Arts and crafts

I enjoyed this year’s Easter Show more than I anticipated, not least because I won a couple of ribbons for bookbinding! In the ‘cased-in binding’ class I entered a quarter-bound, square-backed cased-in book with slipcase, and in the ‘any other style of bound book’ class I entered a coptic book. The arts and crafts competitions began in the nineteenth century and were held ‘for the ladies’, the main categories being scone and fruitcake baking, preserves, crochet and knitting. These categories have grown to include—to name just a few—cake decorating and sugar art, paper tole, woodwork, lacemaking, felting, embroidery, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, parchment craft, toymaking and quilling. This year’s display was an impressive testament that arts and crafts is alive and well.