25 Years in the Making exhibition opens

The Wool Clip: 25 Years in the Making exhibition opened at Farfield Mill near Sedbergh last week (Wednesday 2^nd September) and features a range of specially-made work from current Wool Clip co-operative members as well as panels celebrating different aspects of the co-operative's development and activities over the past 25 years.

Anna Saczek, General Manager of Farfield Mill said a few words at the preview reception with invited guests that was held to open the exhibition: "It seems fitting to celebrate 25 years of The Wool Clip as the Mill itself celebrates 25 years since its major refurbishment in 2001. It is also ideal to celebrate wool, weaving and textiles as these have very much been part of the Mill's history too."

"This exhibition in our Loft Gallery will run for two months, up to and including Sunday 1^st November, and I think it is really going to inspire a lot of our visitors with the creativity and skill on display."

Left to right: Petra Baker, Marion Rae, Ruth Strong, Julia Neubauer, Jan Beadle, Linda Bennett, Alice Underwood, Jean Wildish, Debbie Lucas, Jane Firth. Missing from the image are Chris Crofts, Chloe Randall and Susanna Smith.

The original work on display has been created using craft skills that include wool embellishment (Marion Rae, Ruth Strong and Susanna Smith), eco printing (Debbie Lucas), hand spinning (Petra Baker and Chris Crofts), weaving (Jan Beadle), different felting methods (Linda Bennett and Jane Firth), and knitting (machine and hand) and knitwear design (Chloe Randall, Jean Wildish, Alice Underwood and Julia Neubauer).

Marion Rae is the current chair or the co-operative and she spoke briefly about how past and current members have all contributed to today's Wool Clip through their enthusiasm, skills and shared commitment to adding value to British wool.

Guests included six of the first seven recipients of the first tranche of The Wool Clip's 25^th Anniversary Awards (more details in separate Blog post). They are all Cumbria based and also represent a range of crafts. Each be investing a £250 Anniversary Awards in something to support the development of their own wool businesses, from training to specialist equipment, display materials to fleece processing.

Jan Beadle has been a member of the team working on the Awards: "We're hoping that these relatively small awards will make a difference to these businesses. We're still fundraising and inviting donations to enable us to offer a second tranche of Awards before the end of 2026 and applications are open until Monday 30^th November."

Jean's sweater, entitled Nostalgia, with work by Debbie and Alice also visible.

Jan's anniversary tweed between one of Ruth's landscape hangings and two of Julia's Tres Amigas jackets.

Alice's blanket "tent" as well as Jane's oak branch and Chloe's knitted accessories and Herdwick blanket.