Guild Open Days are back!
The next Open Day will be Saturday 21 August at Lee Mills. It will be held in the Mill House, right next to the Collection Base in Scholes. As soon as they are finalised, details will be published here.
See you there!
How to find us:
Lee Mills, Scholes, Holmfirth, HD9 1RJ
Contact Tel: when the Mill is open 07908 322248 (T-Mobile – see below) • 0113 266 4651 at other times
This is the view from the road as you come up the hill
The mill owner's house is the building on the left.As one enters the mill complex, up a short slope the garden to the house is straight in front. Parking is behind the building.
• detailed street map (at www.streetmap.co.uk) – Lee Mills is in the square in the righthand column, second row down, on the corner of Park Side and Leas Gardens just about where the 'G' is
• aerial view (at www.multimap.com) – Lee Mills is between 'The Boot & Shoe' and 'The White Horse' in Scholes.
• get there by road from: East & North • East & South • West (North & South), but please note: do not rely exclusively on what your SatNav tells you or you may end up in a nearby street called 'White Leas Gardens'
• Mobile: We now have a T-Mobile phone at the mill. It will be switched on at Open Days (and working days) for people to contact us if they get lost, as it's no use them ringing Liz's phone in Leeds when she's in Scholes. The number is 07908 322248
About The Collection
The Knitting & Crochet Guild put on an exhibition of historic and contemporary knitting and crochet as part of the Textiles Arts Festival held in Bradford in March/April 1990. This Festival lasted three weeks and included exhibitions, lectures, seminars, workshops and all kinds of textiles. It was a wonderfully exhilarating and inspiring (but not financially successful) event. There was a feeling at the time that it attracted more American than British visitors! When the Guild exhibition was taken down, some of the Guild members who had lent things for display donated these items to the Guild – and so The Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection was born.
This is a brief attempt to give some indication of the breadth and extent of the Collection.
We have to remember that most knitted and crocheted items were made to be used, and many items therefore show signs of wear and tear and/or damage by moths. This in no way detracts from their importance as part of our domestic and social history.
This in fact is the rationale behind the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection: to preserve examples of domestic knitting and crochet. The remit has been extended to include one-off items made by designers and students using industrial machines, and examples of crochet garments made in the late 20th and early 21st century sold in High Street stores and now bought in charity shops, as these garments represent an important aspect of the fashions of the day.
Liz Gillett
Acknowledgements: The compiler wishes to thank Jenni Wood, Mary Hawkins, Patrick Gillett and Peter Buck for the photographs used here and Mary Hawkins for her help with the text