Education - College of Art and Design

The logo of Leeds College of Art & Design is taken from a section of the large rectangular double figured mosaic built into the wall above the front entrance of the College in Vernon Street. The colourful mosaic was designed by Professor Gerald Moira (1867-1959) of the RCA specifically for the new art college building. It was made by Rust & Co in their then new vitreous enamel and represents the muses 'Art' and Design' (only Art is represented on the panel). Does anyone know where Rust & Co were based?

The building itself was designed by architects Francis Bedford and Sydney Kitson and was opened in 1903.

It took Jan Webster fifty-six hours to complete this piece using French knots.

Leeds in Bloom - Elizabeth Bidgood's Garden

Sometimes the link between embroiderer and subject is even closer (see yesterday's post). Elizabeth Bidgood stitched her garden for the Leeds in Bloom panel. She regularly opens it to the public to raise money for charities and sponsored hers and Temple Newsam's on the Tapestry.

I met her, in her role as Chairman of the Leeds Horticultural Society, at the Flower Show yesterday and she said that the garden is much altered now from the depiction on the panel.

Many techniques were used in stitching this piece including cross stitch, hand stitching and, I suspect, a few french knots.

Leeds in Bloom - Brethericks

Kathleen Bretherick was Kate's local florist. She not only sponsored this piece on the panel but encouraged the Harewood Ladies to join in. Word of mouth was usually the most successful way to get people involved. It seems the business has now closed, so I quote below from the old website.

We are one of the longest established flower shops in Leeds, UK and celebrated 60 years in business in 2006. The business was started by Kath and Ron Bretherick and is now run by their daughter Sandra Moss and granddaughter Carla Moss. Sandra Moss is a Chief Examiner for Society of Floristry, which is the awarding body for the Floristry examinations at the highest level. She has taught floristry and still teaches flower arranging to individuals and groups. Bretherick's has been a member of Interflora since 1960 and has exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show, London. We have decorated many venues for dinners where Royalty and High profile personalities have been present.

The piece was cross stitched by Kath and the staff at the shop.

We don't seem to have a detailed photograph of the tulips, and no note of who made them.

Sunflower by Margaret Foxcroft. She moved away from Leeds and sent a parcel of needleweaving treasures from time to time.

Sunflower by Gill Cook, cut fabric with french knots.

Ivy leaves machine stitched by Freda Copley.

Needleweaving ivy leaves by Shirley Shaw.

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.

Community Spirit - May Pole Dancers

Warning, this morning's blog contains very few facts.

Up in the top left corner of the panel is a group of maypole dancers with a huge crowd of parents looking on. I don't know anything about the photograph taken at this event. Was it posed for the Tapestry or from someone's album? Do children still perform this dance in schools?

Just been looking at Wikki and it's suggested there that English Maypole dancing isn't as old as I thought. It was brought to the London stage from Italy in the eighteenth century, became popular in the south of England and then spread when a teacher training college put it into the curriculum.

Presumably the Barwick-in-Elmet Maypole is one of the more traditional type, centuries old.

To the left is one of the Traveller's children on horseback. This is from one of a series of photographs taken at Lee Fair, West Ardsley.

Known - this piece was hand stitched, including french knots, by Pauline Clayden who completed it in 15 1/2 hours on printed fabric.

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.

Faith in the City - St Paul's, Ireland Wood

St. Paul's is a relatively modern and distinctive church building. Built in 1965 it is eight-sided with a crowning cupula containing the bell and was designed by Geoffrey Davy of Kitson, Parish, Legard & Pyman. It stands just below the highest point of the City of Leeds.

Mary Mawson (7 March 1917-March 2004)
Mary worked on every panel except the last which was put together during the last 2 years of her life. She joined us in 1993 and almost immediately became a great enthusiast. She felt her ambition to go to Art School was met to a great extent by participating in the workshops, master classes and skill-sharing sessions which were part of the process of making the tapestry.
Always full of courage, creativity and initiative she was never phased by the challenge of a difficult piece of work. She was also tireless in spreading the word about the Tapestry and persuaded her former employer, Peacocks, to sponsor the Textile and Industrial Heritage panel. She also raised funds for Ireland Wood and Adel churches to appear on the Faith panel.
She was a very familiar face at the group sessions where we stitched the embroidered sections onto the backcloth - travelling first to the workshops at Kate's house, then to Armley Mills and finally to Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane where the majority of the Panels were completed. Mary hand stitched this piece using long and short stitch with french knots.

Textile and Industrial Heritage - Murray's Engine

OK, this is where I get very confused and hope that someone like Kris will help out.

This is a model of the prototype engine built by Mathew Murray in 1812. It seems to have the cogged wheel missing, so presumably is the forerunner of the Rack and Pinion loco described a couple of days ago?

The model is kept at Armley Mills, where for several years the Tapestry panels in progress were worked on by the volunteers. The Burling and Mending room was set aside for the work and there were many workshops with leading embroiderers of the time.

The embroidery was hand stitched, including french knots, by Jan Brown in 40 hours