Tea Party Pleasantries:

When all the quilts came to completion, after being quilted by Penny, and the tops sewn by the girls, the only thing left to do was to go back into the Residential care homes and show the residents what all of their hard work had accumulated into. This came in the form of 3 marvelous tea parties- one held at each home. The girls, with Penny and/or Alice (the Arts and Older People Project coordinator at the Courtyard) went back into the homes to share and rejoice in everyone’s hard work.

Whitchurch's wonderful quilt

The tea parties were a great success! Everyone looks so pleased, their faces beaming, with the final outcomes- a range of beautiful quilts created in an amazing community arts project. Alice mentioned that the tea parties would be a really “special event at each residential home, where friends and family will be invited, to share and celebrate this inspiring project and view all the great quilts that have been created.” And she was certainly right!

Reflecting on her experience, Nicki (pictured) eloquently described her time working in the Red Suitcase Project:

Making friendships and working along side the residents was a precious experience; they had so much to teach and tell, I learnt so much!! Going in as neither a position of authority or an emotionally attached family member provided them with a new kind of relationship and I feel like this dynamic really boosted the ethos. It was great to be able to allow them the time to just talk and enjoy their company. I would like to think that the project added something to the quality of not only their day, but gave them something new to think and do the rest of the week. Now that the quilts have been made, they were thrilled to see how they turned out. It was special to see them reminiscing over the time they spent with us. 

They gave me so much- I've made memories I will definitely treasure and have learnt things to take onto new projects and in my personal life. I am very thankful for this opportunity and would love to do it again!’ Nicki Mead 1^st Year Contemporary Applied Arts Student who visited West Eaton House

Nicki and a happy resident.

Nicki wasn’t the only one thankful for the experience given to her through the project, from the residents and staff at the residential homes. The ladies from Whitchurch house told me how they took a bunch of flowers to the home to thank everyone for their time within the project. I think it just goes to show how much the project enriched and rewarded everybody who was involved.

And to finish, I think a few words from Penny (innovator of the project) would be pretty apt to help us all remember how such a great thing came around:

The Red Suitcase Project was an idea which took hold last summer. Hereford is lucky to be home to both a great arts centre and one of the only independent art colleges in the country, I wanted to find a way for HCA to work with The Courtyard on a visual arts project. My own arts practice is quilting, a craft which I feel is all about creating a memory captured in cloth, a personal history that you can literally wrap yourself in. Quilting has a very strong community history where group of women would come together to work on a piece, while they worked they would share stories. The idea of working with a group of students and older people on a quilt brought these themes of memory and community together perfectly. The interest in the project was so great that we were able to set up not one but three residential homes to work with."

Penny and Kirsten show off the lovely quilt.