Glamorgan Panel

Description

Glamorgan Federation members have used a signpost in padded upholstery material as their base to show the various WI activities throughout the 1990s starting with the launch of the memorable WI Alternative Calendar by Rylestone WI members, North Yorkshire West Federation at the top on
the left hand side of the panel.
The calendar is depicted by an appliquéd and beaded sunflower which is synonymous with the calendar and the month in which it was launched is also in appliqué.

To the right is a Welsh Lady made of bobbin lace reminding us of an exhibition that took place at St Fagan’s Folk Museum to mark the 75th anniversary of WI.
The exhibition was opened by the Duchess of Gloucester and Lady Anglesey in South and North Wales respectively and was seen by 300,000 people.

In 1993 the NFWI became a founder member of the Fair Trade foundation. The Fairtrade logo in the middle of the signpost has been embroidered and beaded and the organisation encourages all WIs to use Fairtrade goods at their events and meetings. To the right of the logo a cross stitch sampler highlights a quote from the journalist Polly Toynbee; when introducing Jonathon Porritt at the NFWI Women of the Nineties conference in 1990 she said ‘the best hope for the future of the environment lies in women’ which sums up the work that the membership has undertaken throughout the century. Staying on the theme of the environment, to the left of the Fairtrade logo a
sampler in felt reminds us of the 1996 Local Agenda 21 conference which took place at Denman
College to raise awareness of the increasing challenges threatening the quality of life of communities, and to suggest ways in which members could take practical action. As a part of the Pathway to the 21st Century project in Wales, Ystradowen WI members, Glamorgan Federation, took on a massive project to improve their bus shelter and layby which had become a ‘ dumping ground’ and an eyesore in the village. Recently a new bench has been erected to replace the existing one and the villagers have taken on the project to maintain the wonderfully improved feature in the village.

As we move down the signpost from left to right, 1992 saw the NFWI focusing on a science project which is depicted by the symbol promoting science with additional chemical flasks using an embroidery medium. Representatives from 60 Federations attended the conference organized by COPUS which encouraged members to promote a greater understanding of science among women and girls, and Glamorgan Federation has visited Cardiff’s Techniquest on many occasions to keep abreast of new developments in science.

On the right, the NFWI-Wales Arts Festival Towards the Millennium is depicted with music, ballet and a mask painted on silk, and below this, the Get Cooking project which took off in the Rhondda Valley in 1997 is represented by the hand knitted replica of the cooking bus which visited schools throughout Wales to teach children how to cook. The project is still running today with WI members teaching people how to cook healthy, nutritious meals on a budget.

The two appliquéd ladies, bottom left, depict the Lose Weight Walesproject which took place in 1991 to improve women’s health and fitness; they are reminders of the importance of choosing the right foods.

The background of the panel and the timeline has been quilted and the pretty 3D butterflies which adorn the signpost have been made using material andBondaweb®. The yoyo flowers commonly used in patchwork add a splash of colour to the foot of the signpost and panel.

At the bottom right of the panel is a cross stitch of the Glamorgan poppy and to the left the Glamorgan badge made entirely of cross stitch shows the Glamorgan poppy coloured yellow with the lettering in gold.