Newsletter — February 2023

Our February newsletter is getting to you a little late, but is still jam-packed with information and fun. As with the January edition, it is now a multi-page PDF. You can read it here on this page by clicking within the frame below and then scrolling, or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button below the cover image.

Please note that the AGM will be taking place at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre on Saturday, 25th March 2023 from 12h00 until 13h00.

Some changes to the WEG Constitution and Rules are being proposed and we would like input from all our Members so please make every effort to attend. Please remember that only paid-up Members are able to vote. 

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Who worked on this embroidery?

The embroidery in the photograph is among the special pieces that the Witwatersrand Embroiderers’ Guild has in its collection, but the records about it have been lost. Please will anyone who has any knowledge at all about this – including who may have worked on it – contact the Chair of the Guild via email at witsembroidery@gmail.com 

Can you help with information about this work?

Newsletter — January 2023

Our newsletter is now a multi-page PDF which includes a crossword and lots of information about the range of activities that make up the Guild. You can read it here on this page by clicking within the frame below and then scrolling, or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button below the cover image.

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Newsletter — December 2022

Here we are, at the end of another year. It’s time to start thinking of the Festive Season and all that that entails, and it will soon be January when we are Back In Business. It seems ages since we all met, but we will be back at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre on Tuesday the 10th of January (from 09h00) and Saturday the 14thJanuary (from 13h00) to pick up where we left off some three years ago. Who would have thought it would take that long? Please remember to bring your R300 which is your annual fee AS WELL AS your tea money. No monthly payments for tea any more, and if you do the sums, you will see that the Embroiderers’ Guild is one of the few places where it is CHEAPER to belong to than before Covid. We would prefer you to pay online, and please put your name is BOTH reference places.

Please contact the Guild for its banking details.

The big thing about this year is IGHALI! Toni Billings, our Secretary is also the chair of the Ighali committee and she is very busy picking up from where we left off in 2019/2020. Below are two letters she sent out to some of us giving details of where she is in the process at the present time. 

Good day Everyone

I spent Sunday 6 November scouting out venues for IGHALI. I’ve narrowed it down to two from the six I physically saw, but I’ll be looking at others in the weeks to come. 

It is quite a challenge as I need to look for an affordable price; a location that is relatively central for everyone; available dates at the venue that will suit most of us; a terrain that will be manageable for everyone; good quality food and reasonable quantities; plenty of rooms that are suitable for those ladies who are staying overnight; the proximity to airports with shuttle services for those who are flying in from elsewhere; the number of breakaway rooms and the facilities in these rooms such as the lighting, space, electrical points, projectors and screens; a secure place for our vendors; a safe spot for the embroidery exhibits; and a good area for our gala evening. Quite a list of requirements I’m sure you’ll agree! 

I’ve also learned that I have to actually SEE all the facilities because telephone assurances and internet descriptions leave a lot to be desired. Hopefully, I’ll have found a suitable spot by the end of the year and then I’ll be able to let you know.

As to the date of the seminar, for now, I’m considering August/September 2023, but that date will obviously be determined by the availability of our excellent teachers as well as the venue. So, this too will be confirmed nearer the time. All I can say for now is save, save, save! This will be an event not to be missed and will be worth every cent.

If you have any teachers or vendors you believe will add value to our embroidery journey, please urge them to contact me so we can ensure that we have the very best seminar possible. I’ll also be contacting those who were kind enough to offer their help in 2020, so … be prepared ladies I’m coming for you!

As always money is in short supply so donations and sponsorships etc. are all welcome and we will gladly advertise the services of those who want the publicity. To the many ladies who have up to now contributed and donated their time, skills, materials, items to be raffled, tips, hints, goodies, suggestions and ideas, thank you, thank you, thank you. We would be lost without you! It’s so uplifting to know that we have a supportive embroidery family to depend on.

Until we chat again, take care and keep those scissors sharp.

And here is the second one. Please contact Toni directly if you can help in any way.

Good day All

Those of you who were part of the IGHALI 2020 group may remember that there was a seminar theme, which we’ve decided to keep. (You may have noticed my “subtle” hints at the end of my previous emails.)

For obvious reasons, “Cutting through Time” is now symbolic of the IGHALI journey we’ve taken, from the initial “proposed” date (pre-COVID) until we eventually meet in Gauteng. 

As a part of our IGHALI programme, we would love to hold a competition featuring your embroidered interpretation of this theme. Entries will be judged and prizes awarded at the end of the seminar. So ladies, get your thinking caps on and let your imagination run wild. I’m looking forward to seeing all your beautiful, inspiring creations on show. 

In the same vein, if you have any “scissor” related quotes, stories, history or other information that our delegates would find interesting, please share these with me. I want to create an enduring record of our thematic collaboration to celebrate our return to normality.

Another amazing feature of our IGHALI Gauteng programme will be the display of a remarkable imaginative achievement representing the last three years. The Witwatersrand Embroiderers’ Guild (“WEG”), of which I’m proud to be the secretary, was inspired to create an amazing COVID frieze, featuring incredible artwork by various members of our Guild. The theme of the project was the “Eye of the Needle” and the brief given to the ladies was to create an embroidered memory of their personal COVID voyage. The frieze reminds us of how a connection to embroidery brought many of us through this challenging time, so we felt it fitting that it should be shared with like-minded delegates at IGHALI Gauteng.

In conclusion, I’d like to urge you all once again, please save-save-save! This is going to be a magnificent event and you’ll be awfully sorry if you miss it.

Until next time, keep stitching and be happy. (No more scissor references here!)

This is going to get our embroidery off to a very good start! Thank you Toni for all that you are doing. 

And now for some (for me) sad news. I have thought for some time that this newsletter, fun though it has been to do, may be coming to the end of its time. I began it when the only means of communication was announcements before tea at the meetings, which meant anyone who wasn’t in the room, wasn’t at the meeting, was busy following complicated instructions, or whatever else, missed out on what was being said. The newsletter was a written copy of what we all needed to know and we could refer back to it when we needed to. During Covid and the non-availability of the Recreation Centre, it was a means of keeping us all in touch with one another. 

Now that we are meeting, we have, as has every other organisation, hit the ground running, and the newsletter probably doesn’t fill the same urgent need. We are all more able to cope with email and WhatsApp, and Danny Wimpey, our Chairperson is a superb communicator, both written and spoken, and sends out whatever you need to know immediately. Toni Billing is also very efficient, and will send beautifully written emails and other messages as soon as we need to know what she wants us to know. To keep information for a month so it goes into a newsletter is the slow way of doing things and not particularly efficient, and to have both periodic notices AND a newsletter is cluttering up your inboxes unnecessarily. 

In addition – and I took it as a sign – I have been offered work for the coming year, which doesn’t often come to people 70+ years of age, and I would really like to take it. It involves amongst other things, developing course material, and meetings often take place on a Tuesday morning and sometimes on a Saturday. My attendance at meetings will be sporadic for the first few months of the year, so I don’t think that I could do full justice to a newsletter which is an agent of communication. For the time being, Toni has undertaken to keep you informed of anything going on, possibly/probably in the newsletter format, and should things change in the course of the year, and you REALLY need the newsletter, we can always look at it again. Accordingly I am sending your email addresses to Toni and Danny ONLY, (and you already gave them to us and they are on our membership lists) and if for ANY reason you don’t want to be contacted any longer, please let us know immediately and your details will be removed from our mailing list. 

In the meantime, thank you to those who of you who have been so appreciative of my efforts. It was a pleasure to do it, and if it did something towards helping a group of wonderful ladies stay in contact, and motivated to practice our ancient art of embroidery, it will have done its job.  

Lots of love, and thank you.

Newsletter — November 2022

This is a long newsletter with some important things in it. I am going to use headings, which I think will make it easier for you to keep track of what is happening.

Market Day

What an amazing day it was on Saturday! Our first official Embroidery meeting since lockdown. The tables looked lovely, we were welcomed by a very helpful Trinity Methodist Church and it was good to see everyone again. I took a number of photographs, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to include them in this letter. They use a lot of data, and some of your domestic computers will not be able to handle the load, and you’ll miss out. I shall however put some of them on the WhatsApp group after this letter has been sent. Even though this was the first official meeting, we should express appreciation to Paputzis who hosted us at their restaurant last summer, and also St Martin’s in-the-Veld who let us use their parish room free of charge, and even provided tea and coffee for us, even though we didn’t ask them to. 

I think the Piece de Resistance of the market was the frieze. Jenni Langford did a wonderful job of putting it all together, and it would not have happened had she not taken it under her wing and got on with it. However we are also grateful to Hilary Walker whose idea this was – she suggested we do something to keep us focused during what proved to be a long lockdown. Lynn Puttick, with her professional art training was a valued advisor on materials, and Robyn de Klerk, Louise von Glehn and Helen O’Hanrahan also helped in the initial stages. Thanks are also due to “Buttons and Bows” and “Ribbonfields”, both embroidery shops, who agreed to be delivery points while we weren’t able to meet. I think a valuable piece of history has been documented here. Thank you to all of you who contributed. This will truly be something to show your grandchildren.

Meeting at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre

Now we are back to normal – if that’s possible. I am re-printing the relevant part of Danny’s letter which I sent out to you earlier this month. Mark the date – we are longing to see you all again.

I am very happy to be able to write to you with so much good news. I know some of you will have heard already, via the WhatsApp group, but for those that are not on the group here goes:

  • The first and most important thing is that we have arranged with Ina to reopen meetings at the Recreation Centre, from January 2023. The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday the 10th January, 2023, from 9am to 12 midday. The first Saturday meeting will be on the 14th January 2023, from 1pm to 4pm. The Guild Committee will do the tea for the first meeting and we will be encouraging people to sign up to provide the eats for tea, as before. 

Please start planning what you will be sewing, and come back to us!

We have had long, difficult discussions about costs, teas and subscriptions etc. The outcome of these discussions is the following:

  1. We will no longer collect separately for tea and subs. These will be amalgamated into a membership fee of R300 per year, payable by the end of February 2023.
  2. We have obtained a Yoco machine which will allow us to take payments using debit cards. We are still trying to establish if credit cards can be used and will let you know once we hear back from Yoco.
  3. We would very much like to limit the collection of cash at meetings, but of course, if this is your preferred way, we will take your money! However, I feel sure that most members would prefer the convenience of paying by card.
  4. There will not be any different charges for various age groups etc. other than for those over 90, who will be exempt from paying anything.
  5. Payments for Workshops and any other transactions, will need to be made separately. In that vein, we have some exciting plans for future workshops, but more about that later.

Annual General Meeting

As Danny says, there are many exciting things in the pipeline. But most importantly, PUT THE DATE OF OUR AGM IN YOUR DIARIES NOW.

It will be held on:
Saturday, the 25th March 2023 at 12h00

The committee has spent a lot of time over the last few months listening to you, thinking over the changes this Virus has brought, and what place in society our art takes. We are going to have to make some changes in our approach so as to encourage new people to come, to teach embroidery to those who have never done it, to investigate advanced forms of it, and to look seriously at promoting it amongst children and teenagers so at least they know what it is and how special it is, even if they don’t actually get as far as picking up a needle themselves. SO … We need as many of you there as possible. Some changes to the constitution will probably have to be considered (and our lawyer-chairperson Danny is well up on how to do that!) and we also need your contribution to the future of our Guild. Please make it a priority.

Guild History

We have a store room of some beautiful banners and in the minds of many of our members are memories of wonderful stories of the Guild. I have taken on the job of putting together some sort of history of the Guild – all sorts of things. What is the story behind this or that banner and who was involved? Who were some of the characters of the past? What things have been learnt? Anything special that gives you warm happy memories of your time at the Guild. Also, if you know of people who no longer can or do come to the Guild and they have good stories to tell, please put them in touch with me, and let me put it all together. You are receiving this from me, so use my email address above if you have any bright thoughts about this. 

An offer we can’t refuse!

Now here is something I haven’t heard of before. A lady by the name of Suzette Plekker makes shoes and bags out of TAPESTRIES THAT HAVE BEEN WORKED! So if you have cupboards of tapestries that are beautifully done, but are too expensive to frame, you have run out of wall space and relatives to give them to, perhaps this might be an option. Apparently she will take unworked tapestries too, so if you have that kit which you bought as a bargain, or that present which really doesn’t inspire you, send that too. I’ve never seen tapestry shoes, but tapestry bags are very smart. Here are her details if you are interested:

Suzette Plekker
SUZ FABRIC ART
Facebook – SUZ Shoes; Fabric Art, Shoes and Bags
Email – suzette.p@telkomsa.net
Address – 14 Bosman Street, Paarl
Contact – 083 250 5005

Finally

We will be meeting again in January, the same arrangement as before – every Tuesday morning, and every 2ndand 4th Saturday afternoon. Beginning on the 10th and 14th January 2023. 

See you then!

Meetings back at the Rec Centre from January 2023

And an update on the market on this coming Saturday, 29th October

I am very happy to be able to write to you with so much good news. I know some of you will have heard already, via the WhatsApp group, but for those that are not on the group here goes:

  • The first and most important thing is that we have arranged with Ina to reopen meetings at the Recreation Centre, from January 2023. The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday the 10th January, 2023, from 9am to 12 midday. The first Saturday meeting will be on the 14th January 2023, from 1pm to 4pm. The Guild Committee will do the tea for the first meeting and we will be encouraging people to sign up to provide the eats for tea, as before. 

Please start planning what you will be sewing, and come back to us!

We have had long, difficult discussions about costs, teas and subscriptions etc. The outcome of these discussions is the following:

  1. We will no longer collect separately for tea and subs. These will be amalgamated into a membership fee of R300 per year, payable by the end of February 2023.
  2. We have obtained a Yoco machine which will allow us to take payments using debit cards. We are still trying to establish if credit cards can be used and will let you know once we hear back from Yoco.
  3. We would very much like to limit the collection of cash at meetings, but of course, if this is your preferred way, we will take your money! However, I feel sure that most members would prefer the convenience of paying by card.
  4. There will not be any different charges for various age groups etc. other than for those over 90, who will be exempt from paying anything.
  5. Payments for Workshops and any other transactions, will need to be made separately. In that vein, we have some exciting plans for future workshops, but more about that later.
Market
  • Secondly, and I hope all of you know, we are having our inaugural Market this Saturday at the Trinity Methodist Church, 5thAvenue, Linden. This market is a chance for all of us to reconnect, so please wear your badges.

Some members are manning stash-busting stalls and there are several other stalls including jewellery, soap and bath goodies, baking kits, bric a brac, Christmas goodies, smocking and cross stitch. Helen Bird is selling her books of poetry and we have pancakes, hot dogs, tea and biscuits as well as cooldrinks on sale. There will be a display of the Covid Frieze, which Jenni Langford has put together magnificently, as well as other displays of work. Please take a Covid Frieze selfie as a reminder of your contribution/s.

Helen O’Hanrahan has been working tirelessly on the market, despite having an injury to her back, and I am sure it will be a great success. It will be fun no matter what and we have already learnt so much that we can be put to use in the future.

If you are happy to lend us some work for the display, we are at the church on Friday afternoon from 4pm and Saturday morning from 7am, for drop-offs. Please do bring things, we have people on duty to guard them and it will be wonderful to show off the skills in the Guild. I am running a White Elephant to raise funds for the Guild funds, so if you have anything to donate, please feel free to bring it along on Saturday (or Friday afternoon). Anything not sold will be donated to charity.

There is a R10 entrance fee. We will add this to the Guild coffers as well.

We hope to see you all there.

Warm regards,

Danny Wimpey
Chair:
WITWATERSRAND EMBROIDERERS’ GUILD

Newsletter — October 2022

Just a short letter this time, but still an important one. 

Firstly, about when we can meet again. As yet, nothing firm, but things are looking promising. The Roosevelt Park Recreation centre seems to be grinding along to finishing their renovations, but no definite date yet. The committee are investigating another venue, but there are still a few things to be managed. We’ll let you know as soon as we have definite confirmation. It will be wonderful to meet as a Guild again.

The other BIG NEWS is that our market is going ahead. On the 29th October our Craft Market will be held, at the Trinity Methodist Church in Linden, corner 5th Street and 5th Avenue (bordering on Montroux – about half a Kilometre away from Arthur Bales, and round the corner from the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre). It will run between 09h00 and 15h00, and you are invited to come and spend, spend, spend, and if you don’t want to add to your stash (but we bet you won’t be able to resist it,) there will be all sorts of things to eat. I have attached the flyer (see image below, or download here). Please send it on email to EVERYONE, copy it on to your social media, and print out copies and give to your book club, your bridge club members, and you relatives. Make more copies and put some in each of your favourite shops. 

One of the BIG ATTRACTONS will be the first ever display of our Covid “Through the Eye of the Needle” frieze. Jenni Langford has put it together beautifully, and we thank Robyn de Klerk (as she was then), Louise von Glehn, Lynn Puttick and Hilary Walker for their input. It is looking totally stunning!!!!!!!! Thank you to those of you who contributed to the making of it. I have added a mini-flyer for that as well, which you can also print, send, copy etc, and perhaps staple it to the main flyer (see image below, or download here). Drag your family along to look at that if nothing else, and if they don’t want to come, I suggest you go on kitchen strike for a month! That’s all for this month. See you before the next newsletter.

Embroiderers' Guild Market at Trinity Methodist Church flyer
Share this flyer with your friends — download it, share on social media, email it, anything and everything.
The first displaying of the "Through the Eye of the Needle" Covid lockdown frieze

Newsletter — September 2022

Spring has arrived, and with it the promise of new things. I hope you are enjoying the slow greening of all our plants and trees, and that your embroidery captures some of that joy! 

New life seems to be abounding in our Guild as well. We ARE going ahead with the Market, and Danny posted a notice to that effect on the WhatsApp page, the salient information of which I have reprinted here: 

Morning all, I promised news about the Market, and we will be posting an item about it in the newsletter. The details are as follows: 29th October 2022 at Linden Methodist Church corner 5th Avenue and Milner Avenue, Linden. Set up from 8am, Market from 9am until 3pm or until you have had enough. 😀There is no charge for a table, and Linden Methodist will provide tables and chairs. We ask that you give the Guild 10% of your takings – an honour system. Someone will be available to help you offload and carry your things. We will have a card machine available. You can sell anything you like. We will send more details later. Even if you decide not to have a table, please come and support us. 

So now you have a chance to find those pre-loved things you no longer use but someone else would love to adopt and love too, you can sell some of your creative work, and above all, come on the day and have fun with all the wonderful things the committee is planning. 

The next new thing is that it is looking VERY likely that we will, in the near future, be able to go back to the Recreation Centre. We anticipate the rest of this year will be taken up with catching up on all those post-renovation things that need to be sorted, but hopefully by early next year we should be back “home”. Come the day!

We will be meeting again at St Martin’s this month at 10h30 on the 6th and the 20th September (Tuesday mornings) and on the 10th at 09h30 (Saturday). We will not be extending our time there. Too few of you came, and the church really put themselves out with providing tea/coffee etc for us. So on those days, if any of you would like to bring some wool supplies for their knitting group, or would like to make a donation to the church, please do. They gave it all to us for nothing, so it would be a nice “thank you” to them. If I am not there, take them to the office and leave them with either Kuda or Nataski who will see to it that it reaches the right people. 

In the meantime, the committee are looking at a venue nearer the recreation centre. More details will be posted on the WhatsApp group, or in the next newsletter. We will meet until the end of the year, so keep your eyes peeled.. 

One final thing, I would like to remind you again of the exhibition of the Keiskamma Trust which will be held on the 24th September at the Constitutional Court. For those of you who know very little about it and what it does, I have taken a section from their website (see below). It is not only a worthwhile project, but is a significant contribution to the creation and development of a valuable art and culture identity in this country. Please support this! It is well worth it. 

Keiskamma Trust

Keiskamma Trust (KT) is a not for profit making trust established by Dr Carol Hofmeyr in 2000 in Hamburg in the Peddie South District of the Eastern Cape, and registered with the department of social development in 2005, in response to local impoverished communities’ basic needs such as health, education and employment. Over the past decade, the Trust has assisted thousands of vulnerable people in 53 rural villages to enrich and encourage healthy individuals, families and communities.

The Trust provides support via the following four programmes:

Art Project began as a means of restoring the self-esteem of people in this poor area, and providing a diversion from their bleak circumstances. This soon grew into the Keiskamma Art Project, a talented group of developing artists who communicate through their artworks. More than 200 people in Hamburg and surrounding villages have been trained by the Art Project and it creates much-needed opportunities for income for over 130 male and female crafters and artists. Their work showcases local culture, heritage and environment through award-winning textile works, ceramics, bead and wire-works.

As the HIV pandemic spread through the Eastern Cape and began impacting upon artists’ lives, a Health Programme was established. Today, it provides HIV prevention, testing, counselling and treatment, in addition to an extensive community-based health care network, which consists of 80 Community Health Workers who conduct home based care, community awareness events with a special emphasis on HIV/AIDS, TB prevention, PMTCT, TB screening, sexuality and HCT, community dialogues, psychosocial support, nutrition & food gardens and patient transport in 53 remote villages. The Health Programme is also involved in advocacy campaigns and/or other actions in collaboration with different stakeholders to ensure access to health facilities and social services.

The Music Academy was founded in 2006 and has introduced over 120 children to music tuition. Fifty-six committed students attend several classes weekly, following a full programme of instrumental tuition, music theory, aural and ensemble workshops. The young musicians undergo examinations and perform concerts to standing ovations nationally. KMA gives children an opportunity on developing not only a creative skill but an attitude of responsibility and dedication that they’ll carry throughout their lives.

The Education Programme provides the full spectrum of care, education intervention programmes, nutritional support, developmental activities, and access to ICT training and facilities to approximately 700 children from 12 months old to youth in their early 20’s. The programme activities include early childhood development, after school-care classes, nutrition, creative development, nutritional support & food gardens initiatives as well as the youth development resource centre called Vulindlela Centre, which focuses on youth connectivity and development activities. The Vulindlela Centre offers educational resources, supplementary education, career guidance, driving lessons through driving simulators, teacher development, ICT training & internet access, assistance with bursary and tertiary applications and Isango (Gateway) youth bridging programme which trains and prepares out of school and unemployed youth for apprenticeship and college/university access.

The Trust is governed by a strong Board of Trustees, with Trustees who are experts from several different fields such as business, economic development and HIV/AIDS work, as well as community representatives. An experienced Management team runs the day-to-day operations of the Trust, consisting of the heads of each programme, as well as an Executive Director.

Collectively the Trust budget is over 10 million rand per annum, and our beneficiaries number in the thousands. Our reach extends to 53 rural villages in this area where endemic poverty and disease continue to have devastating effects.

Our strength is that we remain focused on fostering the resilience and creativity of the communities we live in, in an effort to ensure a hope-filled future for every member.

Newsletter — August 2022

Another month gone, and another month nearer to springtime. It has been wonderful meeting again, both Tuesdays and Saturdays, although it’s a pity so few people have taken advantage of the opportunity. We will be meeting again on the 13th August at 09h30, and then on Tuesday the 16th at 10h30, both at St Martin’s in-the-Veld church. Let’s try and spend a bit of time with one another to keep up our art and to keep in contact with other members. Since President Ramaphosa’s announcement about the abating of the pandemic at the moment, we will no longer insist on vaccination certificates or masks, but we will continue to keep doors and windows open, and anyone who feels vulnerable is welcome to keep their mask on and to move their chair to a distance they feel comfortable with.

It appears that the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre still has a “snag list” to complete, but we are cautiously optimistic that the end may be in sight. No definite date yet, but we’ll keep you informed. 

Please would you pay your dues to Helen O’Hanrahan, either at the meetings or online. The fees for this half-year are R50, and we are going to re-think how it all works at some stage next year when (hopefully) we are back at the Rec.

The Flag is an ongoing project. Since it is government, there will probably be tenders and we have to abide by the processes. Materials are being sourced, and plans and designs are underway. While the waiting is frustrating, it IS going to happen, and we will keep you informed along the way.

The year-end Craft market IS going ahead, and everything is in preparation for that. Please continue preparing for it. 

Finally, unfortunately I have been asked by Jenni to post the notice below from Trish Burr. Theft takes all sorts of forms, and embroidery designers are no exception. If you are a supporter of Trish’s designs and do shop on Etsy, be aware of this person who is guilty of copyright infringement. 

Until next time, keep sewing.

Trish Burr Embroidery Blog

Copyright Infringement

trishburr
Jul 30
Hello everyonePlease take note of this buyer and share it with any friends that make purchases on Etsy – she has copied and is selling illegally many of my patterns on her site ALISA HANDICRAFTS.
As you know this is an ongoing problem which I am having to address on a regular basis. I appreciate your support.
Thank you
Trish

Newsletter — July 2022

Now that we are past the shortest day of the year, we can begin to look forward to Spring and new things. and what exciting things we have in store!

Firstly, WE ARE MEETING AGAIN!! It’s official. Beginning this Tuesday, we have been given permission to meet at St Martin’s In-the-Veld church in their smaller hall, called the Parish Room. We will be meeting on the first and third Tuesday mornings of the month beginning in two day’s time, on the 5th July, and on the second Saturday MORNING of the month beginning on the 9th July. This is not a long term arrangement. The church is a busy one, and they are helping us out at no charge as part of their social efforts to help communities rather bruised from the Covid experience, but it will only be in the short term. The committee are busy investigating some more permanent possibilities, but in the meantime, we are meeting at this venue which is fairly central to all our members, and we can become a Guild again. 

The address of the church is the corner of Eastwood Road and Cradock Avenue in Dunkeld. Cradock Avenue, which runs parallel to Oxford Road, is where you go in. There are two gates in Cradock Avenue, you go in in at the LEFT hand gate and park in the grounds. The right hand gate is the exit and you may meet someone head-on if you try to go in there. 

The Tuesday meeting is at 10h30 and finishes at 12h30 at the latest. There is a service earlier in the morning, and the ladies have tea in “our” room afterwards. They usually finish at around 10h15, but we have been asked to respect their space and not go into the hall before 10h30. We will bring our own tea/coffee/milk/sugar and, while they said we can use their cups and saucers, I think it unfair to expect their staff to wash up and tidy after us when we are not paying anything towards their service, so please, as other groups in the church do, bring your own cup and spoon and take it home with you afterwards. The Saturday group will be meeting at 09h30 and finishing at 11h30 at the latest. On Saturday, the church’s craft and knitting group will be meeting in the hall, and you are welcome to look at what they do, and I have said they can come and see what you are doing. 

Since we are using their premises, the committee decided that some form of donation to the church would be the decent thing to do. You can bring a cash donation or you can bring any knitted blankets, beanies, jerseys or baby clothes that you have made, and we can give to their knitting group to be distributed amongst their charities. Failing that, you can also bring some knitting yarn or bits of material for them to use in their own making of things. 

Finally on this topic, you WILL be required to show your Covid vaccination certificate the first time you return. We will note it on the register, and you don’t need to bring it again unless any new venue we will find demands it. Unfortunately the committee is unanimous on this issue – no certificate, no admission. Covid has not gone away, we are just not testing any more, and we are people of a vulnerable age and our society is totally freed us from protective practices. We are not prepared either to expose a non-vaccinated person to serious illness, or unnecessarily spread this virus. Masks are at your own discretion, but the hall’s windows and doors will be open. 

As regards FEES for this year, we have decided to make it one flat fee of R50 for the rest of the year. Please bring that with you to one of the meetings. The fee structure for next year will be a little different from before – much more user-friendly, and not expensive.  

Secondly, the Flag project is going ahead. Danny has been extremely busy sourcing material, and Jenni likewise has been looking at threads. It’s going to be very effective, and it really puts our Guild on the map. However, we need more people who are willing to be part of this. Some of you have been unnaturally coy about your talents. No one is expecting machine embroidery perfection, so please let’s have some volunteers.

Thirdly, the committee has decided that instead of an end of year party this year, we will hold a come-and-sell-craft day. Anything you make, from jams to jerseys to duvet covers to embroidered tray-cloths, will be acceptable. There will also be the opportunity to sell those craft materials we no longer want to use, so you can make space in your home, and earn money for it. It will be on an individual table basis – you will be able to book a table, possibly for a fee, and you set up your stuff. The pricing system, we’ll let you know later. WE WILL ALSO SEE OUR COVID FRIEZE which will be on display. More details about that later.

Finally, the Keiskamma Trust will be displaying some of their magnificent work later on this year on Heritage Day, 24th September, at the Constitutional Court. Mark the date in your calendar. This is not something to be missed. 

That’s all for now – a very full and exciting time ahead. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday/Saturday, and let’s hope this is the beginning of a new era in our Guild. Like everything else, these two years have changed a lot of things, and we may have to think seriously about attracting new members, about passing on our skills to a younger generation, and about taking our work seriously once more. 

I want to end with a poem by Mary Oliver. I think it may resonate with where we are now.

“I Worried”

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.”
― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems