Valley School Visit – 19th Feb

Outreach is an important part of what we do as a guild, it’s why we turn up to local events and demonstrate spinning and weaving to people who may never have seen it done before.

In a new venture for our guild, six members spent a morning at the Valley School in Stevenage with Years 10 and 11, leading two 90 min sessions giving the students a ‘hands on’ experience of the heritage crafts of spinning, peg loom weaving and both wet and needle felting.

Together we explored the sheep to wool to yarn journey, allowing opportunities to handle a range of washed fleece samples, to see a sheep shearing video clip and to match different sheep breeds on a poster to the different natural colours of the fleece samples.

The students then progressed to preparing their piece of fleece for spinning, using hand and drum carders and even the spikes on a teasel! They had a go at adding the ‘twist’ to their fleece by hand, then went on to experience spinning on wheels, which was fascinating! They ended up with their own sample of spun yarn. The session rounded up with time to choose their own craft activity which included weaving a colourful circular flower.

The whole morning was received well and the students were interested and totally focused. We all thoroughly enjoyed the two sessions and found the whole experience rewarding. We have been asked to return for a follow-up session in the Summer Term.