On the Move - The Butty

By the time the full scale cartoon of the panel was put together there were several small sections of embroidery which didn't quite fit in with the overall look. Most of them fitted well with the Textile & Industrial Heritage but the butty above is still waiting for a serendipity panel.

A butty is a second boat pulled by the narrow boat, it has no engine but does need to be manned, to operate the rudder. Apparently they were introduced as late as the twentieth century when engines replaced horses as the source of power.

This particular butty, Ash, is possibly the one towed by Oak and operated as a hotel by Reed Boats.

Pauline Clayden hand stitched the piece on printed fabric.

Arts for All - Leeds Pianoforte Competition

This piece, also by Beverley Silverman, represents the International Pianoforte Competition on the Arts for All panel. The Competition is held every three years with the next in 2012.

The technique used is painting on silk and then stitching by hand. Beverley was one of the small band who worked on the Health Panel with Paddy Killer, learned something of her skills and developed her own style in the embroidery above.

Community Spirit - Morris Dancers

Are these the Ladies of Briggate Morris Dancers? Hopefully someone may be able to identify the individuals.


The girl's dancing were hand stitched by Val Gomersal (28 hours) and those waiting for the show to begin were hand and machine stitched by Betty Bertrand (30 hours). The original photograph had dustbins rather than bushes in the foreground; photoshop and french knots and voila not a bin in site.

The Legal Sector - Leeds Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms is made up of a collage of different techniques by several people, just like the composition itself is an amalgam of other coats of arms.

I've lifted this description straight from the old Leodis site

In 1626 a Royal Charter of Charles I incorporated the Borough of Leeds when the wealthy Sir John Savile, MP for Yorkshire, was elected the first council member of the Borough. The coat-of-arms displayed a fleece, supported by silver owls on a blue field. The fleece represented the staple trade of the town whilst the supporters came from the arms of Sir John. Sir John had recently become a landowner in Leeds and he gave some land in Headingley for building a church, which became the first St.Michael's in Headingley.

Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1662 the chief inhabitants of the town petitioned Charles II for a new charter. The charter was granted on the 2nd November that year. With this charter the chief citizen became the mayor of the town. The first mayor of the town was Thomas Danby whose arms included three mullets argent, or three silver five-pointed stars to you and me. The stars were added to the arms.

The arms were not settled until 1836 when the Leeds Corporation was reconstituted under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and the Borough Seal now comprised the full complement of blue shield, owl supporters, the crest and the motto, 'pro rege et lege' An important citizen of Leeds in 1920 was Alderman Sir Charles Wilson MP, a Freeman of Leeds and London. He was concerned about the legality of the coat-of-arms as it was not registered at the College of Heralds. It was decided to submit the matter to the College. His Majesty's Officers at Arms altered the colour of the owls to 'proper', that being the proper colour of owls.

The arms received the sanction of the College on the 7th November 1921. Above the shield is the closed helmet used by Civic Authorities with a crest-wreath and covering in the principal colours of the arms, gold and blue.

The full coat is now described in heraldic terminology as: Shield: azure, a fleece or, on a chief sable three mullets argent; Crest: on a wreath or and azure, an owl proper; Supporters: an owl proper ducally crowned; Motto: 'Pro rege et Lege'.

The three owls were embroidered by Audrey Gabbitas in a variety of techniques. The wings are canvaswork, the bodies hand embroidered and padded, the feet made of wire and wrapped with perle thread and the crowns are gold leather. The lamb and stars by Colleen Nicoll and the helmet and plume by Anne Darch were all appliqued. Kate Russell and Sue Hodgson hand embroidered the ribbon.

Spectacular.

There's a very interesting article here about the owls of Leeds, apparently they are European Eagle Owls

Local Faces - John Harrison (1693-1776)

During the run up to the Millennium there was a lot of press coverage devoted to the great and the good of Yorkshire. Two men named John Harrison frequently cropped up in these articles.

Both lived over 300 years ago so images of them are scarce and somehow the John Harrison born in Foulby, near Wakefield, has managed to settle himself at a table with the Leeds worthies on the Local Faces panel.

The clue is in his hand. It was only a matter of time before we could link him to Leeds.

The piece was hand stitched by Betty Bertrand

LS2000 - Asda Headquarters

Founded in 1949 as Associate Dairies and Farm Stores Limited, the present name is derived from their amalgamation with Asquith Supermarkets in 1965 (Asquith and Dairies).

There seem to have been many changes in the structure of the organisation since then - the dairy division was sold and is now known as Associated Fresh Foods - at the present time though it is owned by Corinth Services Limited, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart.

I quote from the Pevsner Guide to Leeds

"E of the bridge is a path along the river's s bank lined by the tedious, long low three-storey brick range of the Asda Headquarters, 1988 by John Brunton Partnership; one of the first commercial developments in this run-down area. Quasi-traditional, with an unnerving variety of window forms including canted oriels rising to gablets and a clerestory under deep eaves."

I don't think the author is over-impressed but Barbara Hebden did a fabulous job on the embroidery - hand stitched on printed fabric, including french knots.

Local Faces - Willis Hall (1929-2005)

I think there will have to be two postings today. Something happened in Hunslet in the 1930s, the friendship of three families, the Halls, the O'Tooles and the Waterhouses.

Willis Hall was a prodigious writer with works including 'The Long and the Short and the Tall' and the Vampire series of children's books. He started writing professionally at the age of 12 when he would attend weddings and funerals for the now defunct Leeds Guardian, noting down the guests and mourners.

Both he and Keith Waterhouse had successful separate writing careers but when Billy Liar, the book, was published Willis contacted his friend, suggesting it would make a fine play. This was the beginning of a prodigious collaborative play writing phase in both of their lives.

The piece was hand stitched on printed fabric by Val Gomersall (6.5 hours) and was sponsored by the Yorkshire Post.

Local Faces - The Thoresby Society

The Thoresby Society is the historical society for Leeds and was founded in 1889. They are based in Clarendon Road and have a huge list of publications on the history of Leeds.

The piece is hand stitched on printed fabric by Eileen Wilson and took 30 hours to complete.

Local Faces - Dean Walter Farquhar Hook

One of the four statues found in City Square but this one is off his pedestal and proclaiming from a first floor balcony.

Dean Hook (1798-1875) was responsible for building the present Parish Church and there is a memorial to him in there. He seems to have been a bit of a controversial figure, building churches, from a council levy, in a mainly non-conformist town and encouraging the education of children when laws to limit the number of hours they worked hadn't even been introduced.
In 1859 he moved to Chichester where he became Dean and was buried there in the Cathedral. Seventy-seven years in two paragraphs - I suspect I'm not doing him justice. Leodis has a more comprehensive article on the man

His statue in City Square was sponsored by Colonel T. Walter Harding and designed by F W Pomeroy.

The hand stitched embroidery was done by Barbara Gray.

Textile and Industrial Heritage - Mathew Murray

And here's the man himself. Mathew Murray, born in Scotland in 1765.
A potted biography can be found on the Holbeck village website.

Wondering if there was a statue of Mr Murray in Leeds I found this site where Bob Speel has listed all the Victorian sculpture in the City. He includes a good deal of information on the statues in City Square. Judging by the dates of these, the worthies of Leeds were commemorating the turn of the eighteenth to nineteenth century in the Square. The equivalent of Millennium Square (formerly Mandela Gardens)?

Post Script
City Square was constructed to celebrate Leeds becoming a City.
Mandela Gardens still exists in the new Millennium Square arrangement - its the southern part with the Kenneth Armitage bronze 'Both Hands'.
Both City Square and Millennium Square were re-created by the Civic Architect John Thorp.

The embroidery was hand stitched on printed fabric by Janet Carding and took 18 hours to complete.