Stitchers
The Bishop Monkton Stitchers Group is a group of around 20 versatile, and hugely talented, village ladies who meet in each other's homes, about once a month, enjoying chatting and light refreshments, while all the time carrying on with their individual crafting hobbies including knitting, crocheting, stitching, sewing and embroidery. Their beautiful results can be seen around the village, for example in the kneelers in St. John's Church, as fruit on display at Harvest Festival time, and in the stunning tapestry pictures of the village, which can be seen in the village hall. Further afield their work can be seen on some of the kneelers set out on the sides of the aisles of Ripon Cathedral. They have also produced bright red poppies for the Remembrance display around Ripon and have stitched colourful, triangular shaped flags to be used as bunting for village celebrations.
The group has been in existence for over 25 years and was started simply to create tapestry kneelers for the church. So much appreciated were the results and so popular was the group, that the ladies went on, not only to create beautiful and enduring items for the village, but also to support charities. One such charity is "Fish and Chips Babies", so called because new born babies in developing countries are often wrapped in newspaper, just like a "Fish and Chip" supper, as their families are too poor to afford clothing. The charity was formed to provide outfits for these tiny babies, about which knitting groups in the U.K. heard and developed a very simple knitting pattern for mittens, hats and jumpers.
The "Stitchers" are always grateful for donations of unwanted double knitting wool-the brighter the colour, the better. Please telephone Lesley Taylor: 01765 677664 to arrange collection.
General Contact: Sheila Parsons. email:[email protected]