Quite often, when I start writing the newsletter, I wonder what I’m going to write about and can’t think about anything much that has happened that might be of interest.  I then create a list of things that we have done over the last month and can’t believe we could have fitted in so much. This month is certainly no exception as this list doesn’t even include numerous beekeeping activities, donations, the Etsy shop and lots of other stuff! I’m not going to be able to write about everything as we’ll be here all night but thank you to everyone who has contributed in so many different ways. Tadcrafters team, you have excelled yourself yet again!

The last month in summary:

1/10    October newsletter published

3/10    56 feminine hygiene kits were sent off to Malawi

5/10    Our heart cushions and drain bags for St’ James’ featured in an article in the Tadcaster Echo

7/10    10 shawls and 14 twiddlemuffs to York Hospital

7/10    8 blankets and 5 shawls to Age UK

7/10    16 hats and 10 scarves to Community Bees in York

8/10    Supported The Barn birthday celebration open day with a stand

10/10  Tadcrafters CIC awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by York Ainsty Rotary

11/10  Tadcaster drop-in session at The Barn

12/10  TadGrafters session at The Barn

13/10  95 bags for the banana box project and 196 Christmas Stockings to Spirit of Christmas

13/10  16 Hat and scarf sets, 2 scarves and 7 hats were given to Selby District Food Bank

14/10  Meeting with Artist to discuss community artwork project

15/10  Stall at Hebden Bridge WI Rag Market

19/10  3 Worry monsters to Riverside School

20/10  First of 3 First Aid sessions for the directors and group leaders

21/10  Sherburn Crafters session

21/10  76 knitted poppy brooches to The Royal British Legion in Tadcaster

21/10  Visit to the opening of the Woodmeadow Trust poly tunnel

22/10  Gardening group at Tadcaster Primary Academy

26/10  Directors meeting

27/10  Second of 3 First Aid sessions for the directors and group leaders

27/10  13 syringe-driver bags to St. Leonard’s Hospice

28/10  3 huge blankets and 2 patchwork quilts, to Martin House Children’s Hospice

29/10  Yorkits workshop session in York

30/10  45 poppies were given to The Royal British Legion

On Tuesday 8th November we will be having our AGM at 12.30pm at the Barn during our drop-in session.  Whichever group you are from, you will be very welcome to join us for a hopefully fairly brief catch-up and summary of the past year. Don’t worry, you won’t be asked to be Chairperson or treasurer or anything. Please bring with you any questions and ideas that you might have, as well as your lunch if you wish. 

 TadCrafters Tadcaster Group Update

We had a really good drop-in session this month with about 80 Christmas stockings finished, lots of prep for the tombola stall at Tadcaster Christmas market (thanks Anne D), we sold the last jars of 2022 honey, gave out lots of knitting yarn and sewing kits, received donations of fabric,  haberdashery, and “gently-worn” bras, saw a few regulars who we haven’t seen in a while, met a few new people, chatted to Tom and Laura from NYCC about the new county council, and did lots of other things…whilst putting the world to rights and drinking tea.

The next Tadcaster drop-in session will be on Tuesday 8th November 10am- 3pm

As well as 95 bags for their Banana Box Project, we were able to give nearly 200 stockings to Spirit of Christmas this month. The Barn have offered to be a collection point for toys to be given out by this amazing charity to help local families struggling with the cost of Christmas who have been referred to them. If you have any good quality toys to donate or know of a family that really needs this sort of support, please speak to David or Kirsty at The Barn.

If you would like to go to the Spirit of Christmas 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.

I mentioned last month that we are being asked to support a number of different organisations that urgently need hats, scarves, gloves, blankets and shawls to help to keep people warm this winter, especially if they can’t afford to put the heating on. In addition to York Hospital, Age UK, Selby District Foodbank and Martin House Children’s Hospice who we have helped before, we were able to support a new organisation called Community Bees.  It is a small, York based Community Interest Company in York, that supports people experiencing loneliness and isolation by providing meaningful social interaction, hands-on activities, home support and advice for some of York’s most marginalised people. If you would like to know a little more about this organisation you can follow this link: https://communitybees.co.uk/  

“Thank you for our first lot of blankets/shawls and twiddlemuffs. All have been received with big smiles and thankyous!”

Rapid Assessment and Treatment team (RATs) on A+E and ward 37 (dementia ward) York Hospital

Please keep knitting to help us support all these organisations, plus North Yorkshire Horizons who we are yet to be able to deliver to. 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 and mini Christmas stockings. If you can get them to us by the November drop-in session, we’d appreciate it. The Market is on Sunday 27th.

We’ve given 121 knitted poppy brooches to The Royal British Legion in Tadcaster for their poppy appeal.  We’ll be decorating the war memorial with poppies too in time for Remembrance Sunday. If you didn’t manage to get your finished poppies in by the October drop-in session you can bring them to the November session or give them direct to a collector, or any of their collection boxes

We managed to send out another 56 feminine hygiene kits out to Malawi this month. The Yorkits group are now holding weekly sessions at All Saints Village Hall Poppleton from 9.30am – 12 noon on Wednesday 2nd, 9th and 16th November, they will then take a break until the new year. This is alongside their usual monthly Saturday workshops. The next Saturday session is Saturday 26th November, 10am -12pm, Manor Academy, Nether Poppleton, York.  If you would like to join the Yorkits team, to help girls in developing countries access education whilst menstruating, please contact yorkitsrotaryainsty@gmail.com to be put on their mailing list to be informed of all upcoming events or any change of plan. You would be more than welcome to attend, and the kettle is always on.

Congratulations go to Yorkits founder, all-round dynamo and wonder-woman, Issy Sanderson, for turning 80. It’s partially thanks to Issy that Tadcrafters carried on making things after the initial 3 months of bunting-making back in 2016, realising that we can really help to make a difference, like her organisation does.

“Just to say ” How grateful all the Yorkits Team are to Tadcrafters for the wonderful contribution you have made to the project. You truly are our Yorkits ‘back bone’ and we could not have had such an amazing impact worldwide without your help.  Yorkits are now in 13 African countries, 4 Asian countries, refugee camps in Europe and Yemen, and in Brazil. In all these places we have seed-funded, self-help groups now making their own ‘Yorkits;’ out of local materials. Huge thanks for all your hard work. Love from Issy”

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

 TadGrafters Wood-working Group Update

The Grafters are now working on creating a huge bug hotel to be installed up at the Quaker Burial Ground. If you would like to contribute any fir cones, bamboo canes or sticks etc please bring them down to the next session.

The Grafters are next due to meet on Weds 9th November 1-3pm at The Barn.Visitors and new group members would be very welcome.

 Gardening Group update

Tadcrafters were invited by our friends at the Woodmeadow Trust to join them to celebrate the opening of their new polytunnel. This will provide much needed additional space and improved working conditions for the propagation of wild flower plug plants for planting into the woodmeadow and also for their partners’ projects. We are hopeful that the Quaker Burial Ground will, in time, be a beneficiary of this increased capacity.

On Saturday 22nd October, in beautiful autumn sunshine, a group of Tadcrafter gardeners gathered at Tadcaster Primary Academy to tidy up the wild flower beds and also to weave this year’s willow growth back into the willow den.

Activities will be quieting down over the winter now but if you are interested in getting involved with the gardening group, contact Sue at tadcraftersst@tadcrafters

 Beekeeping Group Update

October is the time when our bees really start to prepare for Winter.  We have given both our hives treatment against Varroa mite, a disease that is in most hives, but can easily be controlled if treated regularly. The bees will start to reduce in number, and we need to make sure they have enough food for over the Winter. In addition to the honey, we have left them we have also fed them sugar syrup to supplement their food. Sara has also been busy rendering waste wax from the hives and making some very cute candles.

If you are interested in having a visit to see the working hives, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to do so next year.

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 Sherburn Crafters Update

We had a really good meeting in October at the Sherburn Group, with 2 new people joining us. Welcome to Margaret and Julia. We discussed the need to change day we meet and the consensus was that the fourth Thursday of the month would be suitable for most people. We hope this change works well for everyone else and that Viv can still attend in the school holidays. This means the next Sherburn session will be Thursday 24th November. Our December meeting is on Thursday 24th December and will include a small festive celebration! -Karen

 Other News

We are delighted to announce that Tadcrafters’ volunteers have been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by The Rotarian Foundation, thanks to York Ainsty, who support Yorkits. This is the organisational equivalent of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow which recognises an outstanding contribution to the community by an individual, and quite an honour. Well done team!    

On The Barn’s 3rd birthday celebration day they launched their Crowdfunder appeal. If you can afford to, please support their efforts to raise money to invest in their outdoors facilities which are so well used by Tadcaster’s young people. Every pledge counts; even if you can only afford £1 this will count to reach their total of a minimum of 100 supporters and £11,000.  If they can reach this by the middle of November, then this will trigger match funding of £50,000 which will be invested in The Barn! https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/skatebarn-tadcaster

A personal vote of thanks from me to Lynne this month.  She puts in a huge amount of time and effort every month, but this month has been exceptional (well at least I hope it doesn’t become the norm).  Amongst many, many, other things (see the long list above- she’s been involved in most of it) she’s cut out loads of fabric for kits,  collected loads of donated fabric, sorted Yorkits for Malawi, manned the stand at the Barn open day, lugged stuff up and down the loft ladder, cared for the bees, labelled the honey, given presentations as well as driven to Hebden Bridge and manned the stall all day before tripping the light fantastic at a Ceilidh in the evening.

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) for Spirit of Christmas
  • Personal effects bags for hospice patients and bereaved families at St. Leonard’s and St. Gemma’s
  • Syringe driver bags for hospitals and hospices
  • Drawstring book bags for the Banana box toy project (please see updated instructions)
  • Liners, shields and drawstring bags for YorKits feminine hygiene kits
  • Heart-shaped cushions and drain bags for breast surgery patients
  • Tombola items

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

  • Hat and scarf/gloves sets (deadline December drop-in session), for foodbanks, Community Bees, NY Horizons
  • 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
  • Blankets (medium sizes 2 x 2 feet to 3 x 4 feet) for Community Bees, Age UK
  • Shawls/wraps, any design for York Hospital, Community Bees, Age UK
  • 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 but double knitting would be great.
  • 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

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