Stitches in time add up to a really great day out

Seven Saxon Kings, several million stitches, a very special coat of arms and – under the impeccable leadership of The Master – we Arts Scholars had a joyous day of it.

Charles Pineles, right, reunited with his coat of arms at the Royal School of Needlework.

Hidden away at one end of Kingston Market is a delightful church with all sorts of lovely features including (we may be Arts Scholars but we are, after all, only human) a café selling excellent pastries and coffee. It was here we met and our ‘inner man’ duly set up for a morning delving deep into some spectacular life-sized embroidered panels which celebrated the seven Saxon Kings crowned in Kingston. The panels – specifically designed for the arches in the church walls – were vibrant with colour and gold thread and shimmering beads.

They were created by Jacky Puzey who was there in person to give us a very full lecture. We learned about the history and process involved in making each of the first six, followed by a preview of the magnificent seventh. Who knew you could make the characters speak so eloquently through needlework?

Eardred, the fourth of the seven Saxon kings now commemorated in embroidered panels at Kingston All Saints

Well, by the end of the morning we all knew. It should have been enough for anyone, but it turned out to be only the First Act. The Interval was a joy in itself. The Master had arranged for the aforementioned café to supply us with a picnic which we ate as we floated down the Thames to Hampton Court and the Royal School of Needlework, where the Second Act opened. We were given the warmest of welcomes to a place about which we have all heard but which we can rarely access.

The Royal School of Needlework is part of the palace, yet entirely private – a place of quiet and beautiful industry. A lecture by one of their principal ‘stitchers’ made the history so accessible and the work so enticing that we were all itching to have a go ourselves. Then we were guided through an exhibition which demonstrated what the needle is capable of, with examples from many periods and cultures. We ooed and aahed our way around it, stunned by the variety of size, design, colour and artistry. From small domestic pieces created by children to giant framed panels upon which teams of skilled embroiderers had worked for many months, everything was fascinating.

We were, I think it’s fair to say, well and truly wowed. But that was nothing to the ‘wow’ we delivered to our hosts when they discovered that amongst our number was Charles Pineles, whose coat of arms was there, hanging proudly over the whole proceedings as one of their prize exhibits.

Wendy Joseph