Stitching at Parham House

Our group has a lovely connection with Parham House in Storrington. This beautiful Elizabethan house has a significant collection of antique embroideries, and many people who visit the house have a particular interest in embroidery. A visit to Parham by members many years ago led to the idea of our members spending time at the house, so visitors could see ‘live’ embroidery at the same time as visiting the historical embroideries. Eileen Blaney was involved when this was first introduced, and members started to spend an afternoon at the house once a month, taking some examples of their own work for visitors to look at and sitting stitching and chatting to visitors. This has continued as part of our tradition ever since, only interrupted for a couple of years by Covid. We are now back at Parham House one afternoon a month. This is so popular with members that Parham have let us increase our numbers of stitchers for each session from four to six. If you are interested in joining in, speak to Viv Scrase who currently organises it. It’s good to have a range of traditional and contemporary embroidery styles for visitors to see. You may sit in ‘The Great Hall’, or you may sit at the top of the house in ‘The Long Gallery’. Both are beautiful. There is something so timeless about Parham House that however stressed you may feel before you arrive, something of the spirit of the house will seep into you over the afternoon and you will leave feeling somehow restored. You might not get very much stitching done, but you are guaranteed to have a lovely afternoon. Here are some photos of members stitching at Parham: if you have some photos you would like to add, please email them to me and I will add them.