Introductions

I have been fortunate to have been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. My Fellowship is within The Creative Industries field and aims to look at best practice across Western Europe of supporting artisan makers through museums, collaborative practice, community engagement and innovative ways of thinking. As an educator and occasional milliner my main theme will be to address this within millinery and ways that can be shared within the U.K. to enable this niche area to survive and thrive.

The image from the train to Tilburg, Nederlands, seems a perfect symbol for the purpose of the WCMT Fellowships - to have conversations, to share, to listen, to learn.

My planning has been slightly erratic. i am someone who always considers that there are 36 hours in a day and that I need little sleep. The reality is that i need at least 8 hours and there are only 24 hours. So this has been my first learning before I began. It's alright to ask for help and you need lots of time to plan. Working 50+ hour weeks isn't always conducive to this so another observation to take forward before i even began my travels.

Jacquard card punch at Textiel Museum Tilburg, Nederlands

So order and organisation to assist me getting the most from this truly amazing opportunity.