‘Stitching Stowe’ community day aims to engage local people in garden project

Suffolk Libraries is holding a community day at Stowmarket Library next week to engage local people in plans to transform the library’s garden.

The ‘Stitching Stowe’ project is being funded by Arts Council England, with the name inspired by the binding of a book. Fox Yard Studio and Modece Architects have been commissioned to transform the library’s courtyard into a space for all the community to enjoy.

The next step is to design a series of murals which will weave together tales celebrating Stowmarket’s past, present and future. Local people are invited to come along to a community day at the library on Saturday 7 August to share their stories which will then inspire artwork for these murals.

The community day will run from 10am to 4pm in the library’s garden and anyone is welcome to drop in at any time to find out more about the project and share their local stories.

There will also be a series of workshops taking place at the library later in the summer as the Stitching Stowe project progresses. They'll offer a great opportunity for the local community to come together to contribute to a fantastic project and learn some new skills.

The workshops will include:

Thursday 19 August from 10am to 4pm – a sewing workshop led by Fox Yard Studios. This workshop will involve the creation of banners and fabric hangings which will then be used to decorate the garden space.

A brick-painting workshop to transform the garden paving into a colourful patchwork map of Stowmarket, (date to be confirmed).

There will also be planting workshops where the library garden will be planted with wildlife friendly plants (date to be confirmed).

Rebecca Abbott, Suffolk Libraries Creative Producer, said:

“The Stitching Stowe project is really exciting as it’s a great way for the local community to creatively contribute to something which will benefit anyone who visits the library for many years to come. We’d love people to get involved by coming along to the community day and sharing their Stowmarket stories.”