A guest speaker will hold talks and workshops about an important piece of embroidery artwork tonight (Friday).

The Isle of Man Embroiderers’ Guild will welcome Bridget Guest, the manager of the Quaker Tapestry Museum in Kendal, for a talk about Quaker art from 7.45pm, and to hold a workshop based around the stitch work found in the Quaker tapestry on Saturday at St Andrew’s Church hall, Douglas, from 10am.

The Quaker tapestry is an important piece of community art work, containing 77 panels, which tell the story of more than 350 years’ worth of Quaker influence on the modern world.

Originally beginning as an educational tool to help tell the stories of the Quakers in a school in the south of England in 1981, the project soon grew to become a worldwide project.

’The tapestry was originally started by a teacher called Ann Nichols, when she was teaching children in a school in Taunton, Somerset,’ said Bridget.

’She soon found that the parents of the children in the local Quaker meetings wanted to help create the panels, which turned it into this fabulous way of bringing people together in a very creative a social way.

’Nine panels were created in Somerset, and soon people from all over the world wanted to get involved.’

After the project was completed in 1996, it was estimated that more than 4,000 people from 15 countries took part in stitching the panels.

’There were only six types of stitches used on the tapestry, which makes it a very effective educational tool,and one that most people can join in with,’ said Bridget.

This includes the Quaker stitch, which was actually invented, by accident, by Ann, when she was trying to create a stitch that was curved.

The workshops are open to anyone with an interest in embroidery, whether experienced practitioners or absolute beginners.

More information is available on the Isle of Man Embroiderers’ Guild website, iomeg.blogspot.com