Sreepur News 2016

 

Exhibition of textiles and embroidery from The Sreepur Village, Bangladesh and also from the rural areas. All this beautiful work is created in adverse poverty by amazing women. There will be hand made cards, silk scarves and other gifts for sale. All proceeds will go to the 600 children and 150 destitute mothers who live at Sreepur, plus the Street Children project we run on the railway, the river banks and at Dhaka airport. Millions of street children live literally on the streets in Bangladesh. Ruby Porter MBE (trustee) will be in attendance each day from 10am-4pm to talk about her voluntary work in Bangladesh over the last 27 years.

To find out more about Sreepur Village handmade cards and to buy online click here

“Threading Dreams Exhibition”

Dates to note-

 

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December 2016- update from Rubina Porter MBE

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and all my best wishes for 2017.  A very busy few months leading up to the festive season where I met and talked to lovely people. Sreepur cards, scarves and other gifts sold well-  ideal for Christmas gifts.  I am sure they will all be appreciated by friends and family all over the world. I know our Liverpool scarves and cotton bags have been sent to all corners of the globe.

I spent a cosy afternoon at St David’s Church on Queens Drive and also at Dovedale Baptist Church talking about Sreepur. Also the Warrington branch invited me to their meeting-  I have talked to them on many occasions  over the last 20 years. They are so supportive of my work and on that evening we raised £500.00.  Another talk was at the North Cheshire Lacemakers in Helsby, who I have spoken to in the past. They  enjoyed an update on life at Sreepur and again £500.00 was raised-  people are so kind.

I was at the Christmas Art and Craft Fair in St Matthews Church, Wigan  and raised £299.99. Then I was invited to talk to members of The Friends of Allerton Library which was also open to the public to attend, and once again met interesting people. My last talk of the year was to Fine Art students at Hope University on a very cold morning but we got a warm welcome. May I thank you all for your support over the last year-  without you all I could not do it all.

December 2016- Sreepur quilt draw results

The winners of the 2016 Ruby’s Sreepur Quilt draw

F Lewis-   Merseyside
P Hazelhurst-  Manchester
K Lang-  Merseyside
Liz- Liverpool

November 2016- Sreepur stall at MEG Winter Fair

Kathy Green was in charge of the Sreepur stall at Merseyside branch Winter Fair, which was held in Unitarian Church hall, Ullet Road, Liverpool L17 2AA on Saturday 19th November. Ruby made a brief appearance and then went off to hold another Sreepur stall at a different venue.

Ruby says “May I say thank you to all the members for an excellent day on Saturday I could only make a brief visit it was lovely to see you all. The hall looked magnificent and everybody looked busy. Kathy raised £152.00 for Sreepur- so pleased.”

 

 

 

October 2016- “Threading Dreams” exhibition in St Barnabas Church, Penny Lane, Liverpool

My Sreepur “Threading Dreams” exhibition at St Barnabas Church, Penny Lane, Liverpool was enjoyed by all our visitors.  Loretta, one of the Sreepur sponsors, came to visit from the Isle of Man- how lovely!
Kathy, Norma and I put together a Sreepur quilt. The children from Sreepur did the embroidery on the squares when I visited Sreepur in May this year.
We raised £740.00 for our mothers and children. The Christmas cards sold well, It was the school half term holiday so lots of children came to the exhibition
Ruby

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October 2016- “Threading Dreams” exhibition in Readers’ Gallery, Calderstones Park

Another excellent “Threading Dreams exhibition at the Readers Gallery, Calderstones Park, Liverpool.
We raised £1121.00 and we met so many lovely people-  some old friends and new,  all interested in my voluntary work at Sreepur over all the years. Please thank all who visited the exhibition and helped to raise this money, people are so kind.
Ruby

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September 2016- update to “Threading Dreams” exhibition at Liverpool Town Hall- message from Rubina Porter MBE

We had an excellent “Threading Dreams” exhibition at Liverpool Town Hall. We raised £3532.00- people are so kind. May I thank all MEG members who came along- you are so supportive of my work at Sreepur. I would  like to thank my sister Kathy for being there each day with me, and also Ken my long-suffering husband for his support.

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August 2016- “Threading Dreams”  at Liverpool Town Hall

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20th July 2016- visit to Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation

Ken and I went to Manchester Central Library to an amazing event. Lynn Setterington, a member of the 62 group and head of textiles at Manchester School of Art,  invited us to an exhibition and presentation held by the Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation.  Lynn has been teaching Kantha embroidery, and it was beautiful. A wonderful evening- Ken did enjoy the curry!  Lynn and I have been friends for many years.

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June 2016- a further update from Rubina Porter MBE

At the beginning of June Janette, Ken and I went to London for the Trustees meeting. It was the day of the Queens Official Birthday Celebrations and one of the trustees,  Dr Sheila Fitzpatrick the wife of Jim Fitzpatrick our patron, was awarded an MBE for her work for charity. We were all delighted. The trustees loved seeing the photos of Shabiter’s embroidery in our exhibition.

 

 

On 15th June Ken and I went to Daventry as Ann Rogers had invited me to talk to the Daventry branch of the guild.  I was  made very welcome and had a lovely evening. We raised £300.00 for Sreepur- they loved all the hand embroidery on the scarves and bags and were so interested in our silk wall hangings, and liked the way our Branch worked together with Sreepur mothers.

 

The Merseyside Women’s Movement held an event at Bluecoat Chambers. They sold Sreepur cards and scarves and £90.00 was raised. This excellent group have been so supportive of Sreepur for many years and raised thousands for our destitute mothers -how kind!

 

 

 2nd June 2016- visit to MEG 60 Glorious Years exhibition at Liverpool Cathedral

Ruby visited Merseyside E.G. “60 Glorious Years” exhibition at Liverpool Cathedral this morning. while she was there she presented an MEG cotton bag made in Sreepur to Liverpool Lord Mayor Cllr. Roz Gladden, who was also visiting the exhibition. There are also photos of some work which is in the exhibition.

Ruby says- ” There are two pieces of work from Shabiter, who is a member of Merseyside E.G. Branch. Shabiter has lived with us in Sreepur since she was about 18 months old. She was abandoned on the street in Dhaka, and the police brought her to Sreepur. She is now about 25 and I have known her for 24 years. Shabiter has a problem with her leg and does not walk so well. She runs the embroidery section and I work closely with her during my visits. The Butterfly Bangladesh silk hanging was made by Sreepur mothers and girls, and also E. G. branch members. The Wild Poppies picture is my own work, painting on silk with embroidery. I have used wheat straw thread spun at Sreepur. I sell it in bundles on my Sreepur stall.”

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21st May 2016- visit to Chelford E.G. branch

I was made very welcome yesterday at the Chelford Branch Exhibition. A lovely day- I

raised £203.00 for the mothers and children at Sreepur. The shoe bags sold well and all the Bangladeshi silk embroidery made by my mothers and girls at Sreepur. Also the silk squares made by members of the Merseyside Branch were much admired by the visitors to this excellent exhibition,
Thank you all at Chelford
Ruby

15th May 2016- Soroptimist International, Widnes

On Sunday I was invited to a cream tea at a hotel in Widnes by the Soroptimist International. It was a lovely afternoon and I met interesting people. The lady in the photo is wearing a Sreepur scarf. They asked the mothers at Sreepur to make 100 scarves for all the members to have as a gift for their 70^th Anniversary. The Sreepur mothers loved doing the embroidery of their logo design, and the members loved them. I was made so welcome when I went in to talk about Sreepur last year.

 

14th May 2016- Merseyside E.G. Summer Tea Party

Rubina Porter MBE and her sister Kathy had a Sreepur stall in Unitarian Church Hall, Liverpool for Merseyside E.G. Summer Tea Party. Ruby reports ” Thank you for a lovely party on Saturday. It was so good to see so many members old and new. We raised £160.00 for Sreepur- how kind.”

 

May 2016- Ruby and Ken have returned safely from Bangladesh

Ruby reports- “It was wonderful, the swimming class liked their armbands. We bought 700 ice creams, and the girl’s cricket team and the babies enjoyed them. Mountain Warehouse have put in more orders for cotton bags, which is great.”

We have lots of photos of Ruby and Ken’s latest trip to Sreepur-

 

May 2016- Rubina Porter MBE is in Bangladesh

Ruby and Ken have gone to Bangladesh for a short visit to Sreepur to visit the mums and babies.  Ruby reports- “At Sreepur all going well and safe not allowed out of the gate can not visit the village mums so sad.”

We wish them both well on their journey, and look forward to lots of photographs on their return to Liverpool.

 

April 2016- Threading Dreams exhibition in St. Barnabus Church, Liverpool

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April 2016- NW Regional Day 2016, Haigh Hall, Wigan

Ruby and Kathy were here with their Sreepur stall. They had a lovely day and met many  friends old and new, who supported the work at The Sreepur Village in Bangladesh. Ruby and Kathy raised £442.00. How kind, an amazing amount! Ruby and Ken are looking forward to their visit to Sreepur, Bangladesh next week with lots of donations of sewing equipment. We wish them bon voyage and look forward to some more lovely photos.

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April 2016- letter in Link newspaper

Ruby was pleased to get a photograph of the Sreepur Threading Dreams  exhibition and her ‘Thank You’ letter published in the Link free newspaper recently. She says –

Hello Ladies,

May I thank you for informing your readers of the exhibition. I was amazed how many readers came to visit us; it all went so well and we raised £1500 for Sreepur- how kind. We had visitors from all over the world enjoying our wonderful city and I was so proud. Threading Dreams exhibition will be at St. Barnabus Church, Penny Lane, Liverpool L18 between April 25 and 30, from 11am to 4pm each day. It’s a beautiful church, which is 100 years old, so do come and visit our exhibition, buy a cup of tea and meet the lovely people from St. Barnabus. Bring a friend- you will all be made very welcome.

Thank you once again,

Ruby

Rubina Porter MBE, Trustee

letter re.Rubina Porter MBE in Link , April 2016

 

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March 2016- visit to Heswall Patchwork group

I spent a lovely morning with the Heswall Patchwork group. I first talked to them some

years ago. They all enjoyed my update on the work at Sreepur and my slides. I showed them one of the first Industrial sewing machines I bought with a donation from one of their members- it’s still sewing well.  Parul who is disabled has the use of this machine, I had it modified for her to use. Parul has been living at Sreepur since she was a baby and she is now a mum with a little boy of her own. Her husband is employed as a guard at Sreepur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 February 2016- update to Threading Dreams exhibition

May I thank all our members who visited the Sreepur exhibition at Liverpool Cathedral last week. It all went so well with lots of visitors from all over the world. I had a lovely week talking about my work in Bangladesh.

The beautiful Bangladesh silk wall hangings with embroidery from our branch member and the girls and mothers from Sreepur looked lovely in this magnificent Cathedral and very much admired by our visitors, plus the traditional Kantha work made by amazing women in adverse poverty.
We raised £1500.00. People are so kind- all this money will go to the Sreepur Village in Bangladesh.
Ruby

 

February 2016- Threading Dreams exhibition

Ruby has been busy all this week from 14th February to 20th February with her Sreepur charity stall and Threading Dreams exhibition of kantha embroidery at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. There are hand made cards, silk scarves and other gifts for sale, and she has sent us some photographs.

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January 2016 -Sreepur bags with MEG logo

Merseyside Embroiderers’ Guild are having some bags made in Sreepur which feature the new MEG logo. Ruby has just sent some photos of these bags in production in Sreepur, and they look fabulous! They will soon be available to purchase at MEG meetings and exhibitions, and on Ruby’s Sreepur stall.