To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Crewkerne & District Museum & Heritage Centre, we launched Weaving Wonder – a vibrant series of creative intergenerational events that bring our whole community together through the theme of ‘weaving’. This theme honours Crewkerne’s rich textile heritage while encouraging connection and creativity across generations.

Throughout July, myself and fellow artist Natasha Rand ran weaving workshops with school pupils from Ashlands, St. Bartholomew’s, and Maiden Beech Primary Academy. Pupils between Years 2 and 5 were shown how to create their own piece of weaving using our wooden Peg Looms (made by The Shed), as well as a guided tour by Crewkerne Museum’s Administrator Janet Harris to learn more about the extensive textile history of Crewkerne.

On Monday 28th July, we ran a huge play day on Henhayes Field and in the George Reynolds Centre. Families were shown a variety of ways to play with materials, with the underlying theme of weaving. Children and adults delved into the world of ‘up and over’ and ‘up and down’ on the different looms to create unique weaving works. The whole day was captured beautifully by photographer Jeff Hutson, who we are grateful for the use of these photos.

All ages had access to large amounts of different coloured wools, ribbons, raffia and fabrics, all kindly donated by the general public. Participants were free to weave and create with the materials how they liked.

Outside on the field, there was an invitation to play with a ‘Giant Weave’, large cardboard boxes and a range of materials commonly found in the home. There was lots of creativity, fun and imagination for all ages!

We were also joined by the amazing Open Doors (Crewkerne Community Kitchen) who offered families to chance to Build-a-sandwich for a very low cost using surplus food and bread from Market Street Bakery. Be A Good Neighbour helped provide bottled water to keep our community hydrated.

From 2nd August, our Weaving Wonder exhibition at Crewkerne & District Museum & Heritage Centre is open to the general public on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 10am and 4pm. Come and take a look at weaving works created by the whole community and also have a chance to add your own piece.

We have placed a large selection of looms and materials for the public to come and use at the museum (and in our local library). Why not add to our collaborative art and make your own piece of work to weave into our community blanket, which we will unveil on Thursday 28th August at our final play day picnic!

This project would not be possible without the generous donations and support made by the general public and local businesses and organisations. Thank you to all those that helped us raise money by attending our ‘Sip and Paint’ fundraiser and purchasing raffle tickets. Thank you to all of the public and local businesses who donated fantastic raffle prizes to our charity, and those that gave us the most amazing wool and ribbon. Thank you to Pattemores for supporting Weaving Wonder. When we were unsuccessful in our grant application, Pattemores quickly offered £100 towards the project which allowed us to pay for the wooden peg looms.

We would also like to thank Open Doors for supporting us throughout the project and supplying fantastic low cost meals to our families. Thank you also to Mayfair in Crewkerne for supplying us with a voucher for materials and Tasty Treats ice cream van for giving us a donation from their sales on our play day.

Thank you to Natasha Rand for your artistic guidance and wonderful community spirit along the way – Crewkerne is lucky to have you.

Lastly, thak you Crewkerne Town Council for allowing us to run our play days at the George Reynolds Centre and on Henhayes Playing Field. It was wonderful to have Deputy Mayor Kathy Head attend Weaving Wonder on 28th July and see first hand the amazing possibilities creative play can have on communities.

Join us for more FREE creative play on Thursday 28th August at the George Reynolds Centre and Henhayes Playing Field from 11am until 2pm.