Volunteers rock

Volunteers are at the heart of the SWI Heritage Project. Their dedication helped secure National Heritage Lottery funding and continues to shape how we preserve and celebrate our legacy.

SWI members Margaret Dick and Elizabeth Hay have worked tirelessly at The Ballast Trust over the past few months, learning new archiving skills and helping record our central collection with care and precision. Their passion, especially for embroidery and craft, brings vital knowledge to our records. An eye for detail and commitment to the accuracy of our collection is essential to its future. 

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Object: Linen tray cloth
Craft: Embroidery
Condition: Excellent

Margaret says: “I was drawn to the linen tray cloth because I like working on linen myself. I’ve used lots of these stitches, like this hem stitch myself, but there’s an enormous amount of it. The quantity and the time it would take to sit and work this tray cloth is what I find quite fascinating. The stitches are so even… it’s fantastic work. It says something about the SWI in past times where that kind of standard was the norm. It has survived in excellent condition, too.”