Thames Valley Embroiderers’ Guild
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Thames Valley Embroiderers’ Guilds in April 1982.
An initial public meeting was held in the Paeroa Presbyterian Hall with 25 women travelling from Paeroa, Waihi, Thames, Ngatea and Te Aroha. It was addressed by Mrs Des Forges, education co-ordinator of the Association of Embroiderers’
Guilds who outlined the aims and objectives of a guild. It was then moved “That we form a branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild and become associated with the National Association.”
The nominated secretary from that meeting was Mrs Flora Sandbrook, who will be with us at the 40th birthday to help celebrate. Flora today is the only remaining member of the original committee and founding team. Through those first few meetings, the guild confirmed it would meet bi-monthly, with each meeting at a different local area within the expanse of the Thames Valley Guild. Originally the women met in the evening as many of the members worked, but they decided that meeting on Saturday would be more enjoyable especially in the winter.
At first meetings were advertised in the local papers in order to grow the guild, together with the offer of classes in the in-between months to also attract new members. Subscriptions were $10 for full members and accounts suggest that were more than 30 members that first year.
That first year the guild also held its first school at Waihi with a very successful patchwork class with 28-29 people attending on the day.
Since then the guild has grown and its region expanded to include Katikati and O¯ mokoroa, with members also coming from Tauranga and South Waikato. Through this time membership sat at a steady 40-50 members. Meetings became monthly on the third Saturday of every month, with each meeting moving around the region until 2018 when membership grew to over 70+ and became a bit big for some of the local venues. It now has its permanent home at the St James Centre,
Moresby Avenue, Waihi. Today memberships stands at 65.
Some of the highlights through the years include:
● The creation of a panel for the Tapestry Trust. This is part of a series made by guilds round the country which now resides in Dunedin. Each was designed to reflect the importance of the local region, so the TVEG on focused on the goldmining history of NZ. · Involvement of the stitching of Shakespearian themed curtains for the Globe theatre in Hamilton.
● Work by Flora Sandbrook, Vera Hoskins and Hay Hughes on a piece design by Malcolm Harrison for Parliament.
● A large stitched paua piece which was mosaic of pieces stitched by 18 members of the Guild. Each piece could be stitched in any technique and stitches but had to retain the exact size and include the dark blue thread each received. The resulting paua shell wall hanging was then pieced together by Flora, and given to the Thames Hospital after its upgrade to hang.
● The Tunnelling Company Cloak created for the Armistice event, which some of the guild ladies worked on as well as knitting poppies. This cloak featured names of the Waihi tunnellers each with an embroidered poppy.
● Show and Tell tablecloth, pout together with fabric donated by Bill Speary. This tablecloth comprised panels of white stitching on white. Each member who wished to participate created their own square with their choice of techniques.