Craft event in Little Waldingfield

Report from Andy Sheppard of Little Waldingfield History Society,

'On what may be the coldest night of the year (minus 11 C in Sudbury, estimated minus 13 C in Little Waldingfield), our members did us proud by turning up in force for our member only craft event, some 29 in all, making the evening a great success.

  

Four crafts were on display (Lace making, Felt making, Walking Stick making and Fly fish lure tying), along with an artefacts table showcasing a selection of WW1 and WW2 medals and their descriptions, other wartime and later memorabilia, a 1965 Little Waldingfield WI scrapbook and last years village scrapbook, which was a particular favourite with visitors.

With first guests arriving ahead of the 7.30 start and the last leaving around 9.30, it was apparent a good time was had by all, and a testament to the efforts put in by our LWHS member craft experts, who generously gave up their time and expertise to great effect.

The writer was hugely impressed by:

§  The complexity of the threads used to construct finely detailed lace,

§  The skills demonstrated in creating wonderfully patterned felt from scraps of brightly coloured merino wool,

§  The sheer myriad of lures which needed better eyes than mine to fully appreciate, and

§  The artistry of the astonishing range of walking sticks all fashioned from small branches and pieces of various horn most carefully bent and fashioned into the desired shape, which clearly takes huge effort, skill and patience. 

The History Society is most grateful to our member experts and we hope to do something similar next year.

 We now very much look forward to welcoming guests new and old to the LW Parish Room on Wednesday 13^th February for our next talk on Suffolk Poachers and Smugglers, by local expert William Tyler, for what is sure to be another entertaining and informative evening.

Thanks to Andy Sheppard for this report.