Nancy Bowman talks about friendships with Bridget Lewis, Beth Abbot, and Doreen Jeffers.

Nancy Bowman talks about friendships with Bridget Lewis, Beth Abbot, and Doreen Jeffers.

June 21, 2021

© Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners

Shaelagh Cull

Nancy Bowman

Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning

Yeah, some of them that the thread is, is it may have started at the Guild, but it also extends to Halliburton and then becomes a personal friendship and the people I've learned to spin from. So Margaret Duncan, who is my first spinning teacher in the Guild, then Beth Abbot up in Halliburton, certainly Bridget Lewis, who was very much... And actually, Bridget, I met at a knitting retreat, along with Doreen. And Doreen is the reason I'm a member of the Guild. Doreen, I met at the knitting retreat, and I was telling her I wanted to learn to spin and she said just join the guild and take a workshop, just do it, as Doreen does. So that's exactly what I did. And here I am. But Bridget, is a great loss to us in the Guild, because for many years, she was the president, she did the workshop coordinating, she offered workshops, but for what she did, for me personally was continuing to encourage me, particularly to get involved in the Guild and the running of the Guild. And when I had a question about why were things a certain way I could go to her. But she also challenged me, I mean, the good natured rivalry because she was an excellent weaver. She didn't understand why I wasn't getting on with the weaving thing. And so you know, just that really good natured, challenging, whether it was we would challenge each other to some sort of knitting challenge for the year. She supported me when I started the spinning study group, there had been talk of having one we didn't have one, we got it started and she was kind of in the background, offering suggestions. She's been a really key. Those many people have been key to me. That's what I say, I always feel better after I've been here. There's and there are people that maybe don't see in the studio, but I call or we are now connecting over Zoom because of now we do that. There is that you know, they always 'What are you working on now' and an oh or an ah, or 'What's it going to be' or 'Why are you doing that?' So it's that support and encouragement. Yeah, it's the people.