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Over the past year the Workers’ Educational Association North West Region (WEA) and Lancashire Museums and Libraries have joined together to deliver an exciting project to encourage 120 learners to critically explore their ‘Ties to the Past’.

WEA learners from across Lancashire have taken part in different craft and media courses to produce work for a mobile exhibition touring Lancashire Museums and libraries over the summer.

Learners were encouraged in the exploration of social history whilst using different techniques to present and interpret the content. Each course focused on a different textile technique from knitting and felting, to button making and screen printing.

Each learner produced a square of fabric for a quilt that will be tied together with ribbon to create one piece of group work that forms the groups varied experiences and reflections from the past.

Linking in with Queen St Mill in Burnley and Helmshore Mills Textile Museum classes were done in the mills or visits made for inspiration.

Courses

• Screen printing and Photo Transfer in Lytham
• Hand Knitting at Helmshore Mills Textile Museum
• Hand Felt Making at Helmshore Mills Textile Museum
• Dorset Button Making at Blackburn Womens Centre
• Mixed media printing and collage in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale
• Sound archives and recordings in Colne
• Blackwork Thread Embroidery in Accrington
• Creative Writing in Burnley
• Asian Craft

Aims

• Get students interested in wider learning outside the classroom situation
• Develop cultural studies in traditional / contemporary crafts and stories  developing critical awareness
• Develop a partnership with the Lancashire Museums and Libraries in order to develop sustainable partnerships and projects in the future
• Showcase learners work and promote the partnership to a wider audience and potential learners
• Promote diversity and collaborative working amongst the Lancashire wide groups who would not otherwise be aware of one another.