January 2016 meeting
At this meeting we were very pleased to welcome Nicola Graham, the founder of Reuben's Retreat in Glossop, a charity which was created following the tragic death of Nicola's son, Reuben, at the age of 23 months. His parents decided to set up the charity to support families and children with life threatening and life limiting illnesses.
The Retreat will also have facilities for families who have lost their children, and will provide bereavement support and counselling.
This branch of the Guild wishes to show affinity by creating a textile work, possibly a wall hanging, for display in the Retreat. Bundles of patchwork squares were available for any members who wish to create an individual piece of work, and many of the bundles were taken.
After her talk Nicola was requested to officially present the Rosebowl to Bea Burchill, the winner of the branch competition to create a new piece of stitching from UFOs (UnFinished Objects) donated by other members. Bea's entry was unanimously voted the winner by branch members. On the photograph are Bea, Nicola and Ann, who is displaying Bea's winning entry.
There was also a display of hand stitching from the folios which are currently on loan to us. Unfortunately it was a very dull day which made it difficult to study the stitching, so the folios will be displayed again at our February meeting to provide members with ideas for their own work.
