The Staircase Stitchers got four visitors when they met on Tuesday evening for their usually monthly class. Iain McLean, Honorary President of the Trust, Angela Kenrick, Sharza Dethick and Steve Cliffe, officially presented the Council with a cheque for £2,000. This will fund the first year of the Stitching project which has already proved so popular. The money was raised by the Trust in the late 1980's to purchase Staircase House when no one else was interested in saving it. Eventually, after two fires, the Council bought the property, so the money has been held in trust until such time as it could be invested in the future of the House. The Stitchers project will not only create traditionally made ornamentation for the House, it involves a large number of people in the House, and creates an appreciation for traditional crafts by both the Stitchers and the visitors.
The aim is to provide the rooms, in particular the 17th century Tester Bed which the Trust also purchased, with copies of original bed hangings.
The money will pay for materials and for tuition by Jane Dew, Embroiderer for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, who proudly showed the visitors what the group were working on.
