The West Surrey Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers

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Open Day & Jubilee Meeting

It has been a very busy and exiting few weeks for the West Surrey Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers. At the end of November we held our open day at the United Reformed Church halls in Farnham to show the public what we do and to demonstrate and sell our members work. There was a good turnout of members who brought spinning wheels and used the table loom, peg loom, inkle loom and spindles. They demonstrated to the public how easy it is to start on these crafts and were pleased to sell and exhibit the results of their work. We also had a very good cake stall arranged by Nan Duckworth with the help of Maxine. We would have loved to see more visitors but there were a large number of events on at that busy time of year. We were however delighted to welcome two new members who joined after visiting the Guild on their open day. Thanks go to all members who attended and made it a very enjoyable day.

In early December we held the last meeting for the year, which was a final celebration and roundup of the Jubilee year. The West Surrey Guild was started 25 year ago and we were delighted to have present three of the original members who started the group up as an offshoot of the National Association of Spinners and Weavers, namely Joan Wigley, Josephine Mackenzie and Daphne Page. These members were awarded lifetime membership of the Guild as a thank you for their continued commitment to the group. The Guild also had a draw, open to all members, for a Bursary to attend the bi-annual Summer School held by the Association. The award was won by Esther Grosskopf, who will be paid her costs to attend the next summer school held in Chester in 2005.

As a further highlight of the evening many members had brought pieces of their work from their earliest to their current work. These included some wonderful examples of spinning and knitting (both hand and machine), weaving, embroidery, dyeing, drawn threadwork, beadwork, felt making, lace making and many more pieces. It was good to see how skilled our members are and a trip down memory lane for some who talked about how their early pieces were made. This was a fitting tribute to the skills and endurance of our members and their crafts. I hope we continue with as much skill and enthusiasm for the next 25 years.

Janine Rees