Birthday In Bolton

I would never make a proper diary writer, I have already missed two days of writing on the blog, and I only began it a week ago.  My excuse for last night was that I went out to dinner with the family after having spent the day teaching at the Bolton Embroiderers Guild.  I left at 7am and got back about 7pm.  My excuse for missing Friday was that I was busy preparing for Saturday!

I had never been to Bolton before, and after a few attempts at finding the right location I eventually made it through the door of a little church where the branch hold their workshops.  A big thank you to you ladies of Bolton EG who helped me to unload (and reload at the end of the day) the contents of the car, and help me set up.  There were 12 ladies who had boldly chosen to come on the class despite many of them not having a clue about Friendly Plastic and what it can do.  It always amazes me how game people are to come on a class when they don’t have any real idea of what the class is a all about.

After a little bit of an explanation and a few cracks of the whip, everyone soon got down to the task in hand; and despite coffe and a birthday cake being on offer (it was Pauline’s 60th birthday and Judith had made a beautiful cake), it was a bit of a job to get them to stop doing what they were doing and drag them from the tables for a bit of a celebration!

The Birthday Girl

Fortified, we all went back to work, and began to Oooze! which produced a few “Aahhs”.  A spot of patchwork later and lunch was served.  This was no ordinary workshop when everyone brings out their sandwhiches and the remnants of the fridge; we were treated to a delicious meal of homemade soup and homemade bread rolls and homemade fruit crumble, plus some sparkling grape juice to drink Paulines good health.  This was all served on tables with tablecloths and napkins.  Blimey they are posh in Bolton!

It is amazing that we managed to do anything more than snooze all afternoon, but they had the bit between their teeth and worked hard at Lacework and recolouring techniques, eventually giving in to brain overload around 3.30pm.  This was the time for a show and tell which is often the most informative part of the day as everyone gets the opportunity to see what all the others have done.  They had all worked hard, so there was plenty to see.

Everyone went home clutching between 10 and 20 sample pieces which they could use in their textile projects, mount on cards, add to their City and Guilds work, or turn in to jewellery.  I went home very happy to have met such a lovely crowd of people, and I hope that at least some of them will have gone away with the FP bug and will start to develop their own way of working, enjoying every moment of discovery and exploration.