President’s Address AGM 2026
Janet began by welcoming members commenting how good it was to see so many at an AGM meeting. She was delighted to see membership numbers returning to pre-Covid levels and noted that this AGM sees us begin our 77th year as a guild. She said there are few guilds that have run for so long which made her think about the people who started the guild back in 1949 and what they would think if they could see us now.
The two ladies who started the guild, Gladys and Norah, known as the Quantock Weavers, were also key players in the formation of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. Somerset was one of the ten founder guilds of the Association.
The Quantock Weavers
Janet reflected on what Gladys and Norah might think if they walked through the door of the guild now. Certainly, they would be pleased that the guild is still a vibrant organisation with numbers around 100. There would be a few things which may have surprised them:
The range of brightly coloured tops and yarns we use today would be different to those used in 1949. Although synthetic dyes were available then, spinners and weavers mostly used natural dyes from materials collected from their gardens and environs. Looking at samples of weaving by Gladys and Norah, the colours were all from locally sourced plant material. The local pharmacist where they lived remembers them ordering regular supplies of alum from her for dyeing. The booklet written about their work “Woven from a stone” refers to the practice of people using coloured stones as a guide for choosing the colours when dyeing wool for spinning and weaving. Gladys and Norah would match the dye colours to the stones.
Members in 1949 mostly would have used raw fleece to prepare wool for spinning, quite a few spinning ‘in the grease’. Although commercial tops were available then for the textile industry, small scale woollen mills producing tops for the hand spinner were almost unknown. The development of such mills has happened over the past 50 years with most of us spoiled for choice now. Whilst short forward draw was used back then as now, anyone from today visiting 1949 would be surprised to see much more evidence of English Long Draw as a technique for dealing with short staple fleece. There are a few octogenarians who remember ELD being the first technique they learned and preparing rolags from fleece. Worth noting that this is a technique we do not want to lose.
Gladys and Norah would have been amazed at the variety of spinning wheels we use. Back then, most people used Saxony style horizontal wheels, like the Ashford Traditional. Upright castle wheels were around especially for spinning flax and some like the Hebridean for wool but nothing like now. Folding wheels and e-spinners may have blown their minds. They would also be surprised at the range of whorls and ratios on spinning wheels.
In 1949, there were a lot of weavers in the guild which can be seen from the copies of exhibition catalogues – the guild did lots of exhibitions. People used to spin to weave. Gladys and Norah would be pleased to see the number of weavers creeping back up from being in the doldrums for many years. They would also be surprised at the looms we use which are mostly ‘jack’ looms. The development of the ‘jack’ loom is attributed to Mary Meigs Atwater in the USA in the 1930’s. They were not commonly available in the UK in the 1950’s given the impact of WW2 and no technology to spread the word as now. Most members would have used counterbalance looms and some countermarche. Again, the idea of folding looms and the number of looms with 8 possible shafts would amaze them.
Gladys and Norah were committed to education, and it is no surprise our two principles for existence are the same as the AGWSD namely, to keep ourselves educated in the skills of all three crafts and to educate the public about those skills. They saw the AGWSD as the way of providing opportunity for learning with Summer Schools and Conferences aimed at members and the National Exhibition to show our achievements to the public as well as members. These aims hold true today for the AGWSD.
Although, we are sure guilds were as concerned as we are about health and safety back in 1949, they did not have the legislation we have and our need to be aware for the safety of each other at meetings or anywhere we get together. One of the challenges of growing as a guild is there are more people in the room which brings more risks, so we do have to remind ourselves to stay safe by keeping clear gangways and wiping up any spills as two examples.
By staying safe and using the opportunities for learning that are offered, we will be around for another 77 years, and certainly for our 80th birthday in three years when we look to having some big celebrations.
Janet Maher
President