Branch Events 2021

NORMALLY: Branch events are open to members only and places must be booked in advance. We are however a friendly group and open to new members joining! Most workshops are held the first Saturday of each month, in Toot Hill Village Hall, near Ongar -postcode CM5 9LR- from 10am-4pm. 

DURING PANDEMIC CONDITIONS: We use a mix of online, distanced outdoor and distanced indoor meetings depending on the laws and advice in force at the time. Therefore plans may change at quite short notice- and we do need to know who is coming to any in-person events so we can manage everyone's safety and hygiene properly. We do however try to vary between general chats, short workshops and more normlal day long events so please do join us.

Please note details on the dates & details below may change during the year; we will try to keep them up to date here but will also try to notify members directly of any sudden short-notice changes!

Please book spaces by emailing Sue O'Hea on  Treasurer@essexsilkpainters.co.uk

Remember, for some of our in-person workshops if you don't fancy the planned activity you can bring your own project to work on. Please check with Sue O'Hea before you do however as for some space is limited, especially with COVID measures in place!

If we still can't meet in person, we do try to organise an online meet-up at 10am on the day we would have had our normal workshop, to chat, share silky and other craft things and keep in touch. These generally last about an hour unless we are doing a workshop. Members will recieve an invitation to the video-meet by email; if you haven't heard from us recently please email membership@essexsilkpainters.co.uk to make sure we have your current contact details!

Meetings planned for 2021: 

Online, already happened

9th January -                         AGM- we reviewed last year and talked about what we might do this year.

6th February -                       A general group catch up. People shared their 2020 panels for our group project.

6th March -                           Julie Winnard taught us to make rag wreaths from scraps of silk, ribbon and wire.

10th April -                            People shared their finished panels for the 2020 banner project and future workshops.

1st May -                                 We shared some different styles of hearts- not all silk- which members have been making

FIRST FACE TO FACE OUTDOOR MEET!

5th June  -                             11am We are planning to meet at Hylands House Park in Chelmsford for a picnic

                                               lunch and possibly some sketching. We will beone larger group or more than 1 smaller

                                              depending on the rules.

FIRST FACE TO FACE MEETING AT TOOT HILL HALL!

3rd July -                              A playday/ making Lavender bags with iron fox aint to ease us back into things!

                                             Plus, PAT testing of eletrical equipment for those that need it. We may use a mix of inside                                               and out depending on the weather (we will try to arrange shade/rain shelter if so!)

FACE TO FACE MEETING AT TOOT HILL HALL -OR- VISIT TO WARE

7th August -                         Rowan has kindly offered a tour of the architectural highlights of Ware, with a stop at her

                                             work premises; history and interesting sketching oportunities. TBC- otherwise, Toot Hill

MEETING AT TOOT HILL HALL

4th September -                    Playday at Toot Hill- finishing projects, perhaps for the Mini Festival this month

FACE TO FACE AT NATIONAL MINI FESTIVAL (Shropshire)

25-26th Sept -                      Half and all day Workshops with hopefully a meal and AGM too. Some members will be

                                             going assuming this happens, so there may be liftshare options.

FACE TO FACE MEETING AT TOOT HILL HALL

23rd October -                 NOTE DATE!! Jenny O'Leary workshop- probably batik dyeing, possibly on paper

6th November -                     Playday to finish projects

4th December -                     Xmas short fun workshop and festive lunch

HIGHLGHTS FROM 2020

4th Feb-                                 We did a "100" themed group scarf painting to commemorate the anniversary of GoSP

2nd May -                              We were planning to visit the Kimono exhibition at the V&A instead of a workshop.

                                              Although we couldn't go we did a video meet and there is an online tour of it here. 

June-November -                   We managed to have zoom calls most months to keep in touch with each other

September -                             A few of us met in Hylands Park, Chelmsford for a picnic lunch, plus some sow and tell.

                                               We took some lovely photos in the Jubilee Garden.

October -                                Two groups of 6 visited Valentones Mansion in Ilford, where in addition to the historic

                                               house we saw Jason Rose's lovely exhibition of nature-inspired art.

November -                            We issued an old-style newsletter with some projects such as the Medecine Spoons

                                               memorial (sewing) and making panels for a group 2020 banner (a tricky creative

                                               challenge, as well as an Xmas card outline. Some members said it really helped them get

                                               back into little bits of silk painting!

5th December - ​                      We met online for a festive coffee, wore festive hats/headgear and did a very silly quiz!

Please see the Gallery and the Past Events page for some photo highlights of previous years.