Autumn is making itself felt at the moment with some colder weather but never fear, we have lots of projects for you to keep you busy indoors and lots of people who will really appreciate the things that we make.

 TadCrafters Group Update

We were back to normal at The Barn for the September drop-in session.  Our winter projects got kicked off to a good start with lots of new yarn ready to make hat and scarf sets and a big roll of sparkly fabric for Christmas stockings.

Most of the Christmas stockings will be going to Spirit of Christmas, a fabulous local charity that helps makes life a little easier for struggling families be able to provide stimulating toys and books for children, all year round. They have asked for as many stockings as possible, we gave them 264 last year and they’d like lots more this year! The deadline for completing the stockings will be the November drop-in session. If you would like to go to their open day on Wednesday 16th November 2022 at the Abbot’s Staith in Selby, please contact them on admin@spiritofchristmas.org.uk or call the charity telephone number on 07376106279.

Because some people are really going to struggle to keep warm this winter, we have been asked to create hat and scarf sets (and gloves too?) by the Selby District Food Bank and North Yorkshire Horizons (Adult Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service). We’d like as many as possible adult and children’s sizes (rather than baby items) for the November drop-in, please.

Over the last month we have made and/or donated 76 drawstring bags, 10 toiletry bags and 10 Christmas Stockings to Spirit of Christmas, 4 large blankets and 2 patchwork quilts to Martin House Children’s Hospice and 20 Bags to St. Leonard’s Hospice. We have also sent off some more “gently worn” bras to Smalls for All so our overall total is now an amazing 3517.

If you would like to make something smaller, we are always happy to receive items for our tombola stall at the Tadcaster Christmas market such as, but not limited to, hats for chocolate oranges or Ferrero Rocher Chocolates. If you can get them to us by the October or November drop-in sessions we’d appreciate it.

If you have been making poppies for the British Legion Poppy Appeal, please get them back to us by the October drop-in session.

The next Tadcaster drop-in session will be on Tuesday 11th October 10am- 3pm

Tadcrafters volunteer, Jane, is currently out in Malawi delivering our Yorkits feminine hygiene kits to a school she supports out there.  Lynne is currently putting together another consignment to go out there soon.  If you would like to join the Yorkits team, to help girls in developing countries access education whilst menstruating, the next session is Saturday 29th October, 10am -12pm, Manor Academy, Nether Poppleton, York. 

For a full list of all our current projects and where to find instructions please see the list towards the end of this newsletter.

 Gardening Group update

Jim very kindly brought his scythe to the Quaker Burial Ground in September to cut down the long grasses and flower stems in the lower area. There was not a great deal to cut this year but we are hoping for many more wild flowers next year as a small group gathered to clear some space in the lower area to sow more wild flower seed, hence the bare patches that have appeared there. We also weeded around the hedge that was planted in the top area almost a year ago and were encouraged to see how much it has grown.

Our next scheduled gardening activity is at Tadcaster Primary Academy on Saturday 22nd October at 10am for about 2-3 hours

If you are interested in getting involved with the gardening group contact Sue at tadcraftersst@outlook.com

 Beekeeping Group Update

September has been one of our busiest months as Beekeepers. We started the month with our summer harvest and as with the rest of this year it was a steep learning curve.  Getting bees out of a box before you can remove the frames is easier said than done, but seeing streams of golden honey pouring out the extractor was worth it.

We harvested about 30 jars from our two hives using the extractor.  We also have a few more that I extracted manually (a very sticky process that I won’t be repeating!) but it has resulted in a honey with a very different look and taste.

Just when we thought our green hive had settled for the year, we found some new brood where it shouldn’t have been, but we have hopefully sorted that.  One of our hives didn’t have much food left, so we have started feeding it, however, the other still has plenty.  We will do another few checks to make sure they have enough food, and then they can be generally left alone for the rest of this year.

Please join us for the Barn Open Day on 8 October if you would like to learn more about our bees and the beekeeping group- Sara

 

Sherburn Crafters Update

The Sherburn crafting sessions are led by Karen and usually the third Friday of the month.  The next session will be on Friday 21st October 11am-1pm. Workshops are held at the Sherburn Old Girls School where there is also a very nice little café where you can have a spot of lunch afterwards if you fancy it. The projects are the same as the main Tadcrafters list but the tasks on the workshop day tend to vary.

 TadGrafters Wood-working Group Update

The Grafters have finished repairing the ramp at the front of the Barn and are now working on creating a huge bug hotel to be installed up at the Quaker Burial Ground.

The Grafters are next due to meet on Weds 12th October 1-3pm at The Barn.Visitors and new group members would be very welcome.

 Other News

We will be at The Barn open day which had to be rescheduled for Saturday 8th October if you would like to come along for a chat or to join in and make a snufflemat. We would also appreciate a few extra hands if you can stay for a while to help explain what we do to anyone who is interested.

Thanks to Magic Little Grants from Localgiving we have some funding to be able to put on a workshop event for Ukrainian refugees and their sponsors to take part in.  If you know of anyone who might be interested in this sort of thing, please put them in touch with us so we can organise something that will fit in with their needs.

If you know of anyone crafty out in the Hebden Bridge direction, please encourage them to come along to the Hebden Bridge Rag Market on Saturday 15th October where we will be having a stall to sell off our surplus fabrics etc.  This is usually a very well attended event visited by thousands of people from all over the area (as they are lucky enough to have a train station there!)

List of Current TadCrafters projects 

We welcome anyone new who would like to join us but ask you to please stick to our current projects as other items can be hard to find homes for. We need to focus on a few projects at a time so we can support everyone, maintain our standards and supply items that are wanted by worthy causes, in appropriate quantities.  We are able to supply materials locally for free at our drop-in sessions and instructions are provided by email or by links if provided below; if you need help, please ask!

Sewing– supplied in kit form at the drop-off sessions

  • Christmas Stockings (deadline November 8th)
  • Personal effects bags for hospice patients and bereaved families
  • Worry Monsters for Children’s Services and local schools
  • Drawstring book bags for the Banana box toy project
  • YorKits liners, shields and drawstring bags for feminine hygiene kits
  • Heart-shaped cushions and drain bags for breast surgery patients
  • Syringe driver bags

Knitting/crochet– yarn available at the drop-off sessions

  • Knitted or crocheted Poppies (deadline October drop-in session)
  • Hat and scarf/gloves sets (deadline November drop-in session)
  • Chocolate orange hats or other tombola prizes (deadline November drop-in session)
  • Twiddlemuffs for people living with dementia. (NB no metal parts, and ideally have tape for a name to be added and a Tadcrafters label.)  https://www.qvh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Twiddlemuffs-knitting-instructions.pdf
  • Blankets (larger sizes between 3 x 4 to 5 x 8 feet) for Martin House Children’s Hospice
  • Worry worms (Easy crochet) to help children, and others, to overcome anxiety https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuuj321Ugg (NB stitched, not  googly eyes)
  • Small hearts (knitted) to help children, and others, to overcome anxiety
  • No baby clothes for the time being please

Other projects

  • If you can’t knit or sew there are non-sewing tasks such as threading drawstrings and decorating twiddlemuffs that are really useful to the team, please ask.
  • Picking-up/dropping-off supplies for people who are unable to make the sessions. Team up with someone who cannot drive or has other commitments on session days.
  • Join our wood-work, gardening, or bee-keeping groups.

Wish list and other ways to help

A huge thank you to the many people who have donated many, many things to us and have kept us going. If you have some surplus that you would like donate to us please be aware that we are really short of storage space so please try to stick as close as possible to our wish list, or speak to us first. Donations can be made at The Barn, ideally at one of the Tuesday drop-in sessions.

  • New or clean, nearly new polyester/cotton or other lightweight woven fabric
  • New or nearly new knitting yarn. Any colour or weight
  • Items, especially hand-crafted ones, suitable for our tombola stalls
  • New or clean, nearly new winceyette (brushed cotton) sheets/fabric
  • “Gently worn” bras and new pants for “Smalls for All” http://smallsforall.org/
  • Vintage fabric, equipment and haberdashery (see below)

*Any items not suitable or surplus to our own use we sell to people who really appreciate them, whilst also raising funds for our projects.

Keep in touch

If you need to get in touch with us, and need a response, please use email. This is to protect your personal details and because messages and conversations on social media become lost. Someone will get back to you but it might not be straight away due to other commitments. The Tadcrafters Chat Group or Sherburn Tadcrafters Chat Group is a great way to keep in touch with other Tadcrafters and be inspired. You can also follow the Tadcrafters Page on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@Tadcrafters). 

To be put on the emailing list/s (wherever you live) please request it by emailing tadcrafters@outlook.com  and add us to your list of contacts so we don’t end up in your junk. There are usually only one or two emails a month.

If you would like to be kept up to date about any of the specific group activities please email us and ask to be put on the relevant group mailing list and your email will be forwarded to the group leader.

See you soon, Su.

Directors Tadcrafters CIC: Su Morgan, Lynne Howard Sandra Levitt and Sue Tennant

Tadcrafters Calendar