Occasionally I am told by a friend closer to the capital that living in a village is boring and all anyone does is sit around and learn to knit. Fortunately, I can report that they are only half right.
As I’m sure many of you have spotted, the bollards outside the Methodist Church are sometimes festooned with colourful decorative sleeves themed after upcoming events in the calendar. We, at Barrow Voice, are fascinated by them so I went to fi nd out more. Currently the group responsible includes seven people: Janet Thompson, Kate Morley, Sue Speight, Natalie Thompson, Vivian Whiley, Tilly Yates, and Coral Kelham. It should be noted that the late Joan Thursby also contributed to a number of displays before sadly passing away during lockdown. This lovely collective has been at this since the end of 2020 with their first display being nativity themed and displayed over Christmas. The idea came to life for a mixture of reasons. Partly it was due to everyone being stuck in lockdown and the group wanting to make people smile but it also was a creative way to utilise their new refurbished building and I’d say they succeeded on both fronts.
The bollard displays are mostly centred around important dates in the religious calendar with some extras in between where it’s deemed appropriate. As you might imagine, each display takes weeks, and occasionally months, of preparation. Once a theme is decided, the group selects a particular element for each individual knitter who will then go away and design, or find, a pattern. Then of course, they knit. And knit. And knit. Or crochet. Eventually the whole display comes together, often accompanied by a big centrepiece for the church window display. On top of this, the inside of the church will also be decorated with other kinds of displays representing the same theme seen outside.
Interestingly, I also learned that none of the displays has ever been thrown away; they are still packed away in a cupboard somewhere. I reckon that has to be the comfiest cupboard in the world.
Elliot Wilkes