Thousands of Pennants are decorating the historic town of Dartmouth, in a unique stitchery project where people from around the world have contributed crafty creations linked to the Mayflower story. The Mayflower and the Speedwell famously made their last stop in Dartmouth before heading to the New World, only to have to return to Plymouth before their final sailing from Plymouth on September 16, 1620 leaving the Speedwell behind.
5315 hand–made Pennants, made by 152 people are being hung around Dartmouth as part of the commemoration of the sailing of the Mayflower – a blaze of colourful bunting that is transforming the town. The pennants are strung together on binding supplied by Michael Madigan of Appeal Blinds
Project Lead, Marilyn Bird said “What started over coffee with Rose Williams of the Stitchery Group as an exciting idea to involve the Dartmouth community has now become a international explosion of Pennant making magnificence which now adorns our town with imagination and colour…”
The idea was the brainchild of Rose Williams who leads an enthusiast team of around 200 with a core of six volunteers at the heart of the operation, Dartmouth Stitchery Group. The Pennants all follow three basic rules – to keep the colours of predominately red, white and blue, link the design to the Mayflower and keep the Pennant to an A4 sized template. The whole team includes makers, hangers and a pinning-on team who all battled 2,250 metres of hanging tape and 50,000 metres of thread. The project was launched with finance from Cllr Jonathon Hawkin’s Community fund.
Many of the fabrics used were repurposed and include tea towels, tablecloths, shirts, and even the handkerchiefs of the late husband of one member of the core team. The first Pennant was made in February 2018, so the display is the result of hours of work over two and a half years.
Alongside our local team. Pennants have also been donated from far and wide; people responded to the Mayflower story by sending Pennants from the USA, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Europe, Eire, Africa and Australia, as well as throughout the UK. In May 2019 a group of Mayflower descendants from the US visited Dartmouth and presented 6 beautiful Pennants to hang alongside our collection.
Rose said: “Our original target was 4000 Pennants, but the display is now even more spectacular than we could have dreamed. Makers aged from 92 years to our youngest, a ten-year-old girl from Melbourne in Australia called Annabel who heard about the project whilst on holiday here in Dartmouth and then joined in with one of our workshops. The support we’ve had from the community, around 65 local businesses and organisations, including The Flavel Arts Centre, the Royal Castle Hotel, and Alf Resco who kindly donated their facilities and our Town and District Councils, has been wonderful.”
“One unforeseen aspect of the project is the way we have now made friends with strangers around the world through crafting. At a Craft Exhibition in Exeter, we met a Mayflower Descendant and were able to show her a Pennant made by another American descendant of the very same Pilgrim.”
The Pennants will hang in Dartmouth until 7th September 2020.
However, you will be able to see them again as part of Dartmouth Mayflower 400 Week from 23rd to 28th November 2020. Also on 15th May 2021 at the Dart the Dart Run in partnership with Dartmouth Food Festival and in August 2021 in partnership with the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.
After their tours of Dartmouth, many of the Pennants will be available for purchase, with proceeds going to Rowcroft Hospice in Torquay. Some of the Pennants will also remain in Dartmouth on permanent display showcasing the wonderful efforts of the crafting community as part of lasting legacy for the town.
Dartmouth Mayflower 400, Arts & Culture Project Lead: Marilyn Bird
Dartmouth Stitchery: Rose Williams * Valerie Bird * Claire Humpage * Judie Green * Sue Hamilton * Linda Harris
More information about the Pennants project can be found HERE, and images of the wonderful workmanship HERE.
