Community Contributed

Town and Country Quilters

Kete Horowhenua2020-03-23T17:03:07+00:00
Town and Country Quilters is a non- profit making organisation that covers Levin and outlying towns.

Their mission is to encourage quilters in this art form with club meetings and workshops. They also have an extensive library covering all forms of quilting; these books are free to use by club members.

TOWN AND COUNTRY QUILTERS’ HISTORY

As at March 2008

A meeting was called late 1986 to find out the interest of starting a club in Levin and ten ladies were interested. The Club held their first A.G.M. on Thursday 9 April 1987 at Thompson House, Kent Street, Levin, attended by forty ladies, and Pam Retter was voted the first President with seven committee members. A fee of S10 per annum was set which has increased over the years and is now $30. The membership grew and in 1988 the venue was changed to the Freyberg Lounge and by the end of the year we had grown to 130 members, and saw the club move into the Memorial Hall in 1989 for their meetings.

A competition was held to design a Club Logo, which was decided in June 1988. The Logo was designed by Elaine Little. The price of Badges @ $4.00 and Logos were @2.50c
Liz McCourt was the 100th club member and was presented with Badge. The Club Banner based on the Logo was made by Mary Creed, a Foundation member and presented to the club at the AGM in 1991.

Horowhenua College was approached to start beginner patchwork classes and Pam Retter was the first Tutor. The classes started in the first and third terms of 1988.

Workshops were started in June and many quilters from other Clubs were happy to oblige and take classes.

A Photo Album was purchased in August 1987 to record members’ quilts and the following year the club purchased their own camera, and this record has been ongoing since that time.

The first Workday, later changed to Show Day in 1989, was held on 7 November 1987 in the Memorial Hall. In 1990 the decision was made to hold the Show on the second Saturday in August every year. Other clubs and merchants were in attendance. Some of these days have had Guest Speakers, Fashion Parade or Sit and Stitch

The first Newsletter was issued at the February meeting in 1988 and the Editor was Elaine Little

Over the years the format of the meetings have been speakers, worknights, and an occasional slide evening. Bus trips have been organised to the Hamilton Craft Show and Calico Christmas in Auckland, Dannevirke and also to the Scarecrows at Gladstone.

The Club made a quilt for Levin, which, was presented to the Mayor and Mayoress Mr and Mrs Guy in April 1990 asking that it would stay in the town. It was hung in the Library. Community Quilts have been made by club members over the years, and in 2003 a Children’s Theme one was presented to Horowhenua Hospital; and A Sunflower Wall Hanging was presented to the Gardenview Home. We have an on going commitment to make quilts for Ronald McDonald House in Wellington. The Club have also made quilts and raffled them donating the profits to a charitable cause and have had many displays at Thompson House Art Days. A Club Banner was also made which could be hung at both monthly meetings and the Workdays.

October 1988 we received a reply to our letter asking if any of their members were willing to correspond with ours, from Town and Country Quilters, Lima, Ohio.

In October 1989 we received a Friendship Top from our American friends all in red, white and blue as that is the American colours. This was quilted by members of our club, and we have shown it at our annual Show Day since 1991. In return the club made a New Zealand theme wall hanging, which was taken to Ohio when we visited them in 1992. Pam Retter organised a group of club members to visit our sister club in Ohio in 1992 and a party of 24 members and some husbands. We were billeted by their members, before going on to the National Quilt Show in Bowling Green, Ohio.

A recipe book was organised by the club, collated by Elaine Little, for sale to members and friends in March 1989.

Our first Retreat took place 6/7 October 1990 at Tatum Park organised by Jill Tulloch and many have been organised since then.

We celebrated our 10th Birthday at Tatum Park and three Life Memberships were presented by President Janet Carpenter to foundation members Pam Retter (first President), Chris Ronchi and Jenny Broadbelt . We also had a specially designed 10th Anniversary badge which was designed by Cheryl Chambers and Heather Beggs and the Cake was cut by Guest Speaker, Ronnie Rutter who had offered advice and guidance when the club was started A group of Ohio quilters from our sister club were also in attendance at this celebration. Two more Life Memberships have been awarded to Yvonne Symonds, April 2003 by President Leigh Wells and Frances Johns in 2007 by President Sheryl Thompson.

We have had many interesting speakers over the years national and international and we hosted Mary Ellen Hopkins an American Tutor for a lecture/workshop tour in February 2000.


This information was put together by Yvonne Symonds, President, 2008.