It’s hard to believe we’re already at the beginning of another year, and eight years since the initial ideas and inspiration behind Tadcrafters.    In this newsletter we will be looking forward to what we have planned for the next few months as well as a round-up of what we achieved in 2023.

 News

Over the last year we have made a great difference to lots of people’s lives by making and giving away over 3400 items, worth over £24,000 and saving around 1 tonne (1000kg) of fabric and yarn from landfill.  These are just numbers but what is most important, and more difficult to measure, is how we have made a difference to people’s lives. In our impact summary every year we include comments from our group members and the people who benefit from the items we make.  Knowing what you think is really valuable so thank you to everyone who completed our survey.

Here’s a list of the main things we’ve made and donated in 2023:

  • 293 Personal effects bags have been donated to St. Leonard’s and St. Gemma’s Hospices.  These are used to sensitively return belongings to bereaved relatives.
  • 149 drawstring bags have been donated mainly to Spirit of Christmas, a charity based in Selby, for their Banana Box project where they fill the bags with a book and a small educational toy to give to children in families that struggle to provide these types of item.
  • 244 heart shaped cushions, most with a matching drain bag (as co-ordination is so important!), have been given, mainly to St. James Hospital Breast Surgery ward to provide practical, and a little emotional, support to breast cancer patients.
  • 26 worry monsters to support local Children’s Services professionals to help children who are experiencing trauma and stress.
  • 67 draught excluders to help local families keep warm this winter.
  • 333 Christmas stockings for Spirit of Christmas to fill and give to children from families who might struggle to afford to celebrate Christmas.
  • 76 patchwork quilts, most made by Anne H, where mostly given to Martin House Children’s Hospice.  These were of a quality fit for them to become family heirlooms in the future.
  • 68 large blankets, often large enough to cover a single bed, were mostly given to Martin House Children’s Hospice for children with life-limiting conditions.
  • 16 baby/small blankets to help local people keep warm this winter
  • 19 shawls to help local people keep warm this winter
  • 63 hot water bottle covers mostly given to local food banks
  • 75 scarves mostly given to local food banks for their customers to keep warm
  • 129 adult and child hats mostly given to local food banks
  • 256 baby hats, mostly given to York Teaching Hospital Labour Ward for newborns
  • 88 little knitted hearts for the Mortuary department at St. James Hospital.  These are  donated in pairs so that one stays with a person who has died and the other is kept by their loved-ones.
  • 885 “gently worn” bras collected and sent to Smalls for All, a charity that supports women, often in developing countries, who are unable to afford underwear.
  • 3 bug hotels went to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
  • 1 enormous bug hotel and a hedgehog lodge installed at the Quaker Burial Ground for local wild-life
  • 1 bat box for local residents
  • Around 400kg of surplus fabric and around 50 sample books given to The Cone Exchange and Farsley Scrap stores
  • Around 1 tonne (1000kg) of fabric and yarn etc potentially saved from landfill

Some of the gorgeous blankets that recently went to Martin House Children’s Hospice

Thank you for supporting us on our Tombola stall and helping us to make a bit of space in my garage as well as raise some funds to help Tadcrafters keep going.  Thanks, in particular for the volunteers that came down to help with the customers on a very busy day so that Lynne and I could manage a bite to eat and a comfort break. We did particularly well because we were able to keep the stall filled up with lots of fabulous hand-made and quirky prizes. If Santa was overly generous or didn’t quite hit the mark with presents this Christmas, please send any surplus in our direction to re-home on our next tombola stall.

Last month I mentioned that we were able to offer some free sewing classes in Tadcaster and York for people who have not achieved a grade C or above in Maths at GCSE. The 3 week machine sewing course in Tadcaster (starting 1pm Monday Jan 15th)  is almost full but there are still spaces on the hand sewing class (10-1pm on Tuesday 23rd Jan in York)  please contact tadcrafters@outlook.com for more information or to book your place soon.  If you are interested in joining a basic machine sewing class in the future (which may not be free) please still contact us so we can gauge the demand.

Please have a look at the calendar at the end of the newsletter for a summary of our future events.    

 TadCrafters Tadcaster Group Update

If you are making them, please try to finish off hats, scarves, and gloves etc in time for the January drop-in session so they get to where they can be useful during the cold weather, and we don’t end up having to store them over the summer. Please make them in adult and child (not baby) sizes, in any design but those appealing to men will be more welcome. If you are looking for a new knitting project we’d really appreciate some twiddlemuffs in lots of contrasting colours and textures- great for using up small amounts of yarn.  If you want something smaller, try making some flowers, leaves or characters that could be attached to the twiddlemuffs, or knitted hearts that can also be used for a variety of different purposes including anxiety and bereavement relief.

The next Tadcrafters drop-in session will be Tuesday 9th January when we’ll be focussing on preparing different stages of the washable feminine hygiene kits in readiness for the Yorkits minster workshop sessions at York Minster, celebrating international Women’s Day/Week on Tuesday 5th March.

 TadGrafters Wood-working Group Update

The December TadGrafters session was mainly a chat about planning the next few months which will be focussed on making bat boxes for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and more chatting. If you are thinking of coming along, please note that the sessions will be starting a little later so you can have a slightly more leisurely lunch.

The Grafters are next due to meet on Weds 10th January 1.15-3.15pm at The Barn.  If you would like to help, or just come and see what the woodworkers do, just pop along to a session.  You don’t need to bring anything with you.

 Gardening Group update

There are no plans to do very much in the next few weeks until the weather picks up, but we are looking forward to seeing all the aconites and daffodil bulbs we planted coming up soon. This year we are planning on creating a bog garden area to support existing wildlife and attract insects such as damselflies and dragonflies. We will also be continuing to research the background of the site with local historians and a Quaker archivist.

We will be starting again before long so if you are not already a member of the gardening group and would like to get involved, please contact Sue T at tadcraftersst@outlook.com and contact tadcrafters@outlook.com to be put on the mailing list.

 Beekeeping Group Update

The group has a few more months through Winter before our season starts properly in March or April (depending on the weather). Our big challenge this year will be to create a brand-new colony after we lost one of our hives last year.

During the season we check the hives on a weekly rota, but as there are a few of us we are able to share the work and only do a check once each every couple of weeks.  There are no set days, but we tend to meet on Saturday morning and you are welcome to just come for a look.

If you would like to join us, you don’t need any knowledge or training but a short beginners course would help. You can join one of the two local beekeepers groups (Barkston Ash or Leeds) and they provide some basic training. However, if you are interested in joining the group, we may be able to put on a basic course. Please contact us though the Tadcrafters email. If you would like to join us, just for a look or to help with regular inspections please contact us on tadcrafters@outlook.com.

 Sherburn Crafters Update

There was no December meeting as it fell during Twixtmas but we’ll be back to normal in January.

We meet on the fourth Thursday each month at the Old Girls School and generally follow the same projects as the Tadcaster drop-in.   You are welcome to attend both if you wish.  The dates are in the calendar below, however there will be no December meeting making the next session Thursday January 25th 11am-1pm

If you would like to join the group just turn up at the session and email tadcrafters@outlook.com to ask to be added to the Sherburn mailing list.

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.  Some items originally intended for one cause may be re-directed to another or find their way onto our tombola stall to help raise funds. We supply materials 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

  • Personal effects bags for hospice patients and bereaved families at St. Leonard’s and St. Gemma’s Hospices
  • Syringe driver bags for hospitals and hospices
  • Drawstring book bags for the Banana box toy project
  • Liners, shields and drawstring bags for YorKits feminine hygiene kits
  • Heart-shaped cushions and drain bags for breast surgery patients (in sessions)
  • Draught excluders (in sessions)
  • Tombola items- miscellaneous kits

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

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 donation or supplies for people who are unable to make the sessions. You could maybe team up with someone who cannot drive or has other commitments on session days.
  • Join our woodwork, gardening, or bee-keeping groups.
  • If you are interested in doing something positive to help tackle climate change, however small, follow the Sustainable Tadcaster Facebook page. Please get in touch if we can support you to kick-start a new initiative such as running a repair café, library of things, recycling or other circular economy scheme etc.

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 short of storage space so please try to stick as close as possible to our wish list, or speak to us first. Smaller donations can be made at The Barn, ideally at one of the Tuesday drop-in sessions. NB We cannot use worn, dirty or smoky clothes, fabric or yarn.  Fabric that is only fit for rags can be put directly into the collecting point outside the Salvation Army and save us a job. They have their own facilities to shred and recycle fabrics.  We welcome:
  • 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 for Yorkits
  • Spectacles for Specsort who take them to people in  developing countries
  • “Gently worn” bras and new pants for “Smalls for All” http://smallsforall.org/
  • Vintage fabric, equipment and haberdashery *

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

  • If you would like to make a financial donation/direct debit 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
  • Please share our social media posts and encourage others to join in.
  • 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/
  • Visit our Etsy store to purchase top-quality fabric remnants that are surplus to our requirements https://www.etsy.com/shop/tadcrafters/      If you live in Tadcaster, contact us direct for a discount. NB these items are not stored at The Barn or available for viewing at sessions.
  • Support our campaign to find a place of our own. If you know of a local business that could provide us with sponsorship or free space that we could use to store goods and run workshops from please put them in touch with us.

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, (and Tadcrafters Sales page) on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In 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

Please check the monthly newsletters for updates to these dates, times and venues.

DateEventTimeLocation
Tues 9th JanDrop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Weds 10th JanTadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Mon 15th JanBasic Machine Sewing course starts #1-4pmThe Barn
Tues 23rd JanHand sewing course #10am-1pmPriory Street Centre, York
Thurs 25th JanSherburn craft session11am-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 27th JanYorkits workshop session<10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York
Fri 16th Feb*Drop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Fri 16th Feb*TadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Thurs 22nd FebSherburn craft session11am-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 24th FebYorkits workshop session <10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York
Tues 5th MarYorkits IWD workshopam & pm tbcYork Minster
Tues 12th MarDrop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Weds 13th MarTadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Tues 19th MarTalk10.30amBurton Salmon
Thurs 28th MarSherburn craft session11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 30th MarYorkits workshop session <10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York
Tues 9th AprilDrop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Weds 10th AprTadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Thurs 25th AprSherburn craft session11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 27th AprYorkits workshop session <10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York
Tues 4th MayDrop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Weds 15th MayTadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Thurs 23rd MaySherburn craft session11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 25th MayYorkits workshop session <10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York
Tues 11th JunDrop-in workshop session10am-3pmThe Barn
Weds 12th JunTadGrafters1.15-3.15pmThe Barn
Thurs 27th JunSherburn craft session11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 29th JunYorkits workshop session <10am-12pmHartrigg Oaks, York

*NB this is or may be different to usual due to school holidays

# Booking required, email tadcrafters@outlook.com

< check for any changes before going by emailing yorkitsrotaryainsty@gmail.com