Opus anglicanum also known as English work is fine embroidery often worked in gold thread. It dates from the Medieval times particularly the 12th  to mid 14th century.

The work was highly prized for its exquisite needlework and great detail and was used for  Archbishop’s Copes and to embellish diplomatic gifts.

Unfortunately many of the skills were lost as a result of the plagues which swept Europe at that time.

Alison Larkin will talk about Opus Anglicanum and show pieces of her own work in the style of English Work.

Irishman Ernest Shackleton led three polar expeditions to the Antarctic in the period that has become known as The Heroic Period of Arctic Exploration.

Textile artist Viv Stamford has collected pieces of fabric from Bridlington Beach to create works commemorating Shackleton.

Join us to hear about this fascinating work and of Hull’s connections with Shackleton.

Starting from her own love of drawing  the places she loves Janet has developed her own style of textile map. Her unique perspective and type of applique’ brings to life the streets of houses, gardens and allotments with individual features recognisable to the observer.

A journey to Scarborough detailing York Minster en route and Scarborough South Bay, St Ives in Cornwall , tiny houses surrounding the harbour.

Janet  explained her own journey to find her present method of stitching, a wonderful afternoon inspiring many to try Janet’s style in their own work.

On Saturday September 8th 2018, we were delighted to welcome some of the ladies involved in the Stamford Bridge Tapestry Project.Heather gave a wonderful entertaining and informative talk on the place of the Stamford Bridge Battle in the history of England.

If Harold Godwinson had not had to march north to fight two battles in order to defend his claim to the English throne he may have beaten William at the Battle of Hastings.

Shirley then talked about the inspiration behind commemorating the Battle of Stamford Bridge in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry.

She gave us a wonderful insight into the groundwork of preparing the drawings and transferring these onto the linen for stitching. The colour palette is as close to the Bayeux as possible with the addition of red and purple. The pictures are stitched with an outline stitch infilled with the Bayeux stitch. 20 ladies meet regularly taking turns to stitch each panel and each panel follows the style of the Bayeux tapestry with writing above the scene and the banner below has a symbol unique to each stitcher.

The expectation is that the whole work will be completed in the next few years and ultimately a  hoped for permanent display in Stamford Bridge.

Thank you to the ladies for sharing your expertise and enthusiasm for this project and we look forward to following its progress and the opportunity to see the finished work.