Young Embroiderers

Shirley speaking again.

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time on Thursday. As I hadn't been at the April meeting, I didn't known the dates that the Young Embroiderers were meeting, so I was a little surprised to meet up with Anne B-Z in the car park at the Burtonstone Centre, when I was on my way to an Ebor meeting.

As soon as I had the chance, I went along to their room to see what was happening. I found eleven children, two mothers, a grandmother and four of our members, busily engaged on some stunning work. The theme was 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', which is the title of this year's competition for the Regional Day. This was their second morning, and the pieces had made tremendous progress in the time available. The subjects ranged from 'square sweets that look round' to 'chocolate fountains', golden tickets, umpa lumpas and of course the man himself, Mr Willy Wonka.

I was very impressed with the work and the imagination which had been used. The children are not forced to submit their work for the competition, and I guess that many of them will have wanted to take their masterpieces home with them, But I do really hope that we will have some of the work to take with us to the region meeting, because as far as I was concerned, they all deserved prizes, as did all the adult helpers.

So, a big thank you to all concerned with the YE for the sterling work they do, and for giving so generously of their time and talents, which are considerable. This is the future of embroidery, and it is one of the most important jobs we can do as members of the guild, to pass on our skills and enthusiasm for our craft.

The final thing I have to say is that a room full of eleven children and seven adults, totally focused on their task, was far, far quieter than the one with ten adults that I was in!! Keep up the good work!