Standish Quilters was originally started over 20 years ago, where a dozen or so people attended Standish Community Centre on a regular basis. In 2004 the original founder decided to step down and a few of the members decided to re-form the group with a committee.
During the first two years, the group grew in size from 10 members to 25 and had a waiting list of people interested in joining. The committee decided to hold an exhibition in their third year, to promote the group and to help raise money for charity. The exhibition was a great success and the group continued to grow from strength to strength.

We currently have 23 members whose skills range from the beginner to award winners at Harrogate. Our successes and disasters are shared in a supportive environment and help is always on hand.

Our bi-annual programme is constructed to provide a variety of opportunities for quilters. The activities call on the expertise of our experienced quilters and those guest experts that demonstrate for us, from time to time.

Not only do we put on an exhibition every 3 years, more recently, we have begun to hold charity days, where members make items for sale, and some of our members quilts are put on display. Both events have proven to be very successful and local charities have been supported from them.

These events have been great, as they help our members to finish all their unfinished projects, and use up all those remnants of fabric, making items for our sales table. It is also a great opportunity to meet up with members of other groups who regularly visit our exhibitions and charity days. After having a look around and making a few purchases from the sales table, it’s great to sit down over a cup of tea and a piece of cake and have a chat together. The exhibitions can take us a year in preparation, and require many ‘hands on deck’ for setting up etc. It is a wonderful time of togetherness and we get a great feeling of satisfaction when we see just what we have raised for local charities. The committee is grateful for all the hard work of our members during these times as it is always a real team effort!

We meet once a fortnight at Standish Community Centre between 1:30pm and 4:00pm, and there is always a cup of tea/coffee with a biscuit at half time. It is a friendly and enjoyable afternoon, much looked forward to by our members. We sometimes have speakers or someone running a workshop, other times, we work on our own projects. We also enjoy a Christmas meal together as a group and partake in an annual coach trip.

Whenever we have a speaker or workshop, our sessions are open to other quilt group members for a small fee. If anyone is interested in visiting or joining our group please don’t hesitate to use our contact us form or phone our Treasurer Pat McGuinn on 01942-715580.

As of 04th May 2023, we will be running a 4 weekly programme on ‘Learning How To Quilt.’  This is open to anyone who is interested in joining us.  Please get in touch to secure a place (a small fee applies).