A PROJECT that’s been months in the making finally came to fruition as members of the community gathered for its exhibition launch.
St John’s Winchester opened its Fabric of Winchester memory quilts exhibition at The Arc, inviting its 17 partners, contributors and community figures to the launch.
More than 120 blocks, based on Winchester memories, have been made and donated to make up the six quilts that will be donated to Winchester Hospice.
Launched in September, The Fabric of Winchester has collected and shared dozens of personal stories, helping to shine a light on the St John’s Winchester Dementia Support service.
Volunteers from the Wessex Quiltmakers have worked at weekly Sewing Bees since November to complete the quilts. The project was led by St John's fundraising manager Maddie Cowell with the help of memory artist Katy Rundle.
READ MORE: Deputy mayor launches community sewing event The Fabric of Winchester
Prince’s Mead pupil Daisy Swanson-Law used Winchester Roundtable as the inspiration behind her patch.
Daisy, aged 10, said: “Me and my mum thought that the Roundtable was a big part of Winchester and would therefore be good to do. I’m really happy with the result, it took me about a week and a half to finish.
“I was the only one in my school who took part. It’s a creative idea and it’s fun.”
Flick Drummond, Meon Valley MP, enjoyed getting making her Winchester Railway Station block at one of the community sewing day. Speaking at the launch she said: “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to one of the quilts along with many others.
“All six are absolutely fabulous. I know the people staying at Winchester Hospice will spend a lot of time looking into the amazing work that has gone into each of these squares.
“It’s been really interesting reading about other people’s memories of Winchester. I was particularly pleased that this initiative has been aligned with St John’s much-needed dementia support service, helping to shine a light on the power of personal memories.
“The community sewing days were great fun, I think I was there for about three hours and had to be dragged away in the end. I hope we continue to do more of these for other projects.”
SEE ALSO: University of Winchester signs partnership with St John’s charity
The Mayor of Winchester, Councillor Angela Clear, said: “They are all so lovely. It’s brought the whole community together, forming all these new partnerships. And now the quilts are going onto Winchester Hospice which is fantastic.”
Clive Cook, CEO of St John’s who’s stepping down later this year, said: “When we first conceived of this brilliant project we had three things in mind. The first was to really engage in a project that had an outcome that reflected the rich history of St Johns in the city, which goes back to the 1100s. We are part of the story of Winchester and of individuals in the city and beyond who have benefitted from our care.
“We needed to raise our profile. In past years we have tended to do things perhaps too quietly behind closed doors and it’s a fact of modern life and the charity sector that you need a profile and to communicate the benefit you’re bringing and this project is creating the foundation for us to do that.
“We wanted to create a creative project to engage a collective of people to reflect on their own memories and produce something material that represented that.”
The exhibition in The Arc’s performance space runs from Friday, January 12 to Sunday, January 14. For more information go to stjohnswinchester.co.uk/the-fabric-of-winchester/.
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