The Millenium Map
This beautiful hand-sewn collage of Wimborne St Giles was created by villagers and has pride of place in the hall making a wonderful backdrop to the stage.
This wonderful handstitched map of the village was created by 30 women, some grandmothers, who were born in Wimborne St Giles, but many other people contributed. The finished collage is a combination of the work of skilled professionals and the children of Wimborne St Giles First School. Every house, building, field, the lake and river features in this lovingly executed collage. The school, a pepperpot-shaped lodge, St Giles House, the stables and a walled organic kitchen garden and our village hall are all featured. There’s even a tortoiseshell cat, a dragonfly, cows, chickens and lapwings in the fields and swans and herons on the river!
The map was the brainchild of botanical painter Felicity Ashton known as Lissie. She started taking photos in the summer of '98 and drew it up over the winter. The first meeting to create the map was held in February '99 and they had 80 workshops altogether. Lissie fitted in her work in her husband's architect’s practice around the project and would work late into the evening on the project.
The children drew the animals whatever size came naturally to them and Helen Brookes helped the children to scan their drawings into the computer to get the right sort of scale. The designs were ironed onto fabric and Helen helped them with their stitching. Every child and every member of staff in the school did some stitching.
Older students helped, too, Alice Cox did the swans and her cats. Helen's son Alan Brookes did some of the tractors and Emma White did her father's tractor and the timber yard while Lissie's daughter Rosie sewed the village signs and the telephone box.
Seamstress Liz Ford said she thoroughly enjoyed working on the project. Most people started off not being able to sew, some said they couldn't even thread a needle, and by the end, they were first-class needlewomen.
The map measures 12ft 3” by 5ft 4”, and sits in a beautiful cedar frame made by local woodcarver Axel Keim and has pride of place on the end wall above the stage. Creating the map was a real community thing, it brought the village together.
Fittingly, most of the village gathered for the ceremonial unveiling by Lady Shaftesbury.
"It's absolutely fantastic - the effort that all the people in the village have put in is just marvellous, generations to come will admire it. It's brought a village like ours - a very, very special village which we certainly love - together.”
Lady Shaftesbury