Mary Mawson also stitched the image of Peacock's building. She asked the Peacock family if they would sponsor the pieces on the Textile panel and they were happy to do so.
When we had workshops or 'get togethers' at the Tapestry (first at Kate's home, then Armley Mills and latterly at Holy Trinity) the stitchers would happily talk about their jobs in the textile industry before the 1980s. Mary recalled that the Peacock family treated their employees very fairly. Before the advent of state pensions one man was kept on, well passed retirement, to open the back door. She said that it wasn't really a job, but it gave that person not only a small income but also a purpose.
It's a real pity that we don't have recordings of some of the reminiscences shared while we sat and stitched. I think possibly that there are some videos taken by Antonia Lovelace, Curator of World Culture at Leeds Museums Service, but they were only shot during stitching together the last panel, Arts for All.
The piece was produced using the counted threadwork technique of blackwork and was charted by Hazel Rand.
