This Is Guernsey

By Nigel Baudains

Amherst Primary School pupils examine a tapestry panel explaining the events of 1943. Behind them are WI members Betty Watson and Pat Mew, who co-ordinated the work. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0575811)

A TAPESTRY made in Guernsey will help raise funds for a charity that assists children in war-torn countries.

Made by members of the Women’s Institute, the 8ft by 5ft panel will be one of 100 displayed in London, each depicting major historical events from a year in the last century. The Guernsey tapestry tells the story of the island during the Occupation year of 1943.

Co-ordinators Betty Watson and Pat Mew learned of the initiative through a WI national newsletter. ‘There is a website on which you can choose the years that are still available and we picked 1943 because it was very specific to Guernsey,’ said Mrs Watson.

The idea for making the panel came in December 2006 and was followed by a few weeks of research.

‘We started stitching about April and the design aspect was ongoing,’ said Mrs Watson.

A team of 17 volunteers worked on the panel, which took 15 months to complete. Their names are embroidered on it.

Most of the team are members of the Castel WI but there were some from other groups.

The venue for the display has yet to be confirmed.

Embroidery of the Century is the brainchild of Lavinia Earl, from Dorset, and money raised will go to the War Child charity.

Mrs Mew’s daughter, Sarah Collenette, is a teacher at Amherst Primary School and the tapestry was shown to Year 5 pupils.

Teacher Val Kilpatrick said the children studied the Second World War as a history topic and it was nice to see some living history in the school.

Pupils, including Lewis Kirk-Hamon, 10, appreciated the work.

‘It’s clever how it’s been put out,’ he said. ‘My Dad’s got a German book about the war and I think I’ve learned a fair bit from that.’

Jordan Mauger, 9, said the tapestry looked hard to make but he thought it had been done well.

‘I don’t know much about the Occupation but we are doing about it in class,’ he said.