Guild of Silk Painters Festival of Silk Painting 2005
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The festival went very well and was full of happy silk painters getting to know each other and their work. The people who came from overseas seemed to think that it was all worthwhile and are planning to come again when Essex will be organising the next show, in 2007.


The school gym was full of wonderful silk paintings. There were over 100 pieces on show, excluding cards. There were 20 banners hung round the courtyard and in the centre the flags from the Alban procession fluttered in the breeze, behind some of the costumes. We are grateful to St Albans Abbey for the loan of these. I hope that Essex and subsequent festivals will be able to hang the banners again and that even more groups will take part. It was a stunning display.

All the workshops went well. People were leaving them excited and buzzing with ideas. The lectures and demonstrations were full of flair and interest too. One of the disappointments of the show was the small number of children that entered the children's competition. We need to do more as a Guild to reach out to children.

Children's Competition winners


Claire Crystal (10) - winner of senior competition


Cassie Hazell (9) - winner of junior competition

The piece de resistance however was the fashion show after the dinner. Maybe the spectacles were rose tinted after the champagne, but it was all great fun and we made new friends. None of this could have been achieved without an army of hard working helpers who deserve our deep felt thanks, especially the team who came from Essex and undertook all the structural work for the exhibition on the Friday evening and spent all the Saturday morning hanging all the silk, and they did it beautifully. All the best to them in 2007.
Tessa Barnes - Chairman
Evening Fashion Show

Angela Carruthers, Jackie Whiting, Alison Tyler, Denise Hopper,
Lee Creswell, Isabella Whitworth, Mary Day, Marianne Nash,
Ripple Foster, Linda Graves.


Denise Hopper. / Patricia Black, Kaye Mash.


Mary Day. / Roger Barnes.


Ripple Foster. / Patricia Black.


Lynda Warner, Kaye Mash. / Isabella Whitworth, Marianne Nash,
Linda Graves.


Tessa Barnes, Linda Warner, Kaye Mash, Sue Castle,
Angela Carruthers, Jackie Whiting, Alison Tyler, Denise Hopper.