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Hand Broom Workshop run by Rolf Hoss at Cullercoats
23 October 2023
A Weekend on Lindisfarne17 August 2023
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Willow Harvesting at Chester Hope
Posted on 17 November 2023
Siobhan, Jane and I made short work of sorting the Bleu Bleu in the fine weather today and started cutting the Dicky Meadows. As you can see in the attached image, we have an impressive willow crop this year. The second image shows the range of sorte
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Willow Christmas Angels Workshops
Posted on 03 November 2023
From the Hexham courant September 20th '23:With the approach of longer nights, the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme has prepared an exciting line-up of live events across Northumberland and Cumbria. Including 'Creative Highlights' events for the first
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A New Basketry Group Training Venue
Posted on 30 October 2023
The latest two-day Beginners' Shopping Basket workshop was held at Ravenstonedale Community and Heritage Centre in the Eden Valley over the weekend of the 28th/29th of October. This venue is the furthest west of any location in England for teaching b
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Hand Broom Workshop run by Rolf Hoss at Cullercoats
Posted on 23 October 2023
Two one-day workshops took place alongside the self-help group meetings at Cullercoats to make hand brooms. The brooms are functional, decorative, and fun to make. Everyone involved on each day left with brooms to be proud of. Rolf's first experie
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Two-Day Beginners' Basketry Workshop (Weekday) - Basket 1
Posted on 27 September 2023
One place is available on this beginners' workshop tutored by Charlotte Lobb at Willowdene House, Longframlington. The dates for the workshop are the 9th and 10th of October. This is an excellent opportunity to learn the basic skills involved in maki
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Irish Skib Basket One Day Course Thursday 28th September
Posted on 20 September 2023
There is an opportunity to attend this one-day workshop organised by Elaine at Stainmore Village Hall. The class will be tutored by Jean Tinsley and is suitable for both beginners and improvers. There will be a maximum of eight participants, and the
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Picnic at the Plot
Posted on 22 August 2023
I went to the summer picnic at the Chesterhope Willow plot on Sunday. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, perfect conditions to spend a few hours meeting and chatting with other basketry enthusiasts, sharing delicious food, and learning new willowy thin
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A Weekend on Lindisfarne
Posted on 17 August 2023
You are invited by Anne Otley of Lucker and Bamburgh Weavers and tutor Anna Turnbull of Biteabout Arts to a quiet weekend of willow weaving on Holy Island, off the Northumbrian Coast. If you would like more information about this event, please click
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Beginner Workshops at Whitley Chapel
Posted on 07 August 2023
On the 8th and 20th of July, the Whitley Chapel Basketry Group ran two very successful one-day beginner workshops making a traditional potato skib. The workshops, held in the village hall, were attended by thirteen people over the two days. In the mo
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Border Union Agricultural Show, Kelso Friday 28th & Saturday 29th July 2023
Posted on 02 August 2023
The Northumbria Basketry Group stall at BUAS displayed the skill and diversity of the work done within our group. It was staffed by enthusiastic members, happy to chat with visitors about NBG and basketry in general. We also offered have-a-go oppo
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Finding Fibres Workshop with Anna Corbett II
Posted on 23 July 2023
This exciting workshop is scheduled for September when there is an abundance of plants suitable for foraging for plant fibres. Anna is a specialist in weaving with locally available plant fibres, and she will help identify and process a variety of pl
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Northumbrian Fishwife's Creel Workshop - November 2022
Posted on 06 January 2023
Elaine Blackett-Ord has written an excellent article about the workshop tutored by Anna Turnbull, held on Lindisfarne in November 2022. The workshop was organised by Anne Otley, who I am delighted to report is now Co-Chair of the national Basketmake
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Nourish Exhibition
Posted on 20 August 2022
The Crafts Centre, Farnham, Surrey, is hosting the exhibition from the 9th of August until the 29th of October. Three of our members, Anna Liebmann, Anna Turnbull and Ruth Thompson, are among sixteen full-time professional willow basket makers, arti
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Sophia Sturge
Posted on 16 February 2022
For basketry group members who have travelled to Connemara to attend workshops with Joe Hogan and indulge in such noteworthy pleasures as seaweed baths at Leenane, this book adds a delightful chapter about the development of basketry in the area. Wr
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Website Home Page Updates
Posted on 22 August 2021
Our basketry group website homepage now has an improved format. It is now easier to find information about joining self-help groups, purchasing willow rods, attending basketry classes, and making commissions for baskets and other articles made by gr
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Borders Group Picnic
Posted on 15 August 2021
Despite an unpromising forecast, the weather held for a visit to David and Tamsin's willow plot at Craig in the Borthwick Valley on the 7th of August. Nine Northumbria Basketry Group members enjoyed the visit, and it was good to catch up after
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Willow Work Holidays
Posted on 04 August 2021
Please check out the What's On section of the website for information about an Autumn willow work holiday.
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Whitley Chapel Picnic
Posted on 31 July 2021
Daphne Turner has created this delightful ceiling-hung flower arrangement following her visit to the picnic event at Whitley Chapel. Daphne recently joined the Cullercoats group, and it was her first visit to Whitley Chapel. After a tour of the wil
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The Gritlin Basket
Posted on 12 July 2021
The photos show a cran, much larger than the quarter cran measure - four times larger - we are familiar with from seaside postcards and which many of us have learned from Colin Manthorpe. It is used to hold a great line, cork around the rim to protec
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Basket Making Back in Coquetdale
Posted on 19 May 2021
We can report several firsts today, the first NBG session back running after lockdown, the first basketry day in the refurbished Hepple village hall and the first basket for Jeanette. Nine of us met together, doors open for ventilation, willow outsi
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Willow Handbags and Shoulder Bags
Posted on 11 May 2021
An opportunity to enjoy creating willow handbags and shoulder bags with Anna in early June. See the what's on section for further information.
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A Stunning Willow Sculpture
Posted on 10 May 2021
This striking willow sculpture made by Anna Turnbull is for a client with echoes of his granddaughters and also his profession - bookbinding . Anna started with drawings, measurements and then a metal skeleton made by her husband, Richard. The sequ
Read OnSelf Help Group Meetings - Coquetdale
Posted on 14 April 2021
Coquetdale group are poised to resume self-help sessions next month! See the website "what's on" for details.
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Sales of Willow Cuttings
Posted on 19 February 2021
The group has sold 312 cuttings to a customer in Bratislava, Slovakia, this month. They arrived in perfect condition, as can be seen in the attached photograph. Varieties were Norbury, Packing Twine, Bleu Bleu, Brittany Green, Calliantha, and Dicky
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Willow Harvesting at Chester Hope Complete
Posted on 02 February 2021
I am delighted to report that willow cutting operations at the new plot at Chester Hope were completed for the 2020/2021 season yesterday. Work did not start in earnest until early January, and it is quite an achievement to have completed the harve
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Northumbria Basketry Group Self-Help Groups
Posted on 01 January 2021
If you wish to attend a self-help meeting, please note that there is generally a pattern of times in the month when groups meet. Exceptions to the practice are December and the summer holiday period. (Check the What's-On section for details) We
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News from Coquetdale Group
Posted on 18 September 2020
Hello Basketeers, here's what Coquetdale basketmakers have produced at their re-start meeting. We were all geared up for a Covid restart in a different hall, while the Hepple hall gets a new roof. Willow was already soaking when the rule of six
Read OnCoquetdale Group (formerly Hepple)
Posted on 03 September 2020
Next meeting of the group is scheduled for Wednesday 16th of September. The venue is Harbottle village hall, to be found above the surgery in Harbottle. (Hepple village hall is being re-roofed) The surgery is located in the main street as you enter
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Willow Plot Update
Posted on 11 August 2020
The contract for the willow plot land at Whittondean ran out at the end of July. A new plot has been commissioned and is up and running at Chester Hope. This plot is located close to Ryehill up the Coquet Valley from Rothbury. Following the removal
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Coffin Workshop
Posted on 30 June 2020
Why run a coffin workshop? Willow coffins tick all the boxes, aesthetically pleasing sustainable materials, low carbon footprint on delivery miles within the UK, all-round environmentally friendly, particularly so if lined with felted wool. Even bett
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Laundry basket
Posted on 24 February 2020
Anna is running a two day course in Lucker Saturday and Sunday 21/22 March to make a laundry basket as featured in Jenny Crisps new book. We will learn how to work from a square base frame to a round topped basket. The frames will be provided but A
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Weekend of Basketry with Mandy Coates & Rosie Farey
Posted on 30 January 2020
There are a few places still available for this workshop that is taking place in March. Please check out the "what's on" section of the website for further details.
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Coppicing Biomass at Whitley Chapel
Posted on 25 January 2020
Whitley Chapel group have invited the Association of Pole Lathe Turners and Green Woodworkers to help with coppicing the biomass at Whitley Chapel next Sunday the second of February. If you would like to join in the activity, you will be most welcom
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Happy New Year
Posted on 09 January 2020
This year our group is off to a flying start with a busier workshop programme than ever before. From making a vegetable hod to learning how to do invisible stitching, the choice is vast. This year for the first time the group are running a coffin ma
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Two days at Lucker with Eddie Glew
Posted on 02 December 2019
Lucker and Bamburgh Willow Weavers are pleased to invite you to a two day basketmaking course with Eddie Glew. 1st/2nd February 2020 At Lucker Making this Vegetable Hod Through weaving this basket we will learn how to leave a gap in a basket and
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Willow Storage Shelter on Site Chesterhope
Posted on 03 October 2019
The willow storage shelter was moved from Whittondean to Chesterhope yesterday. The loading and unloading were kindly carried out by Derek Milburn from Holling Hill. Our thanks to Derek for helping out. Photographs show Derek tying down the shelter
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Bark at Lucker
Posted on 03 May 2019
Maggie Smith, the artist who works in bark , is returning to Northumberland this Summer. She has kindly offered us a two day advanced workshop this time which will give us more time to develop our work and also learn to prepare the bark ourselves. So
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A Walk Around the Lindisfarne Sculpture Trail
Posted on 26 June 2018
The Peregrini Lindisfarne Partnership willow sculptures are now all back out for the summer. Yesterday evening Etal Group had their walk around the trail. It was a perfect evening, spectacular sunshine, lots of wildlife and a delicious picnic on the
Read OnBasketry, Willow Sculpture and Felt-Making
Posted on 11 June 2018
The June/July Issue of the Northumbrian features an article about Anna Turnbull and her work with willow and felt. Written by Susan Burke it tracks Anna's progression from her early days of studying fine arts at Camberwell School of Arts and Cra
Read OnChanges to Newton and Whitley Chapel Group
Posted on 26 April 2018
The last meeting at Newton Community Hall took place yesterday, with 14 people in attendance making a range of baskets, peony supports and trugs. The group will relocate to Whitley Chapel with effect from May, with the May, June and July meetings be
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Lindisfarne Nature Trail Sculptures Walk
Posted on 01 August 2017
Yesterday evening a group of 20 people attended the inaugural walk to view the willow sculptures located at various points on the Island nature trail. The walk was led by Andrew Craggs, Reserve Manager Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve. (Natural En
Read OnHow to Make a Willow Sphere
Posted on 02 April 2015
Look up the Gallery Section of the website to see Ruth's images showing how to make a willow sphere.
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