres we would gain nearly 2000 new advertising points for the magazines. Niche interest magazines need all the support they can get in today’s market. Both magazines are very important contributors to Guild funds.

Use a meeting venue that has the capacity for the membership of the branch to grow by at least 25%.
Would make it possible for all partner branches to grow and, therefore, thrive.

Offer help and support to smaller, struggling branches within a 20-mile radius.
Would help make smaller, rural branches to be more viable and feel more included.

Be eligible to apply for matched funding support from the charity in support of outward-facing branch initiatives
With branch and Guild members supporting the charity and costs being reduced to a minimum our intention is to create a fund to be used to support branch initiatives.

Adopt a branch programme that included activities intended to attract new members who wanted to increase their skills and enjoyment and have meeting locations and timings that would make it easy for them to join and attend branch meetings.
Increase awareness and attractiveness of the Embroiderers’ Guild and it network of branches. Give new members reasons to join. Help ensure membership numbers did not steadily decline to a crisis point.

Have and financially support a YE group. This might be for the full age range or a junior or student group. Partner branches would be encouraged to be inclusive in respect of student embroiderers being invited to attend branch meetings.

Keep at least 15 minutes of a branch meeting for informing/engaging those present in the work of the charity.
Help cement the interest at this age and stage. In particular, might provide an opportunity for branches to stay in touch with student embroiderers as they go on to further or higher education.
Ensure members are fully informed, answer questions and provide an opportunity for feedback to be sent to head office.

Many aspects of being a ‘Partner Branch of the Guild’ would create opportunities to play a part in the local community, become better known, build working relationships and meet people who become friends, often firm and life-long friends.
The Guild working in partnership with its branches could apply its resources to be focused on supporting the branch network, helping it to thrive and in doing so all parties would be realising the ‘Vision’ and ‘Aims’ of the Guild as a charity.

Currently, much of the time, money and energy of a small head office staff is taken up with administration and ad hoc requests for support. Payments by direct debit, a continuous membership (not annually renewable), digital communications and other streamlining would result in substantial savings and create the opportunity for a scheme of matched investment funding for branches.
The growth in support for the charity (making it more attractive to potential members) that could be achieved by a seamless ‘Guild-Members-Regions-Branches relationship would help keep subscriptions down and any costs associated with services to a minimum.

In addition, we might…
 Invite branches with less than 30 members to form clusters and have a ‘cluster committee’ and a programme common to the cluster. This is responding to the difficulties being experienced by branches with fewer members. Other suggestions would be welcome.

 Rewrite the branch constitution to include reduced and more flexible terms of office (e.g. 2 to 4 years). Other suggested changes will be welcome.

PLEASE NOTE: There appears to be a belief by some that the Guild is or will suggest that all branch subscriptions are standardised and paid via the central Guild. This was suggested as an option in 2011. It is no longer an option unless there were to be a case for doing so recommended to the Guild by a substantial majority of branches.

In summary, this consultation is to gauge interest, in principle, in these ideas and to invite suggestions as to what would be considered reasonable in relation to the outline expectations above and the desire to refocus the whole Guild (H.O, Regions, volunteering Branches and Members) on making a difference as a charity committed to supporting stitch and textiles.

Capability Brown Project

As you know the Branch is involved in the Capability Brown project which I have talked about at the last few meetings.  We are attached to Weston Park together with Wrekin, Litchfield, Wolverhampton and Solihull branches. I have visited the gallery and it is quite large so to fill it we will need approximately 50 pieces of work  from across the five branches.  The pieces need to be mounted on A4, A3 or A2 artist canvas.  The exhibition is in March so the pieces would need to be finished for our February meeting at the latest

 If you would like to produce a piece of work for the exhibition then it must be inspired by the landscape and gardens of Weston Park.  Unfortunately the Park closes to the public this weekend but we have  agreed several dates with the head gardener for members of the Guild to visit.  They are 9th September, 15th September, 19th October and the 20th October, all at 11.00am.  If you would like to visit on any of these dates can you please le me know by Monday 7th September.  I can then let Weston Park know and they will have free passes ready for you.

I also have a CD of pictures of the parkland which I will have on view at our AGM in September

 West Midlands Region Embroiderers’ Guild September 2015
 REGIONAL NEWSLETTER

Regional Committee
The next committee meeting will be on Saturday 31st October 2015

 National Stitch Day – August 1st
In this issue I am once again featuring some images and reports from our Regional Branches events for National
Stitch Day. Not all our Branches participated in this for various reasons but I am grateful to those who have sent items as it helps to give a flavour of what we are all involved in. It was also good that so many branches picked up the Lewis Carroll theme and interesting to see the variety of interpretations of this.
Some of you may have heard of the Capability Brown Project which is being co-­‐ordinated between the Embroiderers’ Guild and the National Trust to celebrate 300 years since the
famous gardener was born. Lancelot (Capability) Brown was responsible for many of the magnificent gardens surrounding our historic houses. There is an article giving further information about how this project is progressing in our Region later in the Newsletter, however there is more information available on the EG website.
As always I am grateful to those branches who send details of their programme or special events as well as news of our younger embroiderers.
Gill Murley

 EMBROIDERER’S GUILD WEST MIDLANDS REGION
Invite you to the

WEST MIDLANDS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
SATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2015
To be held at CasCA Newington Way, Craven Arms, Shropshire. SY7 9PS
Telephone: 01588 672847
Email:casca@furniturescheme.co.uk

Please follow this link for directions
http://tinyurl.com/p3l8e4

Doors open at 10:00am for 10.30am start

HOST BRANCH MARCHES

Timetable:
10:00 to 10.30 Members arriving, refreshments
10:30 to 12:30 AGM Meeting
12:30 to 1:30 Lunch
1:30 to 2:00 Focus groups for Branch Officers,
IT Reps and JETS Reps,
Exhibition and Sales Table
2:00 to 3:00 Bobby Britnell Talk/Presentation
'From Barkcloth to Art Cloth'
3:00 to 4:00 Afternoon tea and farewell

 Copy Date for next issue:
14th November 2015
Please include images where possible
Email to: g.murley@ntlworld.com

 Tamworth Branch
We set up shop in the central Library on Saturday 1st
August to publicise National Stitch Day and hopefully
attract some new members to our small, friendly group.
On display we had samples of some of the things that
we have made and some examples of future projects in
the coming year's programme. There were "hands on"
activities for both children and adults -­‐ a card to stitch
with a teapot motif and a key fob to make with a cup
cake design.

Leamington Branch
National Stitch Day happily coincided with the launch of
our ‘Continuous Threads’ exhibition at the Arts Trail
Studio in Leamington (1st to 29th August). We kept to the
Alice in Wonderland theme and set up a table on the
forecourt of the gallery with cakes and tea for visitors,
and invited them to create a card for the Mad Hatter’s
top hat, using a stash of parcel labels, trimmings,
buttons, lace, threads, etc.
Here’s a picture of gallery owner, Gerry Smith, modelling
the hat with some of the cards created. Most visitors
wanted to take their cards home.

Solihull Branch made Redwork cupcakes

Lichfield Branch
The Branch held a drop-­‐in tea party at Tesco in Lichfield and made fabric cupcakes. 

Birmingham Branch
Birmingham met at the Central Library. There were 27 people attending of whom 5 were children. Hats, pocket watches, teapots, teacups and cupcakes were stitched. Someone even stitched a caramel shortbread!

Staffordshire Branch
We had arranged with Stafford hobbycraft to stitch in the middle of the store on August 1st. The store manager, Angela was extremely helpful and we were located in a prime position where lots of people could see what we were doing. This generated a fair amount of interest and we were able to
distribute the EG promotional cards and our programme. Several people sat to embellish the cupcake patches we had provided including a steady stream of young people both boys and girls.
The intention is to make a quilt with the patches to auction for a local charity.

Two of the branches in the Region didn’t participate because they already hold a waiting list of
people wishing to be members and so don’t need to recruit at the moment.
Perhaps this is a talking point for the next issue:
How does your branch recruit members and what have you found to be successful ways of generating interest in the Guild?

Regional Day 2015 – Leamington Branch
This was a very enjoyable day. Reports coming to the last Regional Committee meeting suggest that those who attended had greatly enjoyed the day and found the speakers entertaining and informative. One criticism was raised about being unable to hear the questions asked from the floor.
Possible solutions could be a roving mic or that the person leading the session should repeat the question through the mic they have.
Leamington Branch would like to thank everyone who came to the West Midlands Regional Day in Leamington back in June and helped to make it a success. They received some very positive feedback, which was nice, and were very relieved that it all went according to plan! You can see photos and a full report on their blog:
http://leamingtonembroiderersguild.blogspot.co.uk

Leamington Branch News:
Our Branch AGM will be on Saturday 12th September, and since this year is our 50th anniversary, we will be celebrating with a special cake and some bubbly. Regional Chairman, Stephanie Harper will be visiting us as part of her plan to visit all the West Midlands branches. In addition, there will be a mini workshop activity organised by one of our members, and an exhibition of the photos that Dick Prior, our Treasurer’s husband, has been taking of both adult members and Junior
Embroiderers at work throughout the year; ”A Year in the Life of Leamington Embroiderers” (some of the photos were on display at the Regional Day).
Talks
Visitors are always welcome to come along to our talks. Please contact: jennyarcher401@gmail.com for more details,
or turn up at St Mary’s Hall, St Mary’s Road, Leamington at 7.00 pm on the night. (Visitor entry: £5)

Friday 2nd October: Pauline Barnes, ‘Designing for Stitch’
Pauline takes her inspiration from the architecture and culture of countries she has visited, as well as other themes such as secrecy and concealment, calligraphy and rain.
Geometric shapes and patterns are a feature of her work, and Pauline explains how her initial line drawings develop through extensive sampling, which helps to stimulate creative
thinking, to a finished design which may be very different from her starting point.

Friday 6th November: Judith Rowley, ‘My Creative Journey’
Judith creates beautiful, tactile surfaces with natural fabrics and fibres that she manipulates in a range of ways. Her inspiration comes from nature, the built environment, music, literature and family history, and Judith ‘paints’ with fabric and stitch to create 2D and 3D art forms which capture the creative journey from initial inspiration to exhibition piece.

JETS at the Regional Day:
Leamington Guild hosted a great Regional Day on June 20th. Entries for the JETS/YE competition were well displayed so that all visitors could appreciate the work done by our younger members. Nicola Jarvis was a very enthusiastic judge and completed the judging cards provided by Jean Myatt.
Prizes were generously donated by Janome, Embroiderers’ Guild Bookshop, John James Needles, Wonderfil and Oliver Twists.
Because there was only one entry in the 14 years and over age group it was decided to combine all the individual entries into one group.
The prizes were awarded by Nicola as follows:

1st place and Best in Show; Isobelle Jones (South Cheshire) who won the sewing machine, a book, needles, and thread.
All other prize winners won a book, needles and thread.
All other entries received a certificate and a small goody bag of threads and needles.
A box of Madeira threads was also given to each JETS Group.

1st place; Toula Gryparis (Leamington)(sorry, no picture)
2nd place; Jess Franklin (Leamington), Evie Griffiths (Leamington)
 3rd place; Phoebe Frendt (Leamington), Katie Brain (Leamington)

Group Winners 1st  and 2nd Stourbridge

Thanks to our JETS Representative, Ruth Dalby who organised the wonderful prizes and the exhibition of the pieces and a big thank you to all the leaders, helpers and members of our Regional JETS Groups.

SHREWSBURY BRANCH CELEBRATE THEIR PEARL ANNIVERSARY
Shrewsbury Branch recently celebrated their Pearl Anniversary with a very enjoyable Cream Tea social evening for members. We were pleased that Stephanie Harper could join us.
Branch members and also JETS members have been busy producing a wide variety of textile items using the theme ‘Pearl’ for inspiration. A display of these plus a display of the very successful first round of our Travelling Books enabled us to share the wonderful talent and friendship we have within our branch. Many people are eager to start the next round of
Travelling Books with a different set of friends.
We also borrowed the White work Folio from HQ which was very interesting too. Maggie Turner, our president, gave an interesting memory lane talk sharing some of the highlights of her many years as an active branch member.
Val gave an outline of next year’s programme and the first prize of a free workshop in the raffle was eagerly received by the lucky winner.
Marion Jones

Solihull Branch invite you to join them for a workshop with Margaret Fox on the 5th September-­‐ 'Cottage Garden'.
Margaret has a wealth of experience in both teaching needle felting & floral art (40 years)
The workshops are relaxed and friendly and are for both the experienced and the complete beginner, truly addictive with
fantastic results. Workshop fee plus £15 for all materials but please bring you own felting needles and pads if you have them.
Total cost of workshop £45.
The workshop is from 10.00am -­‐ 4.00pm and is held at The Shirley Institute, 24 Church Road, Shirley, Solihull B90 2AX
Tea and coffee is provided but please bring a packed lunch.
For further information and to book a place please contact Kathryn Pettit
kathryn.pettitt@hotmail.com

Capability Brown:
Capability Brown 300th Anniversary
Members from Solihull Branch will be going to Charlecote Park for an Inspiration Day on Wednesday 9th September and invite members from Leamington, Birmingham and Tamworth Branches to join them.
For more information please contact: Kathryn Pettit, 01564 200 946 kathryn.pettitt@hotmail.com
Julie Hunt, 01564 775478 jehunt50@hotmail.com


Embroiderers Guild South Cheshire Branch

25 Years of Stitch
An exhibition of work by members and junior embroiderers
18th -­‐ 20th September 2015    10am – 4pm
Audlem Public Hall, Cheshire Street, Audlem, CW3 0PH
Admission £3 to include a drink
Prize Draw: JANOME Model 2060 Sewing Machine, plus
other great prizes

Oswestry & District Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild
Open Day
Saturday, 10th October 10.00 am. -­‐ 4 pm.
Demonstrations, displays by Oswestry Branch, Stitch Plus and JETS.
Refreshments.
Free Entrance.
Memorial Hall, Oswestry.
For information please contact: Janice Knight 01691 650374

 Oswestry Branch:
There has been a varied programme of talks this year,
ranging from "Spun-­‐ bonded Fabrics" with Wendy Cotterill to "Whitework" with Liz Almond and a fascinating morning with Katie Chaplin on "Traditional Japanese Crafts". A number of members have also contributed to the programme with mini workshops on crazy patchwork, foiling on fabric and using textiles from around the world as an inspiration for stitch.
These practical sessions have been very popular especially with those members who are just beginning or coming back to stitch. Due to illness we also had to replace a speaker very quickly with a member-­‐led morning when individuals brought favourite books to share and talk about. This proved to be a very successful meeting and resulted in a mini book review
leaflet.
We have restarted our hand stitch group which now meets once a month in the cafe at the Willow Gallery in Oswestry. All members are welcome to come and have a coffee and sit and stitch for a couple of hours.
Our self-­‐help group "Stitch Plus" is thriving with perhaps a dozen members. We occasionally have mini workshop sessions in the morning but mostly bring our own stitching/sketchbooks etc. to work on in the peace and quiet of Castle Court Quilters in Whittington.

Lichfield Branch
It is interesting to note which speakers brought in the most visitors this year – Sandra Lavender from the British Sewing Bee, Simon Cook, a couture designer and Gill Theokritoff, a patch worker. This shows that local publicity online and in print and widening the scope of speakers is important to
attract new members.
We are fortunate to have access to a community minibus at a reasonable cost enabling us to take 12-­‐15 members to the AGM and Regional Day and this year the National AGM in Birmingham.
We have also been lucky to secure a free monthly session in Tesco’s community room. Here members and friends come to learn a specifically chosen stitch and how to apply it to their own work. We were given this facility for National Stitch Day from 10.00am -­‐ 4.00pm. With the Regional theme of a tea party to celebrate the 150th birthday of the publication of Alice in Wonderland, we made cupcake templates for members of the public to stitch and take away applied to a card. Tesco’s supplied drinks and cupcakes for the day. Members enjoyed themselves but the footfall was not ideal and we would prefer an outdoor venue to attract more members of the public.
Also in August, 10 branch members enjoyed a day learning tambour work and were thoroughly entertained as well!
Stephanie Harper

Staffordshire Branch:
We have had a varied programme with probably the highlights being a talk and workshop with Richard Box and a talk by Karen Casper about her work with costumes including those using ‘glow in the dark’ thread. We all piled into a small
cupboard to see this fascinating piece of work.
Unfortunately we have had a couple of tutors cancel due to unforeseen circumstances necessitating last minute workshops which prompted the members to talk about changing the balance in favour of more workshops next year.
We had a successful Stitch Day in hobbygraft in Stafford and a very successful exhibition at the Ancient High House in Stafford Town Centre. The latter generated much interest and an increased attendance at our last meeting.
Gill Murley

Capability Brown – Northern Group
Members from Lichfield, South Cheshire, Staffordshire and Wolverhampton Branches met recently at the Art Gallery at Weston Park to discuss the exhibition there with the
Curator Gareth Williams. Unfortunately the representative from Wrekin Branch was unable to be there. Also the date given to us was just before the V Festival so the park was
closed which hampered our visit somewhat.
However Gareth was very helpful and showed us the Gallery Space which will include an area for the work of our Junior
Members as well. He has also sent us a cd with some images of the Park on which is very useful. Gareth has arranged five days when our members can attend for free in
September and October so they can take pictures themselves. Because the exhibition can only be up for one month in March next year we are looking for other venues to
which all or some of the work can be sent. If you live in any of these areas and can think of anywhere that might be suitable please let Stephanie Harper know at:
sharper50@hotmail.com

You should be hearing about the call for nominations for Trustees to the Board of the Embroiderers’ Guild soon through your Branch. This process closes on 12th of
October 2015. 
There is information about the role of Trustees on the Guild Website: www.embroiderersguild.com

Marches Branch:
Upcoming events:
October 1st: AGM followed by Silk Painting – Clare Linford
November 5th: Contemporary Work Using Traditional Techniques – Harriet Stiles
November 14th: Saturday Workshop – Illuminating Silk Painting with Clare Linford
December 3rd: Just One Stitch – Mini Workshop – Sue Greenan

Teme Valley:
Coming Meetings:
September 19th: AGM /Pearl Buttons George Hook
October 17th: Machine Quilting Chris Body
November 21st: Christmas Trees – Cards and Gifts
Angela Thompson

Tamworth Branch

Saturday 14th November
Box Making Day Course 10am to 4.00pm
Cost £10 members / £15 non-­‐members
Phone: 01827310261 for materials list and/or further details.
Our Branch has had a successful year, gaining new members and enjoying a variety of activities.
We were lucky to be given £100 from the Region last year and used it towards a day school with Kathleen Laurel Sage. We machine embroidered organza with floral shapes adding
beads and removing some areas with a soldering iron to create a floral panel. A lovely day enjoyed by all.
We have exhibited in 3 display cases in our library on 2 occasions for a month at a time and our National Stitch Day event also took place in the library.
Judith Lovatt

If your Branch has a coming event or you just want to tell us what you are doing please let the editor know at the following email: g.murley@ntlworld.com

West Midlands Region Embroiderers’ Guild

REGIONAL NEWSLETTER                                  June 2015

Dear Members

I have had a very busy start to the year, visiting branches and stewarding at the NEC and Uttoxeter Shows - I can really recommend the latter as you get chance to chat to so many people, both members and nonmembers (picking up lots of ideas for your own branch)!

There are a number of important events about to happen.

If you went to the National AGM in a Birmingham you will know about the proposed changes in the constitution, this has also been outlined in the most recent edition of Contact and you should all have received in the post a copy of the proposals and a proxy voting form. If you approve of all, or at least most of the proposals please vote YES. It will cost a lot in time and money to start the process again. Your branch may offer to collect your votes at the May meeting. They can be sent directly to Jean Littlejohn or to the Regional Secretary Clare Wilkins who is representing the committee at the EGM on 20th June.

Secondly can I ask you all to consider attending the Regional Day on 20th June at Leamington and the AGM on 26th September at Marches? The host branches put a great deal of work into organizing these days and they are always an enjoyable event.

Thirdly the committee decided to have a theme for National Stitch Day on1st August. It is the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland, so a tea party idea and stitching cupcakes with 'passers-by' is suggested - the rest is up to you. It would be nice to show HQ that a region can pull together and celebrate in style. Please remember to record your event and send lots of pictures to Gill for the Newsletter, followed by a feature in Contact.

Lastly, there is to be a national festival of stitching next year to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Capability Brown. HQ has joined with the National Trust and each region will be given a stately home / garden to work with producing an exhibition of members' work based on their given venue. More details soon but all members will be encouraged to take part much like the highly successful postcard project.

I look forward to the busy year continuing and meeting more of you,

Stephanie A Harper (Regional Chair)

Tolkien Birmingham Branch Hanging

Last year, Birmingham Branch decided to make a hanging based on Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Tolkien’s Birmingham.

Members were asked to make individual pieces A5 in size. In all 19 pieces were made, including an A4 portrait of Tolkien in machine embroidery by Margaret Richards.

Margaret backed the pieces on the black fabric.

The hanging was first hung at Fashion, Embroidery, Stitch at the NEC and was shown in the branch exhibition at the national AGM.

The branch is trying to get The Library of Birmingham to put the hanging up in the Tolkien Room or to get Sarehole Mill, Tolkien’s inspiration for the mill in The Shire, to hang it.

Clare Wilkins

Regional Committee

The next committee meeting will be on Saturday 25th July 2015

Clear Vision: Tactile books for the blind and visually impaired

ClearVision is a charity that runs a library lending tactile books to blind and visually impaired children and adults. The books teach touch and braille. Last year Solihull branch did this as a branch project and four groups in Birmingham branch are going to make a book this year. In December Alex from ClearVision came to talk to the branch about tactile books. She gave us a number of touching exercises to show how difficult identification by touch can be.

The Books have to be robust with things to identify on the right hand page and the words and braille on the left. ClearVision add the braille when they are sent the completed book. The first thing ClearVision do when they receive a book is attempt to pull it to pieces to make sure it is robust enough to be handled multiple times The pages have to have a stiffener sheet and wadding on either side and the pages to the side of that. As it is only possible for the ‘illustration’ page to be stitched through both the stiffener and the wadding, only the right hand page has anything on apart from the words.

It is challenging and fun to find a simple idea and work out how to make it ‘touchy-feely’. Books can be as little as 4 double sided pages long.

 You can find out more about ClearVision here http://www.clearvisionproject.org

Clare Wilkins

THE STORY OF THE E.G. COLLECTION

The guild has produced a series of slides of items from its museum collection of embroideries. The collection has accredited museum status but no place to display it at present. Some is on display at Guild HQ and items are often in exhibitions at different venues around the country.

As part of the guilds' charitable aims and to make the collection more widely accessible the guild has put together a selection of images for talks on 'The Story of the Collection’.

In the West Midlands, Trisha James and Rosemary Green can present this to branches.

Please put this talk into the next programme your branch is or will be working on. It raises the profile of the guild among the membership as well as being a cost effective talk as both speakers are in the region.

You can contact Trisha at: trishajames18@gmail.com

You can contact Rosemary at: rjgreen@blueyonder.co.uk

EGM – Proxy Vote:

Terry spoke passionately about the future for the Guild when he visited Solihull Branch on 2nd June and encouraged everyone to use their proxy vote. He made it very clear that stitch should be recognised as an art form and the only way to do this was for the Guild to be an outward facing organisation so the whole restructuring is to enable that to happen.

Big advances have been made on the education front with the development of “Inspired to Create” courses in hand and machine embroidery and a pilot project in Nottinghamshire schools to put stitch into the National Curriculum.

The Guild will enable all branches to have a web site and help will be given to develop Facebook and Twitter as these are seen as the most important way of making contact both within and outside the branch.

Terry also stressed the importance of the collection, the portfolios and the library - all of which are resources for the branch to tap into. His message was strong and heartfelt. So please remember to vote by the end of next week using the proxy form you have been sent.

Stephanie 

Staffordshire Branch Summer Exhibition

This will take place from Tuesday 23rd June to Saturday 4th July at the Ancient High House in Stafford. The work displayed will be work produced on Day Schools and Workshop evenings along with some of members’ own work produced during the last two years. It is hoped the exhibition will help to promote the branch as well as the Embroiderers’ Guild in general. Do come along. The High House is itself a very interesting building to look around.

It is open from Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am - 4.00pm. Admission is free.

50th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

Saturday 1st – Sunday 30th August

Leamington & District is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with an exhibition of members’ work. After the success of our 2012 exhibition, ‘Continuous Threads’ will run for a whole month at:

ArtsTrail Studios and Gallery

8 – 16 Russell Street,

Leamington Spa CV32 5QB

www.ArtsTrailStudios.co.uk

Opening times:

Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5.00pm

Sunday 11am - 4.00pm

We will also be celebrating NATIONAL STITCH DAY on the first Saturday of the exhibition with an invitation to visitors to join us in stitching a small article.

2015 Julia Caprara Award

For the second year running Leamington member, Sue Cooke won the Julia Caprara Award for Use of Colour in the Guild Members' Challenge 'All that Glistens'.

You might have seen "Homage to Van Eyck" if you went to the Fashion, Embroidery, Stitch Show at the NEC recently, where it was on display on the Guild stand.

Sue says, "I used the pomegranate motif because this is popular in Renaissance painting. I'm also fascinated by the way these artists reproduced gold just using layers of paint, so this seemed to tie in with the competition title.

"The background paper was stitched in white before painting and then some transfoil added. The applied motif was machine stitched onto vanishing muslin and burnt to achieve the distressed look of Renaissance fabric before wrapped cords were added."

Janet Seaton

Leamington has two well-established groups of Travelling Book stitchers, making up about half of our membership, who enthusiastically swap books each month.

Here are a couple of recent page samples

Hand Stitching Day at Stourbridge.

As an extra to our usual workshop programme we decided to hire a hall for the day and work on a couple of hand embroidery projects from Stitch Magazine. This idea was formulated in response to members' comments that they would like to see more hand stitching and less mixed media on the workshop programme.

We canvased opinion within the branch and settled on a blackwork project adapted from Bye Bye Blackbird in Stitch number 81 and a crewelwork project taken from Hot Chilli in Stitch Number 82. Members of the committee kindly tried out the projects at home in advance so that participants had something tangible to work towards. The branch sourced the background fabric and asked people to bring their own threads and beads.

The day was a great success with twelve people attending, some from the branch and some from a local sit and sew group that we work quite closely with.

Rachel Coton

Worcester Branch News:

Worcester Branch was pleased to welcome Stephanie Harper (Regional Chair) to our April meeting to present two of our members, Shirley Allen and Audrey Butt, with badges and certificates to celebrate 25 years’ membership of the Embroiderers’ Guild.

When asked what they had done during that time, the answer came, “There isn’t much we haven’t done!” and, looking through the committee minutes, this was confirmed as true!

Not only have both of them entered fully into the life of the branch, donating prizes, giving talks and entering their work into branch and regional competitions, they have also joined the branch’s committee and taken on a variety of roles. These include being Chairman, Programme Secretary, Minutes Secretary, Publicity Representative and Exhibitions Co-ordinator. They have taken on responsibility for organising sales tables, judging competitions, arranging outings, helping the Young Textile Group, as well as opening their homes to members for sewing days and to visiting speakers.

The success of the Embroiderers’ Guild depends on the likes of Shirley and Audrey. We thank them that they have given freely of their time and talent over all these years.

REMINDER-REMINDER-REMINDER-REMINDER

Regional AGM takes place on 26th September at CasCA, Newington Way, Craven Arms, Shropshire.

Leamington and District Embroiderers’ Guild

Invite you to  29th West Midlands Regional Day

Saturday 20th June 2015

North Leamington School, Sandy Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 6RD

Doors open at 10am start 10.30am

Morning Speaker – Professor Giorgio Riello

As seen on the BBC programme The Great British Sewing Bee

“Decorating Textiles”

The Madeira Lecture - “All that Glisters”

The Story of Goldwork

Nicola Jarvis

Competition

“All that Glisters is not Gold”

NO GLASS: 2D no larger than A3 including frame

3D max Height 38cm/Length 30cm/Width 30cm including display frame if used

YE Competition Title “Bright and Shiny”

YE Age Group – 13 years and under and 14-18 years

We will also have three folios from HQ for you to view

Metal Thread A /Metal Thread B /Birds, Beasts and Insects

Traders

We will have a number of traders and other stalls

COST

The cost of the ticket is £20 which includes entry into the Draw Prize.

There will be coffee and biscuits on arrival, tea or coffee at lunch and tea and cakes before you leave.

Lunch will cost £10 and will need to be booked with your ticket. You may bring your own lunch if you wish.

If you missed the deadline for buying your ticket for this year’s West Midlands Regional Day on Saturday 20th June, don’t despair! Please contact Shay Gillard at Leamington, shay.rod@tiscali.co.uk who has a few last-minute tickets in reserve – but do get in touch without delay, as they will not be available for very long.

About the Regional Day speakers:

Professor Giorgio Riello

Talk: “Decorating Textiles”

Professor Giorgio Riello, currently Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Warwick University, is a renowned historian, who has published numerous books and articles on the history of design and material culture, fashion and textiles, and small-scale manufacturing in Europe.

His recent book Cotton: The Fibre that Made the Modern World (CUP 2013), which won the 2014 World History Association Bentley Book Prize, analyses the role played by cotton textiles in the re-shaping of global trade and production during the long period from 1300 to the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century.

Giorgio appeared on the BBC2 series, The Great British Sewing Bee, (13 March 2014), discussing the advent of chintz and printed cottons in the 18th century.

Nicola Jarvis

Talk: “All that Glisters”

Trained at the Royal School of Needlework over twenty years ago, Nicola is an experienced traditional gold embroiderer and teacher of this highly intricate technique. Recently, she has become widely known for her exhibition ‘The Art of Embroidery’ launched in 2013 at the William Morris Gallery in London, where she created an installation of work inspired by the designs and textiles of William and May Morris, and which she will take to various venues around the UK throughout 2015 and 2016.

Nicola’s talk will take us on a glittering journey that starts with the use of gold thread in English Medieval embroideries made for royalty and the church, and follows its subsequent use on furnishings, garments, costumes and regalia through to the contemporary use of gold and metal threads in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

25 YEARS OF STITCH

South Cheshire Branch is celebrating its silver anniversary and enjoying a year of celebratory events. The Branch meets in the small South Cheshire village of Audlem and is part of the West Midlands region.

The formation of the South Cheshire branch was first proposed in 1989 when a small group of friends were discussing the lack of an easily accessible branch in the area. An inaugural meeting was held in March 1990. There were 58 founder members and by the time of the first Annual General Meeting in September 1990 there were 75 members. Membership has increased steadily over the years with 98 by 2015. The branch was started by Jackie Woolsey, Ann Pearce and Maggie Phillips. Jackie Woolsey has now moved from the area but still continues to be president and tries to attend some meetings each year. Ann Pearce and Maggie Phillips are vice-presidents and both continue to take an active part in the running of the branch.

Our first celebratory event this year was at our March meeting, the anniversary of the first meeting of the branch in 1990. The meeting was opened with an inspirational talk by Bobby Britnell. This was followed by the cutting of a delicious cake by Maggie Phillips, Ann Pearce and Christine Poole. The cake was made by Sue Jones, one of our members.

Fourteen of our members were presented with their twenty five year badges by Christine Poole, twelve of whom have been continuous members of the branch since that first meeting in 1990. The members receiving their badges were: Ann Pearce, Paula Hulme, Pat Winfield, Mary Lea, Anne Watson, Margaret Jefferson, Christine Plume, Betty Woodward, Nan Campbell, Ann Cross, Ruth Colley, Marianne Grime, Sue Wickson and Sylvia Stead.

The branch has staged a number of exhibitions over the years and we are planning a celebratory exhibition in September this year entitled “25 Years of Stitch”. The exhibition will be held in Audlem Public Hall from 18th to 20th September.

As well as monthly meetings, workshops, fund raising events and some excursions. The South Cheshire branch has over the years been involved with several large projects including: a large wall hanging for St Luke's Hospice, Cheshire; a branch hanging to have on display at meetings; exhibitions and other events; a project to make children's quilts for Bulgaria and to make quilts for the Linus project for babies with lung conditions. Residential weekends have been held over the years and since 2008 a weekend at Alston Hall, Lancashire has become a regular biennial event attended by up to thirty members.

In 2011 a JETS Group was proposed and the first meeting was held in February 2012. This group now has regular meetings led by Ruth Dalby with support from branch members.

Trisha James.

Regional Days – Food for Thought

Based on recent experience “Leamington and District Branch supports the suggestion that the Region needs to review the way future Regional Days are organised and to begin a process of reviewing the ‘Regions’ in light of the pending organisational change at HQ.”

What does your branch think? Let us know, maybe we could cover this in the next issue.

The Quilt and Stitch Village, Uttoxeter

Arriving at The Quilt and stitch village on Friday 24th April, there was an announcement that there were places available on workshops. I went straight in to book a two hour goldwork workshop, Little Jenny Wren, with Carole Holme. Then I went to the embroidery demonstrations and exhibition.

Stephanie Harper and Jane Lockley were on the Shared West and East Midlands Embroiderers’ Guild stand drumming up support for the inaugural meeting for a new guild branch at Uttoxeter. There was a lot of interest. There were many and varied embroideries on display including some work from the JETS groups.

Among the traders in the other halls, The Tentmakers of Cairo had one of their tentmakers doing applique. He was also doing short workshops on the technique. The tentmakers are no longer able to support themselves making hangings for tents, so they do the traditional applique technique as hangings and cushion covers for sale. They will be at The Festival of Quilts in August too.

At 12.30, I went to the gold-work workshop. There were only 2 of us, me and a woman from Nottingham. The body of the bird on dyed silk was already bonded to the silk dupion background, which was backed with calico. Although I had done gold work before, I learnt a number of useful things, including how to make a lasoo out of thread in a needle to pull metal threads through (plunge them) to the back of the work. It was a relaxing two hours of stitching and I left with my little wren nearly finished. I just have a little more of the branch to do and the feet.

The quilt display had traditional quilts, modern quilts, art quilts and 3D items. They were displayed in the halls where the traders were. I met Jenny Taylor from 2014’s Great British Sewing Bee and bought a corsage brooch (I can never resist a brooch).

I was wearing my needlepoint brooch designed by Tina Francis that I made at my branches November meeting. Lots of people commented on it and asked me about it. I had forgotten how much I liked gold-work! Carole told me about her kits based on medieval designs from Venice and I bought her Gold-work Doves kit.

I only overspent on my budget a bit and didn’t buy anything just to fondle- so it was a success. I love being able to shop in person for fabric and threads. Online is Ok but you can’t pick things up and put them down.

Thanks to Julie Hunt from Solihull branch for organising the coach. I had a great day!

Claire Wilkins (Regional Secretary)

I've really enjoyed attending my last two AGM's which have spanned a few days. I've made a mini break out of them, attending the workshops and taking a more leisurely look at the traders’ stalls and exhibitions of work, so wasn't sure about a 'one day' event. Much to my surprise I really enjoyed it, and didn't miss the nice to have, but not essential add-ons. I'm sure we will all know by now about the recent unrest and it was right that these concerns should be listened to by a wider audience. There was an air of expected confrontation in the Hall but both sides gave a good account of their concerns, views were listened to and responses given, all in a very amicable manner. Also, Interesting and inspiring textile artists talked about their work, it was good to see the 2015 competition entries and meet familiar faces from previous years. Carole Garland (Marches Chairman) 

MAGNA CARTA PROJECT ONE

During the summer of 2014 guild members were invited to 'express an interest' in taking part in a Magna Carta project. It was to produce an enormous stitched textile version of the Wikipedia page about the Magna Carta and it would be on display at the British Library the following summer. The Embroiderers' Guild had been invited to contribute 14 pieces of work. It sounded fun and somehow I was persuaded to apply to go into the draw. The announcement asked about credentials. I explained that I had had a solid introduction to embroidery techniques at the Hampton School of Needlework and had also completed City and Guilds in Creative Studies (part 2). I had entered various guild Competitions, winning the Regional Day event in 2005 and being Runner Up in the Annual Members' Competition in 2007. I attached a photograph and sent my email, never expecting to hear any more about it. The date of the draw came and went with no news. Then suddenly an email arrived saying I had been selected to stitch one of the panels and was to represent the West Midlands. I was delighted to accept!

Fabric and thread duly arrived, accompanied by instructions. The design had been printed on the cloth and there was black and blue perle cotton for the writing. Threads for the four little pictures was up to me. All the pictures and text would be sent back for joining at the Royal School of Needlework. There would be no backing so I was very grateful that I had learnt how to dress a slate frame as the fabric would need to be well stretched for working so that it didn't wrinkle afterwards. I always find it a strange experience sewing for someone else as I want the work to be perfect. I felt very privileged to be involved as there are so many talented needlewomen not only in my branch but across the Guild as a whole. I stitched the writing first and then worked on the four little logos. Two of them were a challenge as they were identical. I stitched them at the same time doing a bit on each alternately.

Eventually the stitching was complete. It had taken about 60 hours, spread over six weeks. Some of the other pictures would have taken much longer as they had more detail. So now came the moment I dreaded taking it off the frame! Fortunately all was well and there were no puckers. I felt so impressed with the quality of the fabric as the total length of the piece was to be about 13 metres. I kept the piece for a while so that I could share it with branch members but then came the terrible job of packing it up and sending it to Fine Cell Works in London. What a relief when I had an email to say it had arrived safely! It has all been a fantastic experience and I look forward to seeing it at the British Library.

Lorna Pound

MAGNA CARTA PROJECT TWO 

For more than 30 years I have been an avid landscape embroiderer, for the most part using free machine embroidery, so the opportunity to use a technique of choice immediately attracted me to the Magna Carta project. This almost proved to be a singular error, but provided a most enjoyable and fulfilling challenge in the event.

The pieces of work I submitted to the Guild were, for the most part, a collage technique which I learned on one of Richard Box’s workshops. I find this method of laying down colour and texture using tiny fragments (approximately 5mm square) of scrap fabric gives me the ‘impressionist effect’ that I love. The collage is then covered with free machine embroidery which blends and amalgamates the spots of colour onto the base layer.

When I received the canvas for the Magna Carta project I realized that I would have to work in a miniature format. The canvas measured approximately A6 size and there was considerable detail, since the image was of the Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede, erected by the American Bar Association in 1957.

The size of the fabric pieces had to be reduced to approximately 2 to 3mm which is half the size I normally use, and when I started to sample sections of the main image I found it incredibly difficult to get sufficient definition of the main elements of the picture. (At one stage I thought I would have to abandon my original idea of using the collage technique and find an alternative method.) I persevered with the sampling and eventually started on the main work which was the collage. Working in such fine detail was not easy, but the next stage of blending all the fragments of fabric with the free machine embroidery was even more challenging. The main problem was to ensure that each element of the landscape actually looked like a temple, a tree, or a bench. I do not normally aim for photographic representation with this technique, but for the task I was assigned it was clearly essential. To give the final work a sense of movement and atmosphere I used a directional zig zag stitch with threads which had a sheen.

Hopefully the final work portrayed some of the qualities intended, and it was then passed on for the textual subscript to be completed, since I have only very limited skills as a hand embroiderer.

Sian Kibblewhite

Room full for first Uttoxeter meeting

A very successful first meeting of the Uttoxeter branch. There were over 30 people present. Pam Keeling, Chair of East Region and myself spoke to the group and a small group stepped forward to organise the new branch. I will continue to help them for a couple of months and then step back and be an ordinary member- first time in 13 years! Fortunately there is a bigger room we can use next time. We meet on the first Wednesday each month from 10am to 12noon at Marchington Village Hall. Come and visit us, even in August (5th).

Stephanie

Chair West Midlands 

Copy Date for next issue:

14th August 2015

Please include images where possible.

Please send to g.murley@ntlworld.com

 

West Midlands Region March 2015 REGIONAL  NEWSLETTER

Regional Committee
The next committee meeting will be on Saturday April 25th 2015

Fashion and Stitch at the NEC
It is that time of year again and fast approaching is the Fashion and Stitch show at the NEC from the 19th to 22nd March. Once again the Embroiderers’ Guild will have stands. There will be a stand for the Guild bookshop, an area for mini workshops and a stand for the West Midlands region.
We are looking for volunteers to be on the stands and meet and greet the public, talk to them about the Guild and promote the local branches.
Depending on the number of volunteers the “shift” will be either two and a half hours or four hours.
Volunteers will get free entry into the show but will have to pay their own travel costs.
If you are able to volunteer please contact me Trisha James on patricia.james3@virgin.net stating the
day you are available and whether you can do morning or afternoon.

Copy Date for next issue: 3rd May 2015
Please include images where possible. Please send to g.murley@ntlworld.com

We are very aware that Contact is still not with you despite original estimates that it would be published in January/February. This was certainly our intention. As ever, a combination of factors largely outside our control contributed to the now late publication for which we apologise. Contact will be printed and go to the distribution house this week and be with members during the course of next week.
It will contain the formal notice of the AGM including details for ‘Any Other Business’ and ‘Questions’ members may wish to ask. There is also a ‘Call for Nominations’ for the Broderers’ Award. In addition, we are introducing ‘Proxy Voting’ for Ordinary and Special Resolutions. This means that every member will have the opportunity to vote individually on important decisions whether or not they can attend this forthcoming AGM or any General Meeting.
As part of creating a long-­‐term future for the Guild we have been developing a revised framework. This framework is usually referred to as the ‘Memorandum & Articles of Association’. This has not been an easy process. It has taken much longer than we were led to expect and has been a steep learning curve for all involved, not least because the Guild, a company since 1936, is subject to the provisions of the Companies Act. A summary of proposals will be published before the AGM and the AGM agenda includes time for a presentation and ‘question & answer’ session. The presentation and
details of the questions and answers will be made available to members soon after the AGM. However, no decision will be taken at the AGM. It will be taken at a later date. This will allow  members time to familiarise themselves with the proposals before being asked to make a final decision. The proposal relating to the chairmanship of the Guild and the new role of ‘Artistic Director’ will be part of the decision to be taken at a later date.
However, on the lighter side of things, we can tell you that the Magna Carta project is likely to generate a lot of publicity for the Guild in May of this year and we will be announcing a new ‘whole-­‐ Guild’ project for 2016 that has opportunities throughout the UK for members to exhibit their work. Look out for the Capability Brown 300th Festival announcement in Contact with further details in coming weeks being sent to branches, appearing on the website and published in the next issue of Contact.
Terry Murphy CEO Embroiderers’ Guild

EG: The Collection
Rosemary Green is available to deliver the Embroiderers’ Guild talk about The Collection of Embroideries it holds. It is hoped others will also be trained to do this in the West Midlands Region in the near future. The talk can also be given to other organisations if they are interested.
Please contact Rosemary on 01384 831663 or email rjgreen@blueyonder.co.uk

Wrekin Branch
Subsequent to my report for the September Meeting our Branch has held its AGM.
Three members resigned from the committee including the treasurer and were thanked for their efforts. One new member joined the committee but we were still left without a treasurer. As we could not function without one, things were looking desperate. Luckily a new branch member, Ruth Ferguson stepped forward and volunteered to join the committee as treasurer for which we were very grateful
Our Christmas meeting was in November as we have no meeting in December. This year, it was decided that, as a change from festive nibbles, members would be asked to bring a plate to share and they responded magnificently bringing a great variety of wonderful food.
Sylvie Milton organised a quiz and bingo. We also had an exchange of UFO’s (unfinished objects) – nothing precious as they were to be completed as the recipient pleased, cut up, dyed, stitched over etc. Completed ‘UFO’s’ to be brought to the April meeting. It was altogether a very jolly evening.
At our January committee meeting, June Gregory our chairman reported that we have at present thirty six members. This is a fairly healthy number but more would be useful (and perhaps augment the committee!).
It was also decided by consensus, that the Folio which we had on loan from H.Q. would be returned without working on it further.
Sue Brown our Programme Secretary has put together another year of speakers and workshops to whet members’ appetites. Thank you Sue. These will be elaborated on in future reports.
Florence Hall

Lanyards:
Do you dislike badges that have to be pinned on or the use of a sticky label at meetings of EG?
Several members now have lanyards which can be used instead. These have a clear, plastic cardholder attached in which a card can be placed with your name.
Some of us have made embroidered name tags to put in which is quite fun.
How about a branch competition to decorate these?
The lanyards are printed with “West Midlands Region”. Apparently they are very useful for holding raffle tickets as well!
Lanyards cost £2.00 each and can be ordered from our Treasurer: Margaret Oswald – email:
margaret.osw9@talktalk.net

BRANCH PROGRAMMES
Please note details of most of our branches and their programmes are available through the Embroiderers’ Guild website. Go on to the EG Website and click on Find a Branch. You can then go onto the branch page which often has a link to their programme. There is usually a Branch
Contact on each branch’s page as well. Check it out!

Oswestry & District Regional Grant Report
A year or so ago, our branch membership started to decrease until we had just 18 members left. We decided we had to do something different and start to give ourselves a more public face. One of the
ideas was to hold a really well presented exhibition – but to do that we needed to find £240 to hire a local gallery. We were therefore hugely grateful to be offered a grant of £100 from the Guild. With
this behind us, we were able to request another grant from the O.D.A.A. (Oswestry & District Arts Association). They awarded us £200 and gave us advice on looking for sponsorship – which we did and a local business printed all our posters etc. for free).
This total of £300 meant that we could cover all our expenses without dipping into our own  resources.
The exhibition was hugely successful, and brought in many people not only from the local area but also from a distance, some of them on holiday around here. We were able to do a weekly mini workshop and a Saturday drop in demonstration during the month of the exhibition.
Because of this exhibition, and also our previous efforts at publicity which took us to local fetes, a market stall and an Open Day, we have acquired several new members and a number of visitors, some of whom are hoping to join. At present our membership is about 35 and our meetings are well
attended and lively.
The Guild grant came at just the right time and has been of enormous benefit to our branch.
Thank you.

National AGM
11th April 2015
Birmingham Central Library
Birmingham B1 2ND
This year our region will welcome the National AGM to the Birmingham Central Library. Unlike recent years this will be a one day meeting.
The venue is easily reached by public transport as well as having large car parks nearby.
Why not add this date to your diary now as it offers those of us who are West Midlands members a great opportunity to find out more about the Guild as a whole and perhaps to influence its future strategy.

Staffordshire Branch Summer Exhibition
This will take place from Tuesday 23rd June to Saturday 4th July at the Ancient High House in
Stafford. The work displayed will be work produced on Day Schools and Workshop evenings along with some of members’ own work produced during the last two years. It is hoped the exhibition will help to promote the branch as well as the Embroiderers’ Guild in general. Do come along. The High House is itself a very interesting building to look around.
It is open from Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am -­‐ 4.00pm. Admission is free.

Branch Fees:
At the last Regional Committee Meeting, representatives of the various branches gave details of their subscriptions for members, when and how often they met and charges for monthly meetings and workshops. It was clear these varied widely among the branches in our Region. Differences seem to come down to costs of venues to a large extent as well as the number of members in the branch. It was interesting to note the variety.
If you would like to highlight something coming up in your programme don’t hesitate to get in
touch. Email: g.murley@ntlworld.com

Leamington and District Branch
Embroiderers’ Guild Exhibition Saturday 1st August – Sunday 30th August
Art Trails Studios, Russell Street, Leamington Spa CV32 5QB
(Please note change of date and venue from last issue)

Staffordshire Branch High Profile Tutor
This Spring Staffordshire Branch welcomes Richard Box for an evening talk and a day school.
On Fri 24th April at 7.30pm Richard will give a talk entitled Adventures in Painting and Embroidery and on Saturday 25th April from 10am to 4pm he will lead a day school called Picture it in Collage and Stitch.
Both events take place at:
Thirlmere Way Day Centre, Merrivale Road, Stafford ST17 9EJ.
Please contact Jean Boydon : jean.boydon@btinternet.com for further details.

Win Barry has reached her Centenary
Leamington Branch Member, Win Barry, celebrated her 100th birthday on February 25th in the company of her many friends and family.
As a Life Member of the Embroiderers’ Guild and a Founder Member of the Leamington & District Branch, which also celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year, Win has fond memories of past and current members and their activities.
Although she is regretful that she can no longer join us for meetings, she remains an active member of her local Quilters group close to her home in Coventry.
During the 1980s Leamington & District Branch hit a low point, and the committee prepared to close the Branch due to lack of support and funds. Win, together with a few fellow members, decided that this could not happen, so they formed a new committee, made a fresh start and Leamington & District Branch was re-­‐born. Our thanks go to Win and her colleagues for their commitment at that time.
Apart from being a highly skilled needlewoman, Win has been and still is a friend to so many of us. Loved for her patience, friendship, loyalty and good humour, we must join her Majesty the Queen in congratulating her as she celebrates this very special birthday.
We wish her Health and Happiness for more years to come.
Janet Seaton

Uttoxeter Quilt and Embroidery Show
This takes place on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April at Uttoxeter Race Course.
Once again the Guild will have Stand which is shared with East Midlands Region.
There are displays of quilts and embroideries as well as many traders.
For more info: www.quiltandstitchvillage.com

REGIONAL DAY 2015
Leamington and District Embroiderers’ Guild Invite you to 29th West Midlands Regional Day
on Saturday 20th June 2015 at North Leamington School, Sandy Lane, Leamington Spa CV32 6RD
Morning Speaker – Professor Giorgio Riello (The Great British Sewing Bee) “Decorating Textiles”
The Madeira Lecture -­‐ “All that Glisters”
The Story of Gold work Nicola Jarvis
Competition Title “All that Glisters is not Gold”

JETS Competition Age Groups – 13 years and under and 14-­‐18 years “Bright and Shiny”
Competition sizes
2D no larger than A3 including frame
3D no larger than: Height 38cm, Length 30cm, Width 30cm Including frame if used
Any textile medium to be worked by a single member
We will also have 3 folios from HQ for you all to se
About the Regional Day speakers:
Professor Giorgio Riello Talk: “Decorating Textiles”
Professor Giorgio Riello, currently Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Warwick University, is a renowned historian, who has published numerous books and articles on the history of
design and material culture, fashion and textiles, and small-­‐scale manufacturing in Europe.
His recent book Cotton: The Fibre that Made the Modern World (CUP 2013), which won the 2014
World History Association Bentley Book Prize, analyses the role played by cotton textiles in the re-­‐
shaping of global trade and production during the long period from 1300 to the late eighteenth/early
nineteenth century.
Giorgio appeared on the BBC2 series, The Great British Sewing Bee, (13 March 2014), discussing the advent of chintz and printed cottons in the 18th century.
Nicola Jarvis
Talk: “All that Glisters”
Trained at the Royal School of Needlework over twenty years ago, Nicola is an experienced traditional gold embroiderer and teacher of this highly intricate technique. Recently, she has become
widely known for her exhibition ‘The Art of Embroidery’ launched in 2013 at the William Morris
Gallery in London, where she created an installation of work inspired by the designs and textiles of
William and May Morris, and which she will take to various venues around the UK throughout 2015 and 2016.
Nicola’s talk will take us on a glittering journey that starts with the use of gold thread in English
Medieval embroideries made for royalty and the church, and follows its subsequent use on
furnishings, garments, costumes and regalia through to the contemporary use of gold and metal threads in the twentieth and twenty-­‐first centuries

South Cheshire Embroiderers Guild
South Cheshire branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild transferred to the West Midlands region in September 2013. We are very lively and active branch with 95 members.
We meet in Audlem in the morning of the third Thursday of each month. We have a very varied programme of speakers, full day workshops and mini workshops on the afternoon of our meetings. We also have a residential weekend at Alston Hall every other year.
Our main group activity has been the travelling books. We are now in our third round of travelling books with 31 members taking part. The first two rounds had in total 70 members taking part. The books are displayed at our AGM in September and this year will also be on display at the exhibition.
This year we are celebrating our 25th anniversary and have a very special programme of events, including a cake and fizz celebration in March, a celebratory lunch in July and a four day exhibition in the village hall in Audlem from 18th to 20th September. We are very pleased that we have thirteen of our founder members still active members of the Branch and they will be receiving their 25year badges from Christine Poole at our March meeting.
Our full programme and reports of our meetings can be seen on our website www. audlemembroiderersguild.blogspot.co.uk.
Trisha James

Shrewsbury Branch Anniversary is planning to celebrate its Pearl Anniversary this summer with a Strawberries and Cream garden party . Members are being asked to produce a textile with a ‘Pearl’ theme to add to the display planned for the Open Day on 1st August to celebrate the National Day of Stitch.

Leamington & District Member’s Award
Leamington & District Branch member, Gill Dakin, made a first-­‐time entry to the Rugby and District Art Society Annual Awards Exhibition, held at the Rugby Art Gallery, Museum & Library in December 2014. Gill entered two pieces under the heading of ‘mixed media’, since they contained some paper.
Gill was surprised and absolutely delighted to win the President’s Award for her entry entitled 'Autumn Robin', created using a dry point etching technique. Unfortunately, this piece is partly hidden in the photograph below with the Deputy Mayor of Rugby, Richard Dodd, who presented the award. The other piece was called 'Poppy Field' (below). This was started on a recent branch workshop led by
Amanda Hislop.



March 2015

Dear All,

We are very aware that Contact is still not with you despite original estimates that it would be published in January/February. This was certainly our intention. As ever, a combination of factors largely outside our control contributed to the now late publication for which we apologise. Contact will be printed and go to  the distribution house this week and be with members during the course of next week.

It will contain the formal notice of the AGM including details for ‘Any Other Business’ and ‘Questions’ members may wish to ask. There is also a ‘Call for Nominations’ for the Broderers’ Award. In addition, we are introducing ‘Proxy Voting’ for Ordinary and Special Resolutions. This means that every member will have the opportunity to vote individually on important decisions whether or not they can attend this forthcoming AGM or any General Meeting.

As part of creating a longterm future for the Guild we have been developing a revised framework. This framework is usually referred to as the ‘Memorandum & Articles of Association’. This has not been an easy process. It has taken much longer than we were led to expect and has been a steep learning curve for all involved, not least because the Guild, a company since 1936, is subject to the provisions of the Companies Act. A summary of proposals will be published before the AGM and the AGM agenda includes time for a presentation and ‘question & answer’ session. The presentation and details of the questions and answers will be made available to members soon after the AGM. However, no decision will be taken at the AGM. It will be taken at a later date. This will allow members time to familiarise themselves with the proposals before being asked to make a final decision. The proposal relating to the chairmanship of the Guild and the new role of ‘Artistic Director’ will be part of the decision to be taken at a later date.

However, on the lighter side of things, we can tell you that the Magna Carta project is likely to generate a lot of publicity for the Guild in May of this year and we will be announcing a new ‘whole-Guild’ project for 2016 that has opportunities throughout the UK for members to exhibit their work. Look out for the Capability Brown 300th Festival announcement in Contact with further details in coming weeks being sent to branches, appearing on the website and published in the next issue of Contact.

Best wishes

Terry Murphy

February 2014

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

The attached document summarises all the points clarified for members and branches in the last month in respect of the proposals to divide the role of Chairman of the Guild into two new roles.

A copy can be found on the members' side of the website along with a separate document that contains the full list of questions asked and the answers given. These documents can be found in the left hand menu under 'Constitutional Change' visible immediately after members login.

Full details of these and other changes will be sent to members by the end of February along with their copy of Contact. We had hoped to do this earlier but the process of drawing up new constitutional documents for the Guild is taking rather longer than we had been led to believe.

 Administrator on behalf of Trustees

Embroiderers' Guild

Calls for Nominations – Chairman of the Guild and Artistic Director

Summary of responses to questions raised by individual members and branch committees

Over 50 GLO’s sent in questions following on from the briefing paper issued in December 2014. The answers to the most asked questions are listed below. A full list of ‘Questions and Answers’ is available on the website (LOGIN – Constitutional Change) and has been sent to Branch Chairs and GLO’s.

·         It was always the case that Christine Poole would and will complete her 3-year term of office as ‘Chairman of the Guild’ due to end in April 2015. Previously, Christine was ‘Acting Chairman’ for 7 months. If the recommendations of trustees are approved at The Guild AGM in April 2015, members will have the opportunity to nominate other members for up to 8 seats on the board of trustees. Christine, in common with all members, will be eligible for any of these nominations.

·         Christine, as Chairman of the Guild, was and continues to be a party to the considerations, discussions and decision-making on these and other changes to be recommended to members.

·         The ‘Artistic Director’ will be a trustee; a nominee from the membership, not an external person, not paid.

·         Splitting the role of ‘Chairman of the Guild’ into two roles is considered essential given the increasing demands of the role and the need to focus more attention on being outward-facing in the wider interests of stitch and textile art. The need is just too great to expect one person to fulfil it.

·         Having an ‘Artistic Director’ and ‘Chairman of the Board of Trustees’ will not lead to an increase in membership subscriptions.

·         The Call for Nominations for ‘Artistic Director’ will not now take place until after the vote by members on this and other recommended changes. This Call for Nominations at this time was intended to be a preparatory measure only to be acted on in the event the recommendations of the trustees were approved by members.

·         The ‘Artistic Director’ will be an outward-looking role working in the interests of stitch and textile art, including members’ interests in the future of embroidery as a skill and art form.

·         The ‘Chair of the Board of Trustees’ will be an inward-facing role mainly concerned with the good governance of the Guild (risk, finance, strategy, contracts, staff etc.).

·         Full role descriptions of Artistic Director, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and other trustee roles will be published to members in the very near future.

·         While the trustees recommend that the role of ‘Artistic Director’ be one that is nominated by members with a final selection made by the board of trustees, members will find that recommendations yet to be published will give members significantly greater say in who becomes a trustee than is presently the case.

·         All trustees, including the Chairman of the Guild, have and take an equal interest in the members, branches and regions. Currently, the trustees and their concern for members’ interests, are often represented by the ‘Chairman of the Guild’ at meetings, festival days and AGMs.

·         All future trustees, whatever specific role they may have, will continue to be concerned with and represent the interests of members at all times.

·         The recommendation to discontinue ‘Officer of the Guild’ status and discontinue the use of a ‘casting vote’ is being made in the interests of creating a balanced board, one that works as far as possible by consensus and as a team. The changes are in line with the provisions of the 2006 Companies Act.

·         There not being a ‘casting vote’ will mean that, in the event of equal votes ‘for and against’, trustees will have to further consider the subject of the vote to achieve at least a ‘majority decision’. The original intention of a casting vote was to ensure the Chairman voted down a motion on which the board was split. This was not always the way a casting vote was used.

·         The CEO is not a trustee.

·         The references to the Companies Act 2006 only reflects the fact that the Guild has been a company since 1929. Any changes to the framework in which the Guild works are governed by the Companies Act, not the Charity Commission.

New ‘Articles of Association’ are being drawn up. They are needed to bring up-to-date the (legal) framework in which the Guild works. These new Articles will be published to every member. They will be accompanied by notes that explain all the changes, including those above.

VOTING:

Every member, whether or not they can attend the Guild AGM in April 2015, will have the opportunity to vote on the changes being recommended by the trustees. It was hoped to publish the new ‘Articles’ in early February. Unfortunately, the process of drawing them up is taking longer than expected. They will now be despatched to members by the end of February. The current ‘Articles of Association’ require members to have 14 days’ notice of any proposed or recommended changes. In this instance members will have at least 30 days’ notice.

The changes will, for the most part, provide a framework for how the Guild as a whole organisation works. The changes do not affect regions and branches. They are matters of interest to members whether or not they are a member of a branch.

The Constitutional Review Committee

November 2014

West Midlands Region  REGIONAL NEWSLETTER

Regional Committee
The next committee meeting will be on Saturday January 31st 2015

Regional Chairman’s Report
We had a very successful AGM in September, with great hospitality by the Shrewsbury Branch. After the business meeting and update from HQ, the new meetings of the branch officers provided a buzz of activity and their ideas were discussed at the October committee meeting. The afternoon workshops were also very busy and thanks go to Anne Thumpston who provided two very different activities. The day finished with some very tempting cakes!

In October the new committee met with 15 attendees. 11 branches were represented with apologies from the others. This means that in the future every branch has representation on the committee. New to post are Clare Wilkins from Birmingham branch who is the new secretary and Ruth Dalby from South Cheshire who is the JETS rep for the region. 
We have set some future action for the committee which will very much involve the members. For example, in our first discussions we looked at branch fees and payment at the door. This was a useful exercise and it made us further aware that numbers of members and room hire costs could also be discussed so that we would have a better picture of how branches manage their funds. New committee members said that the meeting had been worthwhile.
Stephanie A Harper

Copy Date for next issue:
31st January 2015
Please include images where possible.
Please send to g.murley@ntlworld.com

Staffordshire Hoard Hangings
The Staffordshire Hoard gallery at Birmingham Museum opened on 17th October. The embroidered hangings made by the region have pride of place in the Mead Hall which is the discovery area of the exhibition.
Trisha James and Clare Wilkins attended the opening of the gallery on 16th October and many of the Guild members involved in making the hangings were there for the open evening on 21st September.
There was lots of interest in the story of making the hangings and in the Embroiderers’ Guild among the visitors on both evenings.
If you were quick you would have seen the hangings on BBC Midlands Today!
The gallery is a wonderful space for the Hoard pieces and for our hangings. The museum plans to make them Item One in the children’s trail for the exhibition.
It took less than a year to complete the project. Many thanks to all those taking part and especially to Trish and Clare.
West Midlands Region November 2014
 

The Collection:
Rosemary Green is available to deliver the Embroiderers’ Guild talk about The Collection of Embroideries it holds. It is hoped others will also be trained to do this in the West Midlands Region in the near future. The talk can also be given to other organisations if they are interested.
Please contact Rosemary on 01384 831663 
or email rjgreen@blueyonder.co.uk

Llinos Spriggs
We are sad to report that Llinos Spriggs, has died after a short illness. Llinos was Regional Vice Chairman when Jean Draper was Chairman and took over as Chairman 1999 – 2002. On her committee were Jane Lockley (Vice chairman), June Gregory (Secretary) and Margaret Oswald (Treasurer) who have compiled this tribute.
Llinos was passionate about the Guild and as Chairman, she visited all the Branches and many of their exhibitions. Llinos was a very talented embroiderer and inspirational tutor; she was very generous with her time and materials and had a great sense of humour. She taught City & Guilds courses at Telford and Halesowen Colleges (with Carolyn Gayton) and took many workshops throughout the Region and beyond, at which she inspired us all and shared her extensive knowledge of embroidery. Llinos was a very charismatic Chairman of Solihull Branch in the mid-1990s and a founding member of a local textile group – Textile Connections, with whom she exhibited until after she and her husband, Chris, moved to Devon.
In 2002 Llinos was elected Vice Chairman of the Guild (Chris Berry was her Chairman). With her ‘new hat on’ she then visited several Regions, including ours, for Regional Days and AGMs.
Llinos was a pleasure to work with on committee and to be taught by. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her and our thoughts are with her family.

Margaret Oswald, Jane Lockley and June Gregory

A photo of Llinos
Supplied by June Gregory
OBITUARY

 Lanyards:
Do you dislike badges that have to be pinned on or the use of a sticky label at meetings of EG?
Several members now have lanyards which can be used instead. These have a clear, plastic cardholder attached in which a card can be placed with your name.
Some of us have made embroidered name tags to put in which is quite fun. How about a branch competition to decorate these?
The lanyards are printed with “West Midlands Region”. Apparently they are very useful for holding raffle tickets as well!
Lanyards cost £2.00 each and can be ordered from our Treasurer:
Margaret Oswald – email: margaret.osw9@talktalk.net

2014 WEG Exhibition at the Three Choirs Festival
Every three years, the Three Choirs’ Music Festival is hosted by Worcester. In recent years, as part of the fringe activities, the Embroiderers’ Guild in the city has been invited to present an exhibition of their work in the Chappel Memorial Room which is part of the King’s School. This year, the theme – “Surface, Space and Time – featuring the Decade 1910 – 1920, including the First World War” – gave members wide scope for what they produced. There was also a section for items that did not fit into this as well!
In all, thirty nine members exhibited including our four Venture groups. One of the latter produced a “Wall of Poppies” where members and visitors could add small labels with memories of those who took part particularly, but not wholly, in WW1. Some of these were very moving.
Another of the Venture Groups’ members each produced a piece of work based on the poem, “As the Team’s Head-Brass” by Edward Thomas. He was one of the Dymock poets and lived close to Ledbury for a short time. He wrote this work in May 1916, at a time when he was making up his mind to give up his post as map-reading instructor to apply for a commission, which would involve him “going out” to the Front. He was killed in April 1917 at the beginning of the battle of Arras. The chosen text was intriguing but everyone rose to the challenge as can be seen in the accompanying photograph. Both these Venture Groups’ items have been loaned to various churches and commemorative events since July.
Examples of work related to the 1910 – 1920 decade included one piece inspired by broken tile mosaics designed by Gaudi, at Guell Park, Barcelona, which opened in 1914 and another inspired by C.F. Voysey, based on a design from 1919 which involved monoprinting, silk painting and applique.
Having been provided with a piece of vilene, all the WEG members had been challenged to produce a “Treasure Casket”, on the lines of the one developed by Kathleen Laurel Stage (see issue 85 of Stitch), for sale at the exhibition. Money raised was donated to our Guild. Visitors were certainly spoilt for choice. Also for sale were a few of the exhibition entries, some portfolio work, a number of small items such as bags and covered sketch books, and lots of different cards.
During the eight days in which the festival took place, over 600 people attended the exhibition. Words such as “beautiful”, “inspiring”, “creative” and “moving” reflected the many comments made orally and recorded in a special visitors’ book. As a result of a vote by those who came along, Christine Benson won the “Mary Page Trophy” and a £25 book token, with her work entitled “Of Sea and Sky”. It was full of movement and subtle colour changes. Of course, the success of the exhibition was due not least to the small team (under the leadership of Jacky Shail) who did all the pre-planning, all those who submitted work and helped to put the display up (and take it down) and all those who gave of their time to steward. The organisation was brilliant. An off-shoot of the exhibition was the interest shown in the activities of the WEG. Perhaps we will have gained a few new members!

Margaret Greaves

News from Birmingham Branch:
In addition to the drop-in session they organize on the first Saturday of the month at Birmingham Library from 11am to 2pm and which seems to be going from strength to strength, it sounds like Birmingham Branch have been very busy recently.

CoCoMad, the Cotteridge Park Festival was the first Saturday in July. It is our ‘local’ community festival as we meet in Cotteridge. We have been part of a craft tent with the Spinners, Weavers and Dyers for 2 years now. We sell handmade items, which is a good fundraiser and attracts new members from this event.

Staffordshire Hoard Hangings 3 members of the branch were involved in research, designing, stitching and putting together the hangings and another member stitched a piece and helped stitch together a panel. Thanks go to Trisha James for coordinating the project and keeping us all on track. Clare Wilkins our Branch Secretary went with Trisha to the opening of the new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery. The hangings look wonderful in the Mead Hall discovery area in the exhibition hall. On Tuesday 21st October the ladies involved in the project met at the Open Evening for the gallery. We had a group photo taken. Lots of people wanted to know about the embroideries on both evenings and we found someone who is interested in coming to Birmingham Branch.

Tolkien Project We are doing a hanging made up of A5 size embroideries for The Library of Birmingham, which will be on display at the Guild’s National AGM.

EG HQ Workshop
Earlier in the year I spotted an Embroiderers Guild workshop at Walton on Thames which took my fancy, traditional 3D Sculpture with Kay Dennis. Which in reality resulted in one oak leaf and one acorn produced on the day, so detailed was the work, with other elements to be finished at home. Admittedly, Walton on Thames is not just down the road from us in this part of the country, but I felt better about attending when I realised I could combine it with a visit to two seldom seen relatives, and make a little holiday out of it.
I never got to Hampton Court when the Guild was based there, and as I’m a Branch committee member I seem to be more interested these days in the wider EG picture, so part of me wanted to see what HQ was all about. The workshop was held on a Saturday, so those usually in the office were not there, only the tutor. The property at Walton on Thames was much smaller than I had expected, and I can certainly confirm that our annual fees are not spent on posh office equipment and state of the art furnishings. If it were featured on one of these property makeover programmes it would be described as ‘tired and mismatched’. This to me is a good thing, as it tells me that our fees are not being wasted on the trappings of the organisation.
Anyway, the workshop was excellent, as was the tutor Kay Dennis. Very generous with her hints and tips, she even answered questions on materials and techniques not actually being covered by our project, but still within her line of work. Collective and individual attention could not be faulted. What a pity I live so far away, as I would certainly like to attend more workshops there. And, of course, being EG HQ we were able to see at close hand the wonderful work on display in the gallery, without any time constraints or waiting to get a closer look, which you sometimes get at shows and exhibitions. Was the distance and effort worth it? Yes, of course it was.
Carole Garland

Leamington and District Branch Embroiderers’ Guild Exhibition
Tuesday 2nd June - Sunday 21st June 2015
Gallery 150
Regent Court Shopping Centre
Leamington Spa CV32 4NP

Staffordshire Branch High Profile Tutor
Next Spring Staffordshire Branch welcomes Richard Box for an evening talk and a day school.
On Fri 24th April at 7.30pm Richard will give a talk entitled Adventures in Painting and Embroidery and on Saturday 25th April from 10am to 4pm he will lead a day school called Picture it in Collage and Stitch.
Both events take place at Thirlmere Way Day Centre, Merrivale Road, Stafford ST17 9EJ. Please contact Jean Boydon : jean.boydon@btinternet.com for further details.

Shrewsbury Branch
In September Shrewsbury Branch moved to a new venue, Bayston Hill Methodist Church Centre, for our meetings.
We have made a generous donation towards a digital screen to be installed and invested in our own digital projector. The new venue has encouraged some new members to join which hopefully will counteract the few who have not yet renewed their membership. We continue to promote the meetings with publicity using paper flyers around various venues and local branches, the local Press plus more use of Facebook and our Blog.
The dedicated committee, which has had a few changes this year, continues to work very hard to promote the branch and ensure meetings are interesting and friendly.
Our first meeting in September took the form of a Talk and Fashion Show with a Downton theme by Notty Hornblower who brought along two models and lots of items from her Costume Museum collection which focuses on fashionable dress for men women and children from the late 18th Century up to the 1970′s. After a stressful wait for her to arrive later than planned this was a very successful evening with many visitors.
In October, we welcomed Chrissie Menzies who spoke about her ‘Journey in Textiles’ leading up to her use of the fibres from the alpacas and merino sheep she now breeds.
In November we look forward to Christine Kelly, a self-taught textile artist and collector of vintage fabrics and haberdashery. Her work includes handmade and hand stitched treasures made from vintage finds.
December is our Christmas social evening with a hands on Peg Fairy/Angel stitching activity.
Twenty members have eagerly signed up to take part in the Travelling Books project which we hope will encourage new friendships and an opportunity to share talents and techniques.
A small team of dedicated members have set up a JETS group that is held at the same venue and time as our well established monthly informal stitching group known as “The Lantern”. The interaction between the two groups promotes a very positive atmosphere. Branch members have been very generous in donating useful items and stitching samples of possible projects to inspire the youngsters.
In September we hosted the regional AGM. A small sub group made all the preparations and on the day we had a good team effort of members who helped in many ways to make our job as hosts an enjoyable and successful day.
Marion Jones

South-East Region Hanging
It all started with my plea for us to do something more constructive in stitch at the Regional Day. I felt, and still do, that most members are very able to do more that Dorset buttons or Suffolk puffs! Regional committee took up this challenge, researched in the region where an embroidered textile might go and then got Fay Maxwell involved.
The children's hospice chosen has an Atlantic room where parents and children may go for a quiet time together and it was agreed to do an underwater hanging, touchy, feely and fun for this room.
At the regional meeting Fay had made many packs with fabric, organza, threads, detailed instructions and patterns for members to buy at £3 each, and on the day many members stitched their shells, fishes, and sea horses etc. as slips. Others took the pack home, stitched the slips and sent them back to Fay.
Fay is doing an amazing amount of work as she will be stitching all these slips onto the backing fabric.
Sue Clark
South-East Region Member
This idea is maybe something our Region could take on board? Should our Region include such a project at one of our events? What do you think? Please let me know at g.murley@ntlworld.com

Outgoing Regional Chairman’s Report:
This is my final report as regional chairman so a time for reflection. The Guild has been going through many changes during my three years of office. Headquarters has moved from Hampton Court Palace to Kings Road, Walton on Thames. Our region has also undergone changes.
The committee no longer meets at the home of the chairman but at a room elsewhere. The meeting time has been reduced from all day to mornings only, and the money allocated for lunch now goes towards the cost of the room hire instead. Much work is done by email or by telephone which helps to keep running costs down. The format of the AGM has also changed as we try to encourage more members to attend. Branch reports are now circulated via the branch envelopes and the time saved allows a much more sociable afternoon with workshops and things to look at.
The regional newsletter has changed from an annual black and white publication to one in full colour and then changed again to something that is circulated more frequently by email. At the same time, members who do not belong to a branch became included in the circulation, first by post and later by email. This helps everyone to keep up to date with events throughout the region. It would be helpful if all branches would circulate it to their members by email as well as printing off a copy for the branch meeting.
Each year there has been a group project to bring members together. 2012 gave us Olympic Postcards. Thanks to a lot of hard work from my predecessor, Ann Lamb, the opening venue was Much Wenlock. The exhibition returned to our region in the autumn, at Artrix in Bromsgrove.
2012 also saw the launch of the Staffordshire Hoard project. This culminated in an exhibition at the Potteries Museum in the spring of 2013, followed by a one day display at the Regional Day at Worcester. It was good to see so many contributions, especially from members of JETS groups.
In March 2014 we were able to put much of the work on display at Fashion, Stitch and Embroidery at the NEC. Work from the project also gave us the images for a new regional banner, paid for with a donation. This can be borrowed by any branch for an event. Thanks are due to Pat Tempest at Headquarters who sorted out the necessary artwork and to Heather Ramsden of Birmingham branch who organised its manufacture.
This year we have also had a commission from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, for two wall hangings, to be displayed at the new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery. My thanks go to all who have been involved in this commission, and especially to Trish James of South Cheshire who co-ordinated all the work.
We now have 15 branches in this region as South Cheshire has now been with us for a year. They also brought a JETS group with them. With a new JETS group at Stourbridge, Shrewsbury and Oswestry this brings the number to 10. This bodes well for the future of stitching and for the Guild, especially if junior members move on to become adult members.
Regions are now beginning to feel the benefit of changes at a national level. There have been £100 grants from Headquarters and regions were asked to support this endeavour with a further two £100 grants within their own region. These awards have been used for a variety of purposes – equipment purchase, subsidising an expensive speaker, exhibition expenses. Headquarters does need to remember that regions plan their budgets well ahead so don’t like unexpected requests within a financial year. The region has two copies of the Ruby Porter DVD to loan to branches and a copy of the entries for Tree Rhythms, this year’s national members’ competition. All branches have been given their own copy as the region asked for permission to reproduce it. This should make it easier for members to view as these can be loaned to your members. Headquarters also kindly supplied the printed covers for you. 17 members from this region entered the competition and two were very successful. Perhaps this DVD will encourage more of you to take part next time.
Several branches have held successful exhibitions. This helps to keep the Embroiderers’ Guild in the public eye but does involve a lot of work. This year saw the second National Stitch Day in August. With better advance notice this year more branches felt able to participate.

Reports in the most recent newsletter show how successful this can be. August is not the perfect month for all and the date did clash with existing commitments for some branches. It seems this will be the annual time for this event.
The region continues to support the national EG stand at Fashion, Stitch and Embroidery. The workshops provided by the region have been popular and are linked to products produced by the Embroiderers’ Guild such as the magazine ‘Stitch’ and the Folios. The region has also had a stand at the Uttoxeter Quilt and Embroidery show in April. My thanks go to all who help to set up and take down at these events, to those who devise and prepare the workshops and all the volunteers who give their time to be on the stands.
Most branches struggle with increased costs for speakers, workshops and room hire. Think about joint meetings with other nearby branches. Perhaps share workshops too. Please don’t forget the traditional techniques – not everyone likes contemporary ones, and there should be room to cover all tastes at some point during the year.
The regional levy has been held for 2015 but is likely to rise again. The one major expense for the region is travelling expenses but it is important that your representatives do meet face to face throughout the year. The region only has two sources of income – the levy and a half share of any profit from the regional day. The date of this is always given a year in advance so please encourage your members to join in. It’s a really good day out with like-minded people.
A regional chairman sometimes feels like a sandwich filling, squeezed between the demands from Headquarters and from the branches and Individual members but my three years have, overall, been enjoyable ones. I have made many new friends along the journey. My thanks go to everyone who has made the journey so enjoyable.
Rosemary Green

We have two appointments to the Regional Committee in specific posts. The next column introduces our new Regional Secretary and JETS Coordinator.Clare Wilkins was co-opted to the Regional Committee as Regional Secretary at the meeting on 25th October.
Clare joined the Guild in 2003 and has played an active role in her branch since then, apart from stepping back for year in 2012. She is currently Birmingham Branch Secretary. Clare was widowed on 18th June and was only able to consider volunteering to be Regional Secretary during the regional AGM at the end of September.
Clare was heavily involved in the regional project to make embroidered hangings for the new Staffordshire Hoard gallery at Birmingham Museum. Clare stitched a little at school and crocheted a lot at university, where she studied ancient and medieval history. She started stitching with cross-stitch in the mid-1980s. Clare still does cross stitch and particularly loves American folk art samplers.
Clare also does other types of embroidery.

My name is Ruth Dalby and I was elected as the Region’s JETS coordinator at the recent AGM. I have been a member of the South Cheshire Embroiderers’ Guild for six years and started our Young Embroiderers’ Group nearly four years ago.
The name JETS (Junior Embroiderers and Textile Students) has been adopted by the Embroiderers’ Guild as it better describes both the activities and age span of the young people who attend.
The West Midlands Region has an opportunity to celebrate forty years of YE/JETS by exhibiting work from our young members. It has been suggested that every JETS Group make a hanging composed of squares made by individual members with the dominant colour to be ruby or shades of red. The individual squares can be about 10cms/4ins but do feel free to make whatever is best or easiest for your Group. The first opportunity to exhibit these pieces will be at the NEC in March followed by three more events; the show at Uttoxeter, the Regional Day at Leamington Spa and the Regional AGM at Craven Arms. The finished pieces need to be ready for hanging with a cord across the back (I guess that will be the best way for all the venues). 
Our next Regional Committee Meeting is on January 31st 2015 and it would be ideal if your finished work could be brought by your branch representative to this meeting but I do understand that this might not be possible. I would like to receive them all by the end of February so please email me if you would like to make alternative arrangements.
Congratulations to Oswestry Guild who have started a JETS Group.
My email address is sewalong@hotmail.co.uk Please feel free to email me if I can help in anyway.

REGIONAL DAY 2015
Leamington and District Embroiderers’ Guild
Invite you to
29th West Midlands Regional Day
on Saturday 20th June 2015
at North Leamington School, Sandy Lane
Leamington Spa CV32 6RD
Morning Speaker – Professor Giorgio Riello
(The Great British Sewing Bee) “Decorating Textiles”
The Madeira Lecture - “All that Glisters”
The Story of Gold work
Nicola Jarvis
Competition Title “All that Glisters is not Gold”
JETS Competition Age Groups – 13 years and under and 14-18 years “Bright and Shiny”
Competition sizes
2D no larger than A3 including frame
3D no larger than:
Height 38cm
Length 30cm
Width 30cm
Including frame if used
Any textile medium to be worked by a single member
We will also have 3 folios from HQ for you all to see.

Tamworth Branch
This year, the group is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
To raise awareness of the group and to try to encourage more members we staged a two week exhibition in the main Library in Tamworth. As National Stitch Day fell in the middle of the two weeks, we held "hands on" sessions on 2 August for children and adults to have a go at some stitching. Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us and it was one of the few days in the summer when there was a steady downpour all day but we did have quite a few visitors so hopefully we may gain a few more members.
Jean Turnbull

Photo from
The Tamworth Branch Exhibition 

National AGM
11th April 2015
Birmingham Central Library
Birmingham B1 2ND
Next year our region will welcome the National AGM to the Birmingham Central Library. Unlike recent years this will be a one day meeting.
The venue is easily reached by public transport as well as having large car parks nearby.
Why not add this date to your diary now as it offers those of us who are West Midlands members a great opportunity to find out more about the Guild as a whole and perhaps to influence its future strategy.