How a chance meeting at Snowshill Manor led to a journal article, is a story that begins earlier this year. During a week away in the Cotswolds, my husband and I discovered Snowshill Manor – a small and extraordinary National Trust property in Gloucestershire. Once owned by English kings and queens, it was later purchased by the eccentric collector Charles Wade. He spent his life filling it with the things he loved most. Little did I know that a chance conversation there would lead to my work – Matchbox Challenge and Summer ’76 – appearing in the Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society.
Among the rooms that stopped me in my tracks were those dedicated to Wade’s textile collection. Frame looms, spinning tools, warping equipment – all capturing a long and rich tradition of weaving. It was here, in one of those upstairs rooms, that I fell into conversation with one of the volunteers. As it turned out, she was the Chair of the Shropshire Family History Society and a fellow textile lover.
We chatted about sewing, dressmaking and our love of cloth. Before long, I found myself sharing photographs of my embroidery work on my phone.
We said our goodbyes and I thought nothing more of it. Then, a few weeks later, an email arrived. It was my new textile friend asking for permission for my work to appear in an article for the Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society – exploring the different and sometimes unexpected ways to record and share family history. In this case, through needlework – and of course I said yes.
The Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society
The article has now been published and I couldn’t be more pleased. It is a wonderful reminder that the best connections often happen when you least expect them – in a quiet room, surrounded by old looms, on an ordinary afternoon in the Cotswolds.
Thank you to my new textile friend at the National Trust, and for the most unexpected and lovely article.