We all know what an amazing team we all are but it appears that more people are finding this out. A big warm welcome to all our new members who have joined us over the last few weeks, and keep your fingers crossed that the judges of two prestigious awards agree with us too.
Update
Here is a brief summary of the main things the Tadcrafters team have done during February.
Since the last newsletter we have donated:
• 19 twiddlemuffs, 7 hats, 3 patchwork quilts,3 blankets, 6 premature baby outfits to York Teaching hospital Charity
• 3 patchwork quilts, 2 scarves, 3 jumpers and 3 matching hats to Leeds Baby Bank
• 13 Personal Effects bags to St. Leonard’s hospice
• 30 Yorkits feminine hygiene kits set off the India- the Hope Foundation Hospital night ambulance.
• 86 knitted daffodils to Tadcaster collection boxes and another 23 about to go to sherburn
• 4 patchwork quilts, 4 knitted blankets, 4 children’s hats, 1 scarf and 3 knitted toys to HomeStart York ready to go to HomeStart York.
On 27th February we had our first drop-in session in Sherburn-in-Elmet which went really well with over 20 people coming to see what we do. Good progress was made on the 100m of bunting going to decorate Eversley Park for the VE Day commemorations coming up in May. We have two more sessions planned on Thursdays 26th March and 30th April at the Old Girl’s School to see whether there is a demand to continue, 10am-3pm. People are still very welcome to join in even if they can’t make the sessions.
Other very exciting news has been that we have been shortlisted for not one but two awards! In the Selby District Business Awards we’ve been shortlisted in the category of Social and Environmental business of the Year. Selby District aims to be at the heart of the changes that are needed to ensure we have sustainable and profitable businesses that also care about our environment. The winners will be announced at an event at Hornington Manor, on 19th March.
In the Yorkshire Women Volunteer Awards we’ve been shortlisted for the Community Volunteering Award. These awards were set up to recognise volunteers throughout North, East, West and South Yorkshire who go above and beyond to help others, provide emotional and social support, inspire, motivate and play a key role in supporting or fundraising for a range of projects and activities. They aim to recognise the incredible contribution of many inspirational women who spend their time volunteering to help others. The winners will be announced on 15th May.
We have many inspirational volunteers in our group (not just women) who deserve to be recognised for all their hard work, and rewarded. Shortlisting in these awards is a really good start.
Lots of daffodils have gone out to support the Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal. Please encourage people to recognise the hours of time that have gone into making these when they make a generous donation. If you make any more please put them directly with the collection boxes. Last year we helped this worthwhile cause to triple the amount they usually raise in Tadcaster.
Thanks to funding from the Lloyd’s Bank School for Social Entrepreneur’s programme we have purchased a branding iron for us to mark the TadGrafters items made. We have a few hedgehog lodges and bug hotels ready to off to their new homes once they are marked which is fantastic news.
Tadcaster Primary Academy (formerly Tadcaster East CP School) are currently working on a project creating a whole school textiles piece based on Tadcaster. Their aim is to celebrate our local community through this piece. They have art sessions every week on a Wednesday afternoon with year 3/4 and year 5/6 children who are learning to sew at the moment. If anyone would like to help they would be very grateful. Please contact the school.
Thank you
Thanks to everyone who has been busy making at home and bringing their donations in for our projects including Alison, Sandra, Jane, Valerie, Edna, Chris, Wendy, Doreen, Linda, Wendy, Anne, Sue, Anne, Diane, Pat, Anne, Carlee and Lynda for the twiddlemuffs, daffodils, blankets, bags, quilts, jumpers, hats and scarves etc. Apologies to anyone I have inadvertently missed off.
Special thanks go everyone who helped to run the paper-crafting session last month, to Wendy for the 15 beautiful twiddlemuffs she made, and to Lynne for all her hard work on preparation for the YorKits event at the Minster and getting 30 kits organised to go to India. Thanks also to the people who make at home and we never meet but send in items they have made with someone else.
Although there are lots of simple tasks anyone in our team can do, the quality of the items we make and receive is absolutely stunning. If you are reading this but are not really a crafty person please do not underestimate the amount of time taken for each item to be made and the level of skill involved, especially for some items. Perhaps you are money-minded and would like to try to work out what each donation is worth? If so, do not calculate at the minimum wage, be realistic about the time taken, and don’t forget to add in the cost of the materials. Don’t compare them to items made in a factory but to the work of a bespoke craftsperson then you will see their true worth.
The next drop-in session will be on Tuesday March 10th when we will be focusing on making crafty things for our tombola stall for the VE75 Day Commemorations on May 10th as well as preparing for the Hebden Bridge Rag Market and our very own TadCrafters Market where we will be trying to raise funds from our surplus stocks. You might even get a preview of what’s going to be on sale.
The next TadGrafters session will be Wednesday March 11th where the group will be continuing to produce hedgehog lodges and bug hotels for local sites and The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. If you are interested in joining our woodworking group, whatever your level of skill, please get in touch or come and have a look. Places are available but limited.
Future events and projects
YorKits at York Minster. We will be celebrating our 4th birthday and International Women’s Day at the Yorkits workshops in the Minster on Thursday 5th March. We hope that many of you will be in the 200 people booked to attend the workshop in the morning or afternoon. Lynne, Sandra and I will be part of the supervising team again so it will be great to see some familiar faces who know what they are doing!
On Sunday May 10th we will be taking part in the Tadcaster VE75 Celebrations (75 years since VE day) by having a 1940’s (ish) themed stall at the market on similar lines to the Tadcaster Christmas Market. Our ideas so far have included dolly pegs, head scarves, hankies, anzac biscuits, peg bags, covered coat hangers, lavender bags, jars of boiled sweets, victory pins, bags, aprons, beeswax wraps, and covered coat hangers. There will be many more suitable items that you can think of I’m sure. If you would like to choose one or two items and make half a dozen or so of each that would be fabulous. Instructions and inspiration at the March and April drop-in sessions.
TadCrafters Market. We have quite a store of top quality fabric and haberdashery that isn’t suitable for our projects but could bring in some funds to help us do what we do. If you know anyone who loves a bargain, collects vintage haberdashery, are on the look out for some cheap fabric to practice making clothes, cushions or curtains, make sure you tell them to put Saturday 16th May in their diary, 10am-4pm at The Barn. NB this is not a craft fair selling gifts etc. We rely on your support to publicise this event will help to fund what we do so please encourage people to come along.
If you would like to sell some of your surplus craft supplies there are only a few tables left so get in touch soon for a booking form.
List of Current projects
Please stick to these projects if you are making at home as other items can be hard to find homes for. Thank you for continuing to donate items of such excellent quality. If you need help, please ask.
Sewing
• Heart shaped cushions and drain bags for St. James’ Hospital. Templates, and fabric available at the drop-in sessions. Please email for instructions.
• Personal effects bags for St. Leonard’s Hospice. Please email for instructions
• YorKits: If you are interested in attending Saturday workshop dates (on the calendar) or the York Minster event please contact Issy Sanderson yorkitsrotaryainsty@gmail.com so you can be informed of any changes to the dates etc. Instructions and materials at the sessions
Knitting/crochet
• Twiddlemuffs for people with dementia. https://www.rdehospital.nhs.uk/docs/trust/pr/2015/Twiddlemuffs_Instructions_24-01-15.pdf (No deadline).
• Cot-sized blankets for HomeStart York- supporting young families.
TadGrafters
• Insect hotels, Hedgehog lodges: instructions and materials at the sessions. Bird and bat boxes coming up soon.
Other
• Tombola: We are always on the look-out for suitable tombola prizes, especially crafty and 1940’s inspired ones for the stall on 10th May.
• School uniform: we are working in conjunction with Chalk’s at the Grammar School to supply “pre-loved” uniform. We’ll be carrying out minor mending tasks etc and preparing the clothes for “sale”.
• Most projects involve tasks that can be done by people with no special skills or experience.
Wish list and how to help
These are the things we currently require help with. NB Fabric or other items that are not suitable for our projects are donated to appropriate groups or sold to raise funds for us. If you have rags/ fabrics that are too tatty for us Oxfam shops will take them as they have their own fabric recycling plant.
• Display our posters, share our social media posts and encourage others to join in.
• If you would like to make a financial donation to help us do what we do you can do so on the Local Giving website which can be found at: https://localgiving.org/tadcrafters
• Sign up to Easyfundraising to raise money for us at no extra cost to you when you shop online, https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/tadcrafterscic/
• Broken or unwanted beads and costume jewellery for Adorn CIC https://www.facebook.com/adorncic/
• New or clean, nearly new polyester/cotton or other lightweight woven fabric
• New or nearly new knitting yarn. Any colour or weight.
• Fleece fabric, or sweatshirts cut into 2.5 x 20cm strips for snufflemats
• Items, especially hand-crafted ones, suitable for our tombola stalls
• “Gently worn” bras and new pants for “Smalls for All” http://smallsforall.org/
• Stationery items (pens, pencils, rulers, sharpeners etc) to go to schools in developing countries
Please bring items to the drop-in or TadGrafters session. For larger donations please email to make arrangements.
Have a Look
For more pictures of the lovely things we make please have a look at the “What we do” page of the Tadcrafters website http://www.tadcrafters.org.uk or come down to the Barn (on the corner of St. Joseph’s Street and Leeds Road, Tadcaster, LS24 9HA) and have a chat with us to see if you would like to help.
To be put on the emailing list (wherever you live) please request it by emailing tadcrafters@outlook.com
See you soon, Su.
Directors Tadcrafters CIC: Su Morgan, Lynne Howard and Sandra Levitt
Calendar
Tadcrafters 