The fringe events for Restitch 2022 have now ended.
Monday evening walking tour around Westminster:
Convene from 5.30pm by Church House, where the Restitch Summit will take place the next day, before heading to Westminster’s Georgian side streets to discuss ecclesiastical vestments and furnishings, before moving to ecclesiastical architecture and the links between foot stools and coal. We will give a nod to one of London’s artistic landmarks at Tate Britain, while discussing both sugar, prisons and philosophers. With spring having arrived we won’t forget flowers and horticulture, and nor we will forget plague pits and sanctuaries, or two of the great Victorian philanthropists, Angela Burdett-Coutts and George Peabody. We will complete our SW1 Walk with a discussion of the development of London’s residential and commercial spaces, with the growth of mansion flats and skyscrapers. And much else besides!
The Walk will be led by Meg Ryder, a Londoner who hails from Pimlico and now lives in Camberwell. Meg is a qualified solicitor who left the law to establish bespoke walking tours in London to follow her passion for all things historical, artistic and architectural.
The Walk will end at approximately 7pm at a pub by St James’s Park tube station, with the opportunity for a drink in the May evening sunshine, and with easy access to transport links.
Monday 23rd May 5.30-7pm, Starting at Church House, Westminster, ending at St James tube station/pub.
Thursday afternoon community tour in the Calder Valley:
A trip to see two unique community run projects in the picturesque towns of Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, both within easy reach of Halifax. The trip will be led by community leaders in both towns and will involve easy walks and train rides between the towns.
The tour will begin at 2:30pm, meeting just outside Halifax train station and will take us first to Todmorden where you will learn about the Incredible Edible journey of how unloved spaces were reborn by a group of friends and a desire to empower their community: “We have kept the place we call home in good shape, the pandemic provided opportunity to be even more creative. We do what we do with joy, without recourse to grants or any paid staff. People visit our small town from all over the world to get a glimpse of the possible, a smidgin of hope in a messed-up world. Kindness is our currency we believe in the power of small actions. The planet is in trouble, so our mantra is crack on it’s not a dress rehearsal, better to ask for forgiveness than permission (sometimes)”.
We will also stop by the thriving market in the heart of Todmorden before getting on the train to visit the Hebden Bridge Town Hall, a short walk from the station. The Town Hall director will explain how the original council office, a grade 2 listed Victorian building, has been transformed from a barely used building in disrepair into a state of the art community-owned hub, operating with no grant funding and generating all its income through trading.
Thursday 26th May 2.30-5.30pm Starting and ending at Halifax train station. The timings will coincide with trains arriving from London and a bag drop will be available at the station or at the Piece Hall. The Create Streets/ Onward team will be on hand to assist at Halifax station.
Thursday Evening Halifax town centre guided tour:
The tour will take in some of the most important historical buildings dating back to Halifax’s key role in the woollen textile industry as well as recent and future development projects across the town. Stop offs will include a peak into Borough Market, Halifax Town Hall (designed by Sir Charles Berry, architect of House of Parliament in London), The Woolshops, Bankfield Museum, The Victoria Theatre, Square Chapel, Dean Clough and Crossley Street. The tour will end by pointing you in the direction of local pubs and eateries.
Thursday 26th May. 6.30-7.30pm, Meet Robert and Rob at the South Gate of the Piece Hall at 6.30pm.
You can also participate virtually using the Create Communities mapping tool.
Friday morning Piece Hall tours:
Bring your coffee and take an early morning guided walk around this magnificent building, the only survivor of the great eighteenth century northern cloth halls, before it opens to the public at 8.30.
Nicholas Boys Smith, Founding Director of Create Streets, reflects on the first time he entered The Piece Hall: “I will never forget the first time I saw The Piece Hall. I was lucky enough to be visiting Halifax as an Historic England Commissioner. I knew it was something special. I’d read about it. I’d seen the pictures. And yet, emerging through that dark small door into what must be one of the most gloriously luminous urban enclosures in Europe still took my breath away. That a building, created purely for commercial purposes 240 years ago should be so beautiful tells us something about the commercial culture of our past. That a building that merits national fame is so little-known tells us much about the cultural geography of our own present. If any one place symbolises our need to “level-up” it is surely The Piece Hall.”
Friday 27th May. 8-8.30am. Meet Piece Hall volunteers at the South Gate at 8am.
