Woolfest 2019 (Friday 28 and Saturday 29 June 2019) at Cockermouth will be the 15th celebration of
This year’s event has the largest number of stallholders ever, offering something new for visitors whatever their preferred craft.
“It’s good to be able to have a mix of familiar faces as well as newer businesses,” says Ellie Langley, a member of The Wool Clip cooperative and one of the Woolfest organising team, “ and we have more than ever this year.
The Mini Stalls for new businesses have proved popular and we’ll have nine of those in 2019 including
Herdwick auction
Woolfest has always had strong connections to the three Cumbrian fell sheep breeds and this year is no exception. The Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association will be exhibiting in the livestock aisles and there is a fundraising auction with a Herdwick theme planned for Saturday 29 June.
Jan Beadle, another of the organisers, explains: “The Wool Clip cooperative tragically lost one of its founder members – and a familiar face for many Woolfest visitors – when Pam Hall died last year. Pam was a sheep farmer in St John’s in the Vale and she used her own hand-dyed Herdwick fleece in her inspirational weaving.
“Pam spent her last few weeks at the Eden Valley Hospice and so, to celebrate and commemorate her life, we’re inviting Woolfest visitors to create a piece of craftwork on a Herdwick theme, bring it along and donate it to a very special auction with all funds raised going to the Hospice. We’ve held similar events in the past and they’ve been hugely popular so we hope that the combination of a local sheep breed, a wonderful friend and a great cause will prove popular.”
New workshop programme
Also new for 2019 will be a couple of workshops, in addition to the popular stallholder demonstrations around the event. “We used to run workshops several years ago but then lost access to the upstairs rooms at Mitchells,” says Ellie Langley, one of the organisers responsible for the workshops. “These are now open to us again and we know that a lot of our visitors have been asking for a chance to learn and have a go at new skills during Woolfest so we’re giving it another try, starting with just a couple for 2019.
Liz Reed will be running two workshops on creating her distinctive driftwood folk and Debbie Zawinski, spinner and author of In the Footsteps of Sheep, will explain and show the processes from fleece to skein in one and making a stick spindle in a second workshop. Full information about costs and booking will be on our website as soon as the details are confirmed.”
The Carolyn Rawlinson Memorial Stall 2019
A regular feature of Woolfest is the Carolyn Rawlinson Memorial Stall which gives a young business free access to the Woolfest world. This year’s recipient is Kathryn Parry of Gull Skull Designs who combines Tunisian crochet techniques and artisan weaving with all sorts of hand-made embellishments to create accessories and homewares that are inspired by beachcombing finds, pebbles, lichens and shells.
“I’ve been trading for about 18 months now and my work is evolving, especially since I moved into my Tal y Cafn studio at the end of 2018,” Kathryn says. “I’m hoping to have lots of new work on display at Woolfest, particularly my Black Rocks collection that includes sculptural scarves and snoods in charcoal Shetland wool embellished with bright orange highlights to reflect vivid lichen on rock.”
All in all, Woolfest promises to be as colourful and as varied as ever and The Wool Clip cooperative, whose members organise the event, is looking forward to welcoming visitors from near and far for a great celebration of nature’s finest fibres. Further details of all aspects of Woolfest 2019 are on the new website at www.woolfest.co.uk.
Woolfest 2019 takes place on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 June from 10am when the event takes over Mitchell’s Lakeland Livestock Centre in Cockermouth for those two days.
Entry is just £10 per day (including full programme) or £15 for a two-day ticket with free entry for accompanied children and free parking. Directions, details and online ticket ordering can be found at www.woolfest.co.ukor via social media channels.
