Our Speaker this evening was Catherine Czerkowska, a well-known and admired local novelist and playwright. Wearing a different hat, she is an authority on "Ayrshire Whitework" and both collects and deals in textiles, particularly antique textiles with a Scottish provenance and began her talk by setting it in its historical context.
Some members brought their own family examples to add to the speaker’s display, elements of which were passed round the audience to illustrate different aspects of this particular form of embroidery.
Catherine brought home to us the labour-intensive nature of this occupation, the poor wages on offer and the hardship of doing such exacting work in poor light conditions. As a result, perhaps now we all treasure even more the examples of Ayrshire Whitework in our possession
Sheila Dinwoodie
Sunday 18 November 2007
18 Oct 2007 - "Ayrshire Whitework"
