Regional Day 2014

Saturday 21 June saw several members at at Rising Brook Conference Centre in Stafford for this years Regional Day.

We arrived for an early look at the shopping opportunities and a quick peak at the competition entries for the Pretty Deadly theme before the welcome message and a talk from the Guild CEO Terry Murphy.

Starting with two lovely entries from Merial The King Fisher

 and Cancer Cells

Winner of the members vote

 Two of the prize winning Enries:

Terry Murphy then gave an interesting and informative talk about his time at Guild HQ and the progress that is being made by the guild at a national level.

Using the survey which many of us contributed to earlier this year the we were told how member concerns are being addressed. In this connection there are going to be DVDs available for use at branch meetings which will include the history of the collections and a talk by Ruby Porter about her work in Bangladesh. Other projects are being developed that we can use in the future. 

Terry also spoke about distance learning, particularly the guild 'Power of 5' why not take a look at the Guild website to see more about this interesting opportunity www.embroiderersguild.com (have your membership number handy to log in).

The Sustainable future of the guild was another issue discussed and again there is information on the website.
Terry talked about the future of Stitch and Embroidery magazines in what is a challenging time for printed publications and the importance of these in raising money for the guild which continues to be an issue.

At lunchtime we had lots of time to talk, mingle, and look at the demonstrations which included felt making, spinning and the opportunity to see Lynda Monk at work. There were some great traders there, so we indulged in more than a spot of shopping,

Traders area

We also saw the drawings for the Staffordshire Hoard project

There was an excellent display from the young embroiderers 

Michael Brennand-Wood and Terry Murphy judging the competition 

After lunch the guest speaker was Michael Brennand-Wood who had us enthralled as he talked about his personal history through his work, we saw many pictures of his work and inspiration. Learning his love of textiles from his Grandmother who was a weaver in Bury and incorporating his grandfather's work as an engineer who had a garden shed where he made things in wood and metal. These two clearly influenced Michael strongly in his choice of career and the work that he continues to develop.

Michael Brennand-Wood

As well as many pictures Michael had bought along a dimensional piece of his work.

brennand-wood.com

We felt as though we had been on a world tour, especially seeing how Michael's new exhibition on Canberra developed starting on the decking of his veranda with items he collected in the area.

At the end of the day whilst we reflected on all we had the chance to enjoy some very tasty handmade cakes.

All in all it was a great day, and we would like to thank the members of Stafford branch who worked very hard to bring it all together. Next year's regional day will be hosted by the Leamington Branch, and the competition theme is 'All that glisters is not gold'.

The year after, the Birmingham branch will be hosting the event, so watch this space as our plans unfold!