The Growth of the East Sussex Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers

 

In September 1950, Mrs H B Carrington of Blacklands, Crowhurst wrote a letter to the Hastings Observer expressing a wish to meet other people interested in weaving. In response to this appeal several meetings took place during the next three months for people to discuss plans for a Guild. A room at the Abbey Hotel, Battle was always open with someone in attendance and a loom set up to give practical help to interested enquirers. The foundation of the Sussex Guild was laid (The present form of East and West Sussex Guilds started in 1973).

At the first formal meeting in January 1951 at Crowhurst, eighteen people were present and decided to form a Battle & Hastings District Guild of Spinners Dyers and Weavers, to meet monthly. A committee was elected to represent as many areas as possible and there was a display of members’ work. Early records are scanty but at the first AGM, 24th January 1952, it was decided to have meetings at various places in the county, and in the following year the county was divided into four areas: Eastbourne to Rye, Eastbourne to Worthing and two inland ones, North and East Sussex and West Sussex. Obviously the size of the county made this necessary. Events moved rapidly and in January 1953 the committee considered a constitution for a Sussex Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and decided that regional groups should be formed on the initiative of members.

The purpose of the founding of the Sussex Guild was ‘to teach and interest women, particularly country women, to make their own materials at home, either for their own use or as a commercial enterprise’ according to remarks made by Mrs Carrington at the first exhibition and sale in 1953, and reported by the Sussex Daily News. By December 1953 at the third AGM held in Lewes, forty people attended and reported thriving groups at Brighton and Hastings. These were followed by groups at Worthing in 1954 and Forest Row in 1956. This formed the structure of the county Sussex Guild which for several years presided over a busy and varied programme of demonstrations, talks, displays and outings sustained by the individual groups who also banded together to hold more ambitious exhibitions (such as those at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery in the ’60s) and sent members to represent them on the Central Committee.

Membership of the branches fluctuated: by 1965 Forest Row had been disbanded and in 1972 the Bexhill one dissolved. Finally in 1973 the county structure was abandoned; Worthing became West Sussex Guild and Brighton the East Sussex Guild and completely independent. Reasons for these changes seemed to be fluctuating membership in some areas, the need for central locations with easy transport and a desire to simplify a now cumbersome organisation. The Sussex Guild had fulfilled its original purpose and now the individual flourishing Guilds – and any future ones – were independent.

The Brighton branch had been formed under the first County guidance. On February 28 1953 at the Friends Meeting House a group of seventeen members of the Sussex Guild decided to organise regular monthly meetings of the people living in the Brighton, Worthing, Hassocks, Lewes, Seaford and Newhaven areas. At a second meeting a committee of five was elected and they guided activities during the next few months. These included demonstrations of spinning, a talk on dyeing, a display of fleece samples, a discussion on recent shows and how to organise future ones, the type and standard of work required for them and a visit to the KilBride weaving and Maxwell loom-making workshops at Ditchling. A busy beginning. Numbers rose to forty by October.

The programmes were varied and ambitious, drawing on the knowledge of their own members to teach newcomers and sprinkled with talks, visits by well known craftsmen, films and outings. The faithful, dedicated group of people increased slowly during the 1950s (about thirty attended meetings) and covered such subjects as drafting and analysis of fabrics, multiple warping, four shaft and drawloom weaving, indigo and vegetable dyeing, talks on weaving in other countries, spinning, visits to workshops and studios in the area and discussions on exhibitions and sales. The first sale of work in March was opened by the Mayor of Brighton at the Friends Centre and was reported in the press as ‘everything from a strictly utilitarian teacloth to a magnificent canon’s cope …. made of seamless, vegetable dyed silk by Mr J V D KilBride …. was on sale.’ There were demonstrations of floor loom weaving and spinning. The entrance fee was 6d (2½p), tea was 1s 6d (7½p) and an overall profit of £16 6s 4d (£16.32) was made.

During the 1960s the numbers present at meetings fell, and at some stage for a short time the members met in private houses only. However the impact of the decorative, creative and original ‘school’ of artist-weavers showed in the interest in a national Wall Hangings exhibition and competition staged in Brighton by Miss Mary Barker. Peter Collingwood was the winner with his Triangle Fell. Over a hundred people came to a talk by Anne Sutton on contemporary weaving, the use of new materials and original concepts but using old techniques. Also during this period small groups met in each other’s homes for private instruction.

The library was founded in 1968 by Mrs Hawkins; originally many books had been loaned or donated by members and now small sums were allocated to buy new ones. But this remained a modest venture, although very well used, until the later expansion due to the better financial position of the Guild.

During the 1970s new membership revealed the need for more instruction and gradually ‘Do-Days’ were established where members demonstrated all day a variety of weaving and spinning techniques.

These were supported by workshops in design, leno weaving, simply structured garments using handwoven cloth, and chemical dyeing. All the other activities of the Guild continued. In 1970 there were 39 paid up members, in 1978, 98 and in 1981 over 170. This decade also saw the winding up of the Sussex Guild, and the complete independence of the Brighton branch now re-named the East Sussex Guild. From 1976 meetings were held alternately in Brighton and Eastbourne, an unsatisfactory arrangement which ended by moving to Lewes in 1978 for all meetings.

The growth in the 1980s was due to several factors: the world-wide re-awakened interest in textiles, weaving and its allied crafts; the choice of Lewes Riverside Centre for all Guild meetings which was a good compromise location for most people; the very successful Exhibition and Sale which was held annually at Lewes Town Hall from 1976; the increasing number and widening scope of workshops and especially the enthusiasm and hard work of its members. The Guild membership rocketed for a while, due in great part to the numbers joining after attending Adult Education classes, most of them taken by Guild members.

We had to leave our happy home at the Riverside Centre when alterations were made to the building and in November 1989 our first meeting was held in the modern hall of St Thomas à Becket Church, off Cliffe High Street, but this proved too small for our numbers and Sunday workshops and storage were problem areas. So we upped sticks again and began using the brand new hall of Lewes Tertiary College, not far from the railway station. This was spacious and had excellent car-parking areas but although our library was accommodated (just, and grudgingly) there were always problems with booking and the hiring charges rose to the skies.

In 1993 it was decided to look around again and the committee favoured the Corn Exchange of Lewes Town Hall, particularly because our library and other equipment could be stored on the balcony there.

Unfortunately many of our ‘3rd Saturday in the month’ dates were already someone else’s permanent fixtures so we held 8 meetings in the Town Hall, 2 in the Riverside Centre and one in the hall of the United Reformed Church. The following year was better with only one in the URC hall and for the next 3 years all meetings were at the Town Hall. In 1998 another little bombshell exploded – the Town Hall would be closed for the installation of the Rodin Exhibition, so from 1999 until 2018 we met at the Malling Community Centre. However the Guild had to move to Ringmer Village Hall as the Malling Centre was to be refurbished.

Until 1999 programmes continued to be the traditional mix of talks – on a diverse range of subjects and aspects of our crafts – workshops and the occasional outing to exhibitions and places of interest. In 1999 a ground-breaking new scheme was introduced with all-day workshops at each meeting, following a structured plan with the emphasis on design, and this was continued in 2000. In 2001, to accommodate those who cannot attend all-day workshops, more talks relevant to our textile crafts were re-introduced.

And so the work of the Guild continues, meeting the challenges and adapting to the needs of the day.
Margaret Harrison & Joan Rippengal

 

Chairmen of East Sussex Guild

1953 Miss Eades and Committee
1954 Mr C A Mocatta
1955 Miss Doody
1956 Mr ‘Freddie’ Bleach
1961 Miss Mary Barker
1967 Mrs Ruby Cusack
1974 Mrs Vera Bates
1975 Mrs Diana Andrew
1979 Mr Ron Harrington
1983 Mrs Barbara Pidcock
1985 Mrs Sonia Barnett
1989 Mrs Jean White
1994 Mrs Maureen Raven Smith
1997 Mr Eric Pennells
2001 Mrs Val Conway
2005 Mrs Pam Marks
2007 Ms Joan Kendall
2010 Mr Eric Pennells
2010 Mrs Ann Dishman
2014 Mrs Shelagh Duffill
2017 Mrs Jackie Avery
2019 Mrs Gina Price
2023 Mrs Margaret Hemmings