THE ASSOCIATION OF GUILDS OF WEAVERS, SPINNERS AND DYERS

THE ASSOCIATION OF GUILDS OF WEAVERS, SPINNERS AND DYERS
NEWSLETTER NO 43 March 2008

From the Chairman

The National Exhibition, ‘FABRICreATIONS’ is getting closer, and I am much looking forward to seeing all the work your Guild will be submitting for selection in July.
Your Guild Secretary will by now have received detailed instructions about submission procedures at guild level, so do ask about them. Check when you will have to bring your work to a guild meeting for preliminary selection, so you can be sure to finish it in time. There is no quota dictating the number of pieces each guild may submit, but no member may submit more than two pieces in the main category. There is no limit on the number of pieces a member may submit in the two additional categories (Miniatures and those submitted in CD cases) as the displays need large numbers in order to make an impact.
However, we are appealing to the guilds to be really rigorous in their selection of the work which goes forward. If possible, a selector from outside the guild should make the choice. The work submitted by each guild will go to their allocated Collection Centre between 7th and 14th July. From there it will be taken to the University for the final selection, which will take place on Sunday 20th and Monday 21st July. All work submitted will go through the same selection process. Hanging the exhibition will take place over the next three days, and the Private View will be on the Thursday evening, 24th July.
Details of the Collection Centres and the codes for both Centres and Guilds will be given out at the AGM. If your Guild is unable to send a delegate, these details will be sent to your Secretary as soon as possible after the AGM.

Books of raffle tickets will also be given to each Guild at the AGM. Since it is so hard to get funding for our regular events, we are very dependent on the sale of raffle tickets to help with the expenses involved in mounting a National Exhibition, so we ask all the guilds to do their best to sell as many as they can. We are extremely grateful to suppliers, guilds and individual members who have donated such tempting prizes to the raffle. We now have a variety of prizes to appeal to both makers and non-makers, so the tickets should be easy to sell.

Details about the residential Weekend Workshops have also been sent to your Secretary, and the booklet can be photocopied and distributed to anyone who might be interested. The University has a Press Officer who is dealing with publicity in the media but we also depend on all of you to distribute posters and leaflets to people and groups in your locality who might like to visit Liverpool in its year as Capital of Culture.

Information will also be on the Association website (www.wsd.org.uk) and extra posters, flyers about the weekend courses and raffle tickets will be available at the AGM, or from me on request. My contact details are on the papers which have been sent to your Secretary.

As my spell as Chairman comes to an end at the AGM in April, I would like to thank you all for your help and support for Association events over the past five years. Most recently, I am extremely grateful to the volunteers who came to Liverpool to help at the workshops for the students at Liverpool Hope University. Everyone who came along agreed that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and their enthusiasm communicated itself to the students, who much appreciated their help. I hope very much that other guilds, or groups of guilds, will give serious consideration to setting up similar collaborations with educational establishments in their area. It is a very positive step towards keeping our crafts alive.

If any of you would like to be involved in helping with the exhibition in any way, I would be very glad to hear from you. I look forward to talking with many of you at the Conference and the AGM next month.
Hilary Turner

GPC Matters-

Treasurer’s Report

Chasers have been sent out to 28 Guilds who have not paid their affiliation fees, reminding them that they are not covered by the Association’s insurance. They have been given until the end of Feb. to pay their fees; another letter will go out then to any who have still not paid.
Valerie Thorne will collect the affiliation fees later this year and the form will be posted on the website. Guilds will be requested to provide only one set of contact details and will be asked to ensure that they send fees to the Assn. under the correct Guild name to avoid confusion and possible problems if they have to make an Insurance claim.

Secretary’s Report

Publicity material, for the Association, written by Valerie and Dot had been sent to a new online Magazine “Giddy Limits” (www.giddylimits.co.uk) aimed at the over 50’s. The information that had been sent to them had been circulated to the GPC before the meeting.

Speakers List

Following the recent review there are more ‘NR’ [no reply] Speakers than there should be. The last time a review was carried out a lot of time was spent in trying to get in touch with some listed speakers. All speakers this time will receive a copy of the list. Those Speakers who did not reply will have NR after their names. As the list will be on the Assn CD, hard copies will only be produced, on request, for guilds who find that there isn’t one of their members who is able to access the CD to print off information as and when required.
The CD’s will be available at the AGM. Although the number of Speakers on the 2008 list has only increased by 4, there are some quite significant changes. First, several of the ‘old’ speakers have added new topics, or changed their contact details so it is important not to just look at the names when scanning through the list. Nine speakers have decided to bow out gracefully this time. On your behalf I have passed on our grateful thanks to all of them. There are 13 new speakers who between them cover lots of topics – including subjects that haven’t appeared on the list before. Almost half the new speakers are based in the north of England or Scotland. Hopefully that will help to refresh parts that some Guilds have felt have not been reached for some time!

Following the changes in the way the List is made up, there are several folk in the Probationer category. The Association needs to find out what Guilds think about all speakers / tutors and it is particularly important to give some feedback on those who are in the new category.
Forms to comment on speakers / tutors and to recommend new ones will be on the new version of the Association CD. Please return the Speakers and recommendation forms to Norah Ball.

Association CD

CDs will be produced and distributed to the guilds at the AGM. Those not collected will be posted. Any spares will be given to Valerie Thorne and may be purchased by guilds for a flat fee of £5 to include postage.

Liverpool workshops.

5 out of 6 workshops have taken place and have been successful. The students have been enthusiastic and numbers have increased. The helpers have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have also learnt a lot, many volunteering to come back and help at other sessions
Summer School 2009

An insurance question arose whether the tutor's responsibility was/was not included under the Association insurance policy. Having clarified with the Treasurer that it was not, the tutor's contracts have been issued as "self employed, carrying appropriate insurance..."
A short list of insurance agents was included as a starter (stating others were available) in case anyone did not have insurance.

WHAT’S ON

Details of these and other events are listed on the AGWSD website: http://www.wsd.org.uk

Voluntary Arts Network

During February, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport conducted its first ever national survey of amateur arts groups in England. The survey aimed to focus attention on the wealth of amateur and voluntary arts opportunities enjoyed by millions of people across the country every day - often with little publicity. The research has the potential to be very useful for arts groups, who will be able to refer to the findings when applying for funding, and for policy-makers, who can use it to look at how amateur arts groups could be better supported. The results will be published in the summer.

The 98 Lace Group is holding a 10th Anniversary exhibition "Beguiling Time", an exhibition of innovative hand-made lace inspired by music and poetry at the De Morgan Centre, 38 West Hill, London SW18, 22 March - 31 May 2008; Opening hours: Tues - Wed 12 noon - 18.00, Fri - Sat 10.00 - 17.00.
For further details see: Website: www.demorgan.org.uk or Tel: 020 8871 1144.

AGM / Conference 2008 -
11th – 13th April, Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine, Fife
Further details and application forms available on the Association website: http://www.wsd.org.uk.

Wonderwool Wales 26th & 27th April 2008 at the Royal Welsh Showground.
For more information contact Lee on 01982 552224 or www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk.

FABRICreATIONS
AGWSD National Exhibition 25 July – 22 August 2008 at The Cornerstone Gallery, Liverpool Hope University, Everton Campus, Haigh Street, Liverpool L3 8QB. Open Mondays to Fridays 9.00 – 5.00 but closed at weekends, except for Saturday and Sunday, 9 & 10 August.
Selection starts on 21 July, and submissions must be received between 7–14 July. The guidelines for submitting work can be found on the Association CD given to every Guild last year.
Paddy still has leaflets and posters for sale, also badges. For further details call Paddy Bakker on 01823 325345 or email paddy@thebakkers.co.uk.

Change of Secretary

If you are no longer the allocated contact for your Guild, or if your contact details have changed, please let Trudi Thompson know so your details can be updated in both our contact list and in the Journal.
If you have any queries concerning anything in this newsletter please contact:
Trudi Thompson, 2 Mount Rule Cottages, West Baldwin Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM4 4HS. Email: tlthompson@manx.net.