Littleport Textiles Project

Interim Report

ADeC commissioned professional local artist Zoë Chamberlain to design, create and install a temporary outdoor exhibition which would relate to the textiles and garment manufacturing heritage that Littleport has. With the help of Projects Coordinator Claire Townsend, Zoë’s brief was to involve the community as fully as possible; particularly Littleport residents who have textile skills, but have only used them in a commercial or industrial setting. By involving skilled individuals and people with no previous experience it was hoped that they would realise the creative potential of their skills and knowledge. The aim of the outdoor exhibition was to form a substantial attraction which people from Littleport and surrounding areas would wish to visit. This would be achieved by enhancing a positive profile of Littleport and the activities which take place there.

Zoë and Claire engaged the support of local garment manufacturers (Ede & Ravenscroft & Luke Eyres) who currently produce academic gowns, scarves, cricket jumpers, formal collars and other academic wear for both national and international clients. As factories which operate in Littleport and therefore employ local residents they were seen as integral to the project as a whole. Indeed by the time the installation was erected on 19th March, the factory workers had produced over 150m of bunting made from college scarves, had customised white shirts for the indoor exhibition and one of their outworkers had prepared all one hundred striped shirts ready for them to be hung.

The project engaged many local businesses in the creation of the outdoor exhibition. The striped shirts were sourced and supplied by Clarke’s Menswear at cost price, banners were embroidered at Sigma Embroidery and the banner arms were fabricated at Adam’s Forge; all three of these businesses are based on Main Street Littleport, where the exhibition was finally installed. Other businesses, self-employed individuals and organisations were also involved through their help and expertise, these include: Littleport Christmas Lights Committee, Littleport Society, Littleport Library, Henry Mann Book Makers, David a local farmer, and Littleport Parish Council.

There were two community workshops held in Littleport as part of the project. The first was a specialised session which took place on Sunday 20th February and involved five Littleport residents who were skilled in the use of textiles, predominantly through dress-making. Zoë designed a creative activity which would use their skills in an artistic rather than functional way. They each created at least one textile ‘landscape’ by manipulating a square foot of calico, so it resembled an aerial photograph of fenland landscape. The participants were surprised at the affects they could create by using skills not previously used in this creative way. Their work is on display as part of the indoor textiles exhibition in the Littleport Library.

The second workshop took place on Saturday 5th March as was aimed at family groups of all ages and abilities. Several activities were set-up including: making wearable clothes out of newspaper, designing a Littleport scarf, French (or tubular) knitting and dressing paper dolls. Thirty-five people attended the 3 hour workshop, most of whom stayed for the entire session and took part in at least three of the activities. Several children were able to try their hand at using a sewing machine for the first time and parents were impressed by the array of activities and the background of the project, as each activity tied in with a specific aspect of Zoë’s research on the project.

In addition to the workshop activities people were invited to take home a plain white shirt, and customise it in whatever way they chose, whilst sticking to white. Shirts in general play an important part in the project as they were one of the principle exports of the Hope Shirt Factory which formed the main, non-agricultural, employer in Littleport in the early part of the last century. The factory was bought out by Burberry in the mid 1900’s and they continued to manufacture garments until the mid 1990’s. Many of the previous workers still live in Littleport and Zoë and Claire were able to talk to them about their memories and thoughts on the project at the Littleport Over- Sixties Club and the lace making group. These discussions helped form the basis for the exhibition and the group members were pleased to be able to express their ideas and memories and be consulted on the project at an early stage.

The outdoor exhibition was installed on 19th March and remained in place until 1st April. Initial responses to the work were that of surprise; particularly that that a large scale artwork of local significance would be installed in Littleport. Comments and views on the work have been resoundingly positive; although some have been a little unsure of what to make of it, many have been impressed and pleased that positive activities are taking place locally. The indoor exhibition opened on 23rd March at Littleport library and was on display until the end of April 2005. Both exhibitions attracted lots of media attention, an outline of which is on the table below (table 2.)

*Based on 2/3 of population aged 15+ going to Main Street during the two week period the exhibition is up. (2001 census states 6073 individuals living in Littleport over the age of 15+)

Table 2. Media Coverage as at 30/03/05

Initial outcomes of the textiles project/exhibition:

• Formed links with many individuals and businesses as outlined above
• Created a substantial outdoor exhibition and accessible indoor exhibition which generated lots of positive local and media interest
• Engaged over 60 local people in participatory creative textiles activities
• Inspired the creation of a sewing display created by the librarian at Littleport Library for an internal competition
• Supported a Littleport charity by donating all useable shirts from the exhibition to Branching Out, for sale, thus allowing people to own a piece of ‘art’ and give money to a local charity
• Have high quality bunting available for use locally
• Inspired the formation of a new knitting group to be based at Littleport Library
• Littleport Textiles Project books created by Zoë have been purchased by the library archive service (for Littleport, Ely & Central libraries) and the Littleport Society

The legacy of the project is still being determined and would benefit from a further project; with the principle aim of creating a steering group who could develop future textiles related exhibitions and events. Several strong connections have been made with Littleport residents and businesses who have expressed a wish to be involved in future events. Through-out the above project local people were consulted and engaged in the project on a verbal and participatory level; allowing them to give their input and actively help create the final artwork. However, as yet their involvement has been participatory rather than managerial, because they had a laid back approach to their involvement and a hesitancy to take on more commitments. The project involved more time engaging the local people than expected; therefore it would be necessary to build on the residents’ enthusiasm and enhance their self-esteem so that they felt ready to lead a project in the future. On a second project the aim would be to lessen the Projects Coordinator’s practical involvement and engender the active leadership of a local group.

Interim Report Compiled by Claire Townsend on 30/03/05