Arts for All - Old Museum

The original museum in Leeds was in Park Row, designed by Robert Dennis Chantrell in 1821. During World War Two it suffered extensive damage during an air raid. The building was repaired and continued to house the museum until 1965, when it was moved to the Central Library.

From 1999 until 2008 Leeds has been without its museum, but now many of the old favourites are back on show. The museum service also includes The Discovery Centre, near the Royal Armouries, where the majority of the Leeds collections not on display can be accessed by appointment.

Renditions in embroidery of both the new and old museum were done by Godfrey Harland, the one above on printed fabric (73 hours)

Arts for All - Millennium Square

Continuing with the theme of Cuthbert Brodrick, this embroidery of ice-skating in Millennium Square, by Godfrey Harland, has as its background the Mechanics Institute in its phase as Civic Theatre. The lecture room was re-modelled for this purpose in 1949.

Pevsner's Guide mentions a quote from "The Builder" at the time when the Institute was built

'The internal arrangements... appear, except in some slight particulars, all that could be desired,' while its external appearance was of 'a grand and well-designed structure' except for the upper part of the building which, 'after its inevitable blackening by smoke, would be like a huge leaden coffin and excessively ugly'.

Recently the building has undergone another change of use and is now the long awaited City Museum, opened on 13 September 2008.

The pink building to the left is called Off-Kilter and houses the equipment to regulate the sound and lighting in Millennium Square, it was created by Richard Wilson in 2000.

Community Spirit - Carnival Queen

Another of the pieces from Carnival, this time one of the Queens. Lets hope the weather stays dry for the next two days for this, the 43rd Carnival. See the blog entry for Arthur France for more details of the history of the event.

Hand stitched on printed fabric by Godfrey Harland (17 hours)

Community Spirit - Carnival Boy

Bank holiday weekend and it's Chapeltown Carnival time. It's a three day event with a procession starting in Potternewton Park on Monday. Not sure which year this boy is from, so if anyone could identify him I would be grateful.

The piece was hand stitched on printed fabric by Godfrey Harland (68 hours).

Arts for All - Grand Theatre Ceiling

Yesterday was the monthly coffee morning for those volunteers at the Tapestry who still keep in touch. If anyone is reading this who wants to join the meetings just pop down to the Tiled Hall at the Art Gallery/Library on the last Friday of each month at 11 am. The function starts with a drink and often extends to lunch as well.

The tiled hall was a hidden gem of the city while the Tapestry was being designed and stitched but would definitely have been chosen in 2010. The ceiling is magnificent, but photographs taken yesterday were too poor to post here.

Another ceiling worthy of mention is in the auditorium of the Grand Theatre which has recently had a major makeover. This was included on the Arts panel, hand stitched by Godfrey Harland.

The Grand Theatre has its own book, "Grand Memories" by Patricia Lennon and David Joy, published in 2006 which gives a lot of information about the history, performances, performers there and some beautiful photographs.

The first performance at the theatre was Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" on November 18th, 1878. In 1969 there was a plan to destroy the building and replace it with a 22 storey office block - fortunately the planning application was turned down, mainly because of its Grade II listing. Now, back to its former glory it's open for business again with the additional venue of the Assembly Rooms for smaller concerts and performances.

Textile and Industrial Heritage - James Hare

Having written about Alfred Brown's company (established in 1915) I've now started looking to see if any other companies on the Tapestry have survived with the original families running them. James Hare's is one such, and the family were very generous in providing silk fabric for use on the Tapestry.
James Hare started his apprenticeship in a woollen mill in the mid c19. He then became a woollen and worsted merchant first in a cottage in Clare Street (1865), and then he took a warehouse on Wellington Street. In 1913 the firm began to manufacture cloth at Arlington Mills and then acquired a warehouse on Queen Street and built Coronet House.

In 1973 “Hare of England” were sold to Illingworth Morris of Bradford and the fourth generation of the family have continued in business as “James Hare Silks” one of the largest distributors of silk fabrics.
I'm hoping someone from the company can add information about the change of logo.

Valerie Horner made the logo in goldwork, taking 45 hours in the task. Elizabeth Thackrah assembled the book cover with hand dyed fabrics and with notions supplied by Brian Peace, Margaret Clark and Maureen Carr.
Godfrey Harland hand stitched the building on printed fabric in 29 hours.


PS reply from James Hare that this has always been their logo

Leeds in Bloom - Oakwood Clock

Designed by Leeming and Leeming and made in 1904 by Potts and Sons of Guildford Street Leeds. The clock was originally the centrepiece of Leeds New Market Hall (1904) but alterations to the building made it obsolete and the decision was made to move it to Oakwood in 1912.

Originally a gravity hand-wound striking clock the mechanism was removed in 1941 (re-used in Leck Church, Lancashire) and a self-starting synchronous movement was fitted, the bell was broken up and used for scrap.

Potts and Sons made many clocks for Leeds including those in Thornton's Arcade (with figures by JW Appleyard), The Griffin Hotel and the clock on the Stable Block in Roundhay Park. Going off the point a bit, there seems to be some confusion in the books about Leeds as to who built the clock in the Grand Arcade - were Robert James and Joseph Potts of Leeds part of the same family and company? For readers wanting more information on Potts there is a flicker group of photographs of the clocks and a book on the history of the firm.

The company joined the Smith of Derby Group in 1933, but possibly still have a base in Leeds? Not any longer - see notes from Michael Potts below.

The canvas was chartered by Ann Wheatley and the piece was started by Maureen Carr and finished by Godfrey Harland (Godfrey spent 199 hours working on it).

Additional notes supplied by Michael S Potts, direct descendant of Robert and William and collector and researcher of clocks made by the Potts Family:

1. The firm's name was Wm. Potts & Sons in 1904 and apart from the addition of "Limited" a few years later it has remained the same to the present day. Robert, James and Joseph were William's sons who joined the firm. In the end five consecutive generations of the family were involved in clockmaking.
2. the Oakwood clock movement is now at Leck Church.
3. The firm installed over a hundred public clocks in Leeds between 1858 and 1934, not all of which have survived, but many have. Thornton's, Queen's, Grand, and Market Arcades all had clocks. Other significant buildings in the city centre that can be seen today are The Corn Exchange (1862), Griffin Hotel (1877), General Post Office (1895), Leeds Parish Church (1898), Holy Trinity Church(1902).
4. The firm joined Smith of Derby in 1934. They no longer have a base in Leeds.

Thank you Michael

Local Faces - Phyllis Pask MBE

Not all of the people on the local faces panel were well known celebrities. Mrs Phyllis Pask was awarded an MBE in 1989 for services to the community in Leeds.

Not only did she raise at least £93,000 to sponsor 100 guide dogs but she also volunteered at several hospitals as a member of the WRVS.

The vast majority of the volunteers tried to avoid embroidering people. Representing faces in stitch does require a great deal of patience, practice and talent. This problem was overcome by getting the images printed onto fabric, at first by professional firms and latterly, with much trial and error by our own domestic printers. Since the Tapestry was completed several firms have brought out fabric treated with chemicals to be used with inkjet printers, these could have made life a lot easier.

This embroidery was stitched on professionally printed fabric by Julia Cooper and Godfrey Harland.