Evening Meeting and Charity Day 26th and 27th July 2019

Reggie, the peacock

 

Friday evening turned out to be quite a full meeting with three speakers!  The first was Lynn Taggart, a representative from St. John Ambulance Brigade which was to be the recipient of money raised from the charity day on Saturday.  She explained the work of the organisation and how the funds raised would be spent.

 

Pat Kelly then showed the video which had been made by students of the Isle of Man University College. The video followed the fashion students who, in a fortnight, had designed and made a magnificent collection of really creative clothing out of old woollen blankets!  The fashion show was part of the North Atlantic Wool conference which Pat had organised on the island in 2017.  We all agreed how amazingly creative the students had been.

 

Pat had also brought along some of the wools and garments she had collected  from Iceland, which she had visited when it had previously hosted the annual North Atlantic Wool Conference before coming to the Isle of Man.

 

We also had a special guest from the North West Region, the Chair, Sue Chisnall, who was on holiday in the Isle of Man with friends, but took the opportunity to combine it with visiting our Branch.  Sue explained the work and experiences of the North West Region and of the Guild as a whole, as she attended council meetings at HQ.  She explained that we, on the Island, are doing quite well in comparison to some branches who are really struggling with declining numbers, even if we think we aren't!

the travelling book

Sue had also brought along the Travelling Book which her predecessor as Chair of the NW region had started, and she expressed the hope that we might be persuaded to complete a page or two.   She also brought ‘Reggie’ for us to see.  ‘Reggie’, so named because he had come about from the NW Region’s AGM when paisley shaped motifs had been given to attendees, who then embellished them using a wide variety of techniques and which were then put together to form the tail of ‘Reggie’ the peacock!

As usual, the Charity Day was a success and Janet Williams has provided the following pictures and report.

On Saturday 27th July we held the 9th Charity Day in memory of my late sister, Jean O'Neil, who was a member of the Guild. This year it was a fundraiser for St John Ambulance as Jean and I had been cadets in our youth and the organisation does tremendous work in the community.

The day was very well attended and many of the kits were bought. It was lovely to listen to lots of chat while our imaginations flew and we decided where to put buttons, what stitch to use and where and what colour would go where on our  Mandalas. We were also pleased to welcome our Regional Chair for the Guild, Sue, plus NW Guild member, Caroline. They are members of Parbold Branch and came to join us for the workshop and enjoyed it.

I would like to send my thanks to them, to my daughter Rachael for running the raffle and sales table, to Adele for her wonderful supplies and very generous donation and to everyone who attended or sent donations, thank you so much.

To everyone who contributed to the lunch, thank you, it was lovely!

We raised £400 in total, which is amazing. This includes a cheque from Haldane Fisher, which paid for the hire of the hall plus a donation. We are so grateful for their continued support.

Janet.