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from First News magazine, winter 2003
Bradford on Avon celebrates
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from First News magazine, winter 2003
Location: Wiltshire
An article about the Bradford-on-Avon Millennium Embroidery Project, published in First News, the newsletter of Wiltshire Community First, winter 2003
So many people were involved in creating Bradford-on-Avon’s Millennium Embroidery that no individual could be singled out for one of this year’s Town Awards.
Instead the Embroidery has received a unique “Highly Commended” award to honour the remarkable achievement which has given the Wiltshire town a permanent pictorial record of its history and heritage.
Hailed by visitors as “the Bayeux tapestry of the west of England”, the Embroidery consists of twelve panels, each measuring 24 by 20 inches. They were based on a series of specially-commissioned designs by local artist Jeanne Walpole, depicting a range of incidents and occasions between 1000 and 2000 AD.
Some are identifiable events, such as the building of Holy Trinity Church in 1150, a royal visit by King John in 1216, cottage cloth workers’ riots at Westbury House in 1791 - and the town’s Millennium Y2K firework celebrations.
Others show traditional customs like the 16th century Church Ale, a fund-raising festival when people would sell home-made alcoholic drinks and food in aid of the church.
Officially unveiled in March this year, the twelve panels were painstakingly hand sewn by 46 volunteers meeting in small groups once a fortnight. Individuals took on specific roles, such as preparing or quilting backgrounds, with each human character being worked in chain stitch by a single person.
And to commemorate the community’s involvement in the project, the names of everyone involved have been stitched on the reverse of each panel.
The finished Embroidery has been on public display in various local venues. From now until the new year, it will be displayed in the Town Library, where explanatory booklets and pictorial appointment calendars are on sale to raise money for special protective frames.
“We decided to make twelve small panels rather than one large one, so that it could be more easily transported and displayed in different locations,” says project coordinator Gill Winfield. “The actual process of working on it was a really good way of bringing the community together. People loved coming to the sewing sessions and meeting new people with similar interests.”
The Bradford-on-Avon Millennium Embroidery was made possible with grants and advice from the Countryside Agency’s Local Heritage Initiative scheme, which distributes funds provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Nationwide building society
It’s an excellent example of the way in which the lhi scheme encourages communities to explore, explain and celebrate heritage, and gain new skills by participating in a project.
Do you know of something about your local area that deserves to be better looked after, explained or celebrated? Perhaps you have some intriguing buildings or industrial remains that link the present to the past, or natural features like hedgerows or ponds, or lively local customs and traditions.
Your idea may be just right for an lhi project, and could encourage more people to take an active interest in the community.
Grants between £3,000 and £25,000 are available to meet a variety of costs ranging from specialist advice and volunteer training to producing publications or exhibitions, or materials and labour for conservation.
Detailed help and advice is available online at www.lhi.org.uk, or you can get an lhi information pack by phoning 0870 9000 401.
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