On Saturday 19th March 2016 3 of the Patchwork Group ladies accepted an invitation given out at the last U3A monthly meeting by one of our members to visit the Durham Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers at St. Oswald’s Church Hall Durham.

We were given a warm welcome and during our visit we discovered links to our own textile and patchwork skills.

 Last year the Patchwork Group on a visit to the York Quilting Museum saw a display of work entitled “Chinese Whispers” and as the name suggests it was a test to see the resemblance between the first and last work produced, having had information passed along the line. The weavers were to undertake a similar fun project.

We were shown how to spin using different spinning hand devices and one for spinning silk. Our last visit to Bishop Auckland castle to see the ecclesiastical vestments linked to this as the embroidery silk threads would have been produced this way and dyed.

We learned the terms used for these skills and some of the history of weaving and spinning.

It was well worth the visit and all of us enjoyed it immensely. We even discovered our own group leader Jean’s sister was one of the spinners I said there was links between our interests.

Oonah Hackett