Congratulations to Tricia Basham who is a joint winner in this year’s Heritage Crafts/Marsh Volunteer of the Year award!
This award marks Tricia’s outstanding contribution to the Knitting & Crochet Guild, particularly in the period from 2013 to 2019 when she dedicated herself full-time to running the Guild almost single-handedly.
Modestly she did not wish to be the Chair, although she held the position in all but name. Hers was a hands-on approach, which meant that Tricia tackled all roles within the Board and filled in wherever necessary. This was all done quietly and with good humour. The fact that nobody was prepared to take on the role of Chair during this period demonstrates the commitment that this involved.
Tricia was instrumental in setting up the (then) new website in 2015, which gave us a more dynamic presence. She found time to set up new branches of the Guild to ensure that the crafts were passed on. These were the London Central branch, the Kingston branch and latterly the Leeds Central branch, when Tricia moved Up North.
By her continued presence in many areas, Tricia has allowed the Guild to endure and mature into what it is today. She has left us with a sound foundation.
Besides her enormous administrative contribution, Tricia continues to support the Guild, but in a different way, by heading the Collection Team, which is responsible for the care and maintenance of our wonderful archive of crafted garments, artefacts and patterns in Britannia Mill. This takes up three full days of her week. If there are Open Days or other special events, Tricia spends even more time on Guild work.
Special projects Tricia has been involved with include:
- The Knitter’s Journey, a heritage project in 2018 celebrating the Guild’s 40th anniversary in which a number of designers produced patterns based on our Gladys Jeskins sampler, a piece made up of 951 different patterns and techniques. These were published to members in a free e-book. Tricia investigated the 951 patterns to choose those which appeared within the project.
- 100 Objects from the Collection, an online display of one object per day which was funded with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The chosen objects represented the wide range within the Guild’s Collection. Each item was painstakingly prepared and styled for our photographer with interesting information to accompany the posts.
Normal duties mean that Tricia oversees the careful choice of items to be added to our Collection and has been instrumental in setting up the online catalogue of our fabulous range of items from the 1920s to date. Checking items and updating our inventory is a never-ending process.
Not all of the tasks are glamorous; Tricia and the team undertake the more mundane tasks as well such as sewing accession tapes into new acquisitions, conservation type washing and mending, preparing items for trunk shows, sorting patterns, investigating member queries and responding, sorting the books and updating the library spreadsheets, checking for moth and general housekeeping.
Tricia has been a member since 2005 and we are enormously grateful for all that she has done and continues to do for the Guild. This award is very much deserved and it’s wonderful to see her dedication recognised.
The Heritage Crafts/Marsh Volunteer of the Year award was split three ways. The other recipients are Jane Kerr, who has been the secretary of the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association since it was founded in 1990, and Chris Rowley who founded the Hand Engravers Association of Great Britain and has served as the driving force of the Association ever since.
You can read more about all of the Heritage Craft award winners here.
News item published: 16 November 2023.
