This Half Term, Honiton’s mayor Caroline Kolek is calling for the community to join together to knit, crochet or create pieces of woolwork to yarn bomb the THG garden. Ms Kolek commented,

“We are asking the community to come to the Thelma Hulbert Gallery anytime between 11am and 3pm on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 February to make piece of woolwork. Anyone can take part and all ages are invited.

I saw a yarn-bombed Memory Tree in Stratford-Upon-Avon last year and really wanted to bring the idea to Honiton. With the help of both the Thelma Hulbert Gallery and the Dementia Friendly Steering Group this is going to happen and I'm really delighted.

 The concept is two-fold - with every piece of knitting or crochet either representing a personal memory or the memory of a loved one. This is a community project and will include work from a variety of groups as well as individuals. One of the things I wanted to see during this year as Mayor of Honiton was our town gaining Dementia Friendly status, having represented the Town Council on the Dementia Steering Group; this was achieved last Autumn. Projects like these are important to support all our community members.”

Angela Blackwell (THG Curator/Manager) commented “THG is proud to be running this project in partnership with the Memory Café and Dementia Awareness Alliance. You don’t need to know have any experience, we will have knitting and crocheting expertise and materials and tools all on hand. We encourage anyone to come who is interested in creating a piece of woolwork that somehow holds a memory of their loved ones, for future exhibition in our outdoor space, which is transitioning into a community garden.”

Heather Penwarden of the Dementia Action Alliance said, “This is a wonderful project to highlight the work of the Dementia Action Alliance and help raise awareness of what it is like for people living with dementia in our town. Friends of the Memory Café will be coming along to get involved on the day too.”

The results of the yarn-bombing project will be unveiled on Thursday 5 May at THG.