GIVE YOUTUBE AND ANGRY BIRDS THE NEEDLE

NEEDLEWORK is about far more than sewing on buttons or darning socks (which few people do these days).

One of the most famous historical records in the world is the Bayeux Tapestry, created centuries ago and depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

It’s an amazing work of art, 70 metres long, teeming with detailed pictures of soldiers fighting under a hail of flying arrows.

And there’s that historic moment when Harold gets one of the arrows in his eye. Nobody’s sure of its origins.

It probably took many skilled needlewomen a very long time to complete the tapestry.

I sometimes wonder whether any of them were the widows of soldiers who died at Hastings, creating their own memorials to beloved husbands. It’s thought to date back to the 1070s.

Such was the fame of the tapestry that a group of English needle crafters got together in 1885 to create a detailed copy of it – all 70m of it – which can now be seen in the Reading Museum, where a special hall has been created to display it.

One thing the tapestry shows us is that we should never disregard the less formal forms of art.

We have a rich heritage of paintings and sculptures depicting great moments in history, but this monumental work of needlework is no less important.

Here in the Cape, the art of needlework is very much alive and members of the Cape Embroiderers’ Guild have been creating stunning works of art for 35 years.

They will be presenting their annual exhibition of work at Nova Constantia Manor from Saturday for a week (closed Sundays).

There will also be several antique and historical embroidery pieces on show. There will be an entrance fee of R20.

It’s one of the annual events I never miss. I’m always gobsmacked by the amazing, jewel-like colours and exquisite details in the embroidered works. It’s often difficult to believe the finely detailed pictures are made up of hundreds of tiny silk stitches.

If it were not for groups of dedicated craftspeople like the members of the guild, many old crafts and skills would simply be forgotten.

Who has time to sit and create painstaking masterpieces when you could be mindlessly playing on your iPad or watching people fall down on YouTube? (Why do we find it so entertaining to watch people fall down?)

I hope at least a few of the people who visit the embroidery exhibition will be inspired to switch off their tablets once in a while and try something creative instead. Last Laugh

A housewife was doing her weekly shopping in the local mall and when she finally emerged, pushing her trolley of groceries, she saw her car was not where she had parked it.

Then she saw it being driven away fast by a crook wearing a balaclava.

She called her husband, who came to fetch her and asked: “Did you manage to get a good look at the driver’s face?”

“No,” she said, “but I saw the number plate and wrote down the number.”