Needled to act

Artist and athlete David Morrish has collaborated with Sheffield embroiderers on a giant tapestry of Windermere to shame litter louts. Stephanie Smith reports. Main images by Bruce Rollinson.

At 10.5 miles long, a mile wide and 220 feet deep, Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. It is a glistening jewel of the Lake District, an area that attracts more than 15 million visitors annually and was described, even in 1810, by Wordsworth, as a “national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy”.

But its beauty is under threat, ironically, from those who come to perceive and enjoy its charms, prompting

Yorkshire artist and athlete

David Morrish to pose the question “Windermere Am I Still Beautiful?”, the name of his giant embroidered tapestry documenting the lake and the litter he ran past while competing in the Brathay Windermere Marathon last May.

A Fashion Design teacher and lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, David is a practising, multi award-winning designer and academic. The embroidery project forms part of his own MA studies at Nottingham Trent University and is a collaboration with the Sheffield branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild, whose members use a variety of embroidery techniques from traditional to free-style and mixed media.

David, 42, lives near Huddersfield with his wife, Alison, design manager for fancy dress and costume company Christy’s in Barnsley, and eight-yearold son Sebastian. Alison was brought up in the Lake District and both her grandparents were athletes, one a fell runner and one a swimmer who swam across the lake. David started running seriously two years ago, to get fit, and the Brathay was his first marathon. There is also a video on YouTube accompanying the work