Lace Day, Saturday, February 9 – The first group held their inaugural ‘Lace Day’ at the village hall in Perranwell Station in May 1991.

This group, along with Carnon Downs Lace Group, came about because of one lady, Rita Green, and according to Ruth Twydle, one of the long standing members of both groups, she was a lady to be admired.

“Rita Green, though born a Londoner, came to Cornwall in the early 1940s as a child with her brother, sister and parents. Rita grew up here and married a Cornishman and had two sons. She had surely earned her passport! She had two great passions in life, dance and needlecrafts, both executed to a very high standard (she would not have accepted anything less). Rita became an accomplished ballroom dancer, winning many awards and had a lifelong love of ballet which she still managed to enjoy whenever the ballet came to Truro right up until the final year of her life.

After her family had flown, Rita had the time to indulge her love of needlecrafts. You name it, Rita had tried it and taken it to the next level. After deciding to learn bobbin lace, Rita became so accomplished and well-known in the South West that she decided to train as an adult education teacher and taught bobbin lacemaking successfully until her retirement at 60.

The group established from this lace class were loathe to disband and by hiring the use of two village halls at Perranarworthal and Carnon Downs, were able to continue to meet. These groups are still thriving today over 20 years later although they have diversified to include needlecrafts to accommodate changing trends. Rita remained an active member of both groups until the last months of her life.

Rita taught her last lace student some four years ago but, even though cruelly disabled on her dominant side, confined to a wheelchair and robbed of speech by the second of two strokes, she by sheer force of will taught herself to sew again and continued embroidery at group meetings. Rita could spot a mistake in our lace and made sure we knew it to the end.

Beadwork was Rita’s other needlework passion. She was a very accomplished bead weaver and an inaugural member of Celtic Beaders in Marazion. She taught many students to share her love of this craft over the years.

Rita was an inspiration to us all and a very gifted lady. I count myself blessed to have known her and her passion for her crafts will live on in all of us who were privileged to have known and been tutored by her.”

(Ruth Twydle, 2012) The group will be proudly displaying a small fraction of Rita’s work on this year’s ‘Lace Day’ at Perran-ar-Worthal Village Memorial Hall (next to the playing field) on Saturday, February 9 between 10am and 4pm. The admission fee is £2.50 for the whole day (bring your own packed lunch) with tea and coffee included. If you don’t want to stay for the day, come and view the stalls and ‘shop’ for £1. On display throughout the day will be lacecraft made by the late Rita Green. At 2pm Karen Pyne will be demonstrating Felt Making. Anne Rowe will be selling lace and general craft supplies; Hilary Phillips will be demonstrating and selling beaded jewellery and Ivy Beedie will be displaying bags and quilts - all are welcome. The group meets on the second and fourth Thursday evening of each month between 7.30 and 9.30pm at the Village Hall. Crafts covered include lace making, cross stitch, tapestry, embroidery, card making, quilting, machine sewing, knitting and crochet. If you would like to take up a new craft or make some new friends, why not join us on the 9th for coffee (and cake) or come along to our next evening meeting on February 14. New members are always welcome.