More than 3,500 people are involved in hundreds of projects nationwide. They help conserve our heritage for future generations by stewarding, cataloguing, conserving books, textiles, armour and weaponry in historic houses, libraries and museums.

Needlework at Much Marcle

We tend to think of the work of heritage volunteers as being concerned with conserving old pieces, but at Hellens Manor it has been taken a further step.

Two years ago the heritage volunteer team which is drawn from the societies at Ross on Wye, Malvern Hills, and Hereford, decided on their most ambitious project to date - to make a brand new piece of crewel work, eleven metres long, which to me is reminiscent of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the history of the house 

Crewel work, which dates back at least a thousand years is a type of surface embroidery usually on linen, using 2 ply worsted wool. The oldest surviving known piece of crewel work embroidery is the Bayeux Tapestry.  40 different kinds of stitch are used in the Hellens piece and these have been taught to the twelve individual needlewomen by Sally Ziesler who is leading the project.

Some of the team, together with the house management researched the first thousand years of the history of the house, and others designed the piece. The design was then drawn onto tracing paper, and the stitching, which will take about five years, has now begun.

First of all, samples are made of the motifs to check the choice of stitches and the colour choices, and three months ago work began on the wording along the top and bottom of the piece. At the top is the history of the house and along the bottom key events in history. The central zone contains most of the action, which takes place in chronological order. Events take place in a long series of scenes which are generally separated by depictions of various kinds of trees.

A frame has been designed to hold the finished piece in the minstrels’ gallery, at Hellens where it will fit exactly round the room, and will be seen by the public from the Great Hall below.

‘Hellens, a History in Stitches’ is now in its final few months with most of the main scenes now completed, and work now progressing onto the landscape. This impressive work will hang in the Minstrels' Gallery above the Great Hall. UCL have made suggestions as to how best to hang it and prepare the space. There will also need to be lighting in the gallery in advance of next season, when it should hopefully be completed and on display.

‘Hellens, a History in Stitches’ is now in its final few months with most of the main scenes now completed, and work now progressing onto the landscape. This impressive work will hang in the Minstrels' Gallery above the Great Hall. UCL have made suggestions as to how best to hang it and prepare the space. There will also need to be lighting in the gallery in advance of next season, when it should hopefully be completed and on display.

Conservation work at Hellens continues with the completion of a new pair of curtains and pelmet for the White Dining Room. The bed hangings in Mary Tudor’s room have been repaired and we are now working on the re-upholstery and conservation of two backless chairs that match two in the Music room.

About Hellens

Hellens Manor Much Marcle in Herefordshire is one of the oldest dwellings in England, primarily composed of Tudor, Jacobean, and Georgian architecture, but the foundations date from the 12th century, with some elements older still. After the conquest William the Conqueror gave the manor to his Standard Bearer Walter de Lacey.

Heritage Volunteering in the West Mercia Area

• Blockley - Conservation of 19th century dresses and books at Chastleton House and Court Barn Museum, conservation of tapestries at Sudeley Castle, altar frontal at Blockley Church, restoration of textiles at Broughton Castle, cleaning of historical drawings at Hart Silversmith's, Chipping Campden and stewarding at Court Barn Museum, Chipping Campden and the Gordon Russell Museum in Broadway
• Bristol -  The Heritage Volunteers are continuing with their long-standing work restoring the textiles in Bristol Cathedral. They have so far clocked up 8 years doing this on Monday afternoons and as you know, the team was awarded the Group Award in the recent Marsh Awards presented at the AGM a few weeks ago.
• Cardiff - Llandaff Cathedral for Heritage volunteers. We are hoping to be involved here. Since Covid there has been much less involvement with The Glamorgan Archives, one of our members helps there once a fortnight. 
• Cheltenham - front of house duties at Holst Birth Place Museum, restoration of an altar frontal in a Cotswold church, working with the National Trust at Chedworth Roman Villas and research for the Garden History Project.
• Cirencester - stewarding at Corinium Museum and Kelmscott Manor, covers for historic clothes and uniforms at Corinium Museum and textiles conservation in a local church.
• Corinium - volunteers at Kelmscott Manor and the New Brewery Arts Centre in Cirencester.
• Evesham - Conservation of altar frontal and creation of veil and burse for the communion chalice at Stanton Church and volunteer at the Court Barn Museum, Chiping Campden.
• Hereford -  At Hellens' Manor volunteers are working on a 'Hellens Bayeux' crewelwork frieze for the minstrels' gallery illustrating the history of the house
• Malvern Hills - The volunteers are working on replica chair covers at Hartlebury Castle.
• They are repairing copes belonging to Gloucester Cathedral.
• At Hellens they are embarking on a project to create an embroidered banner depicting the history of the house.
• Conservation of the pattern books at the Worcester Porcelain Museum continues.
• Guiding is carried out at Little Malvern Court twice a week between April and July.

• Monmouthshire - Conservation of books at The Mather Jackson Library in the Sessions House, Usk and restoration of antique costumes at Burton Court.

• Ross-on-Wye - Making crewel work curtains for the music room at Hellens, Much Marcle. Strip and reupholster 2 chairs to match 2 previously upholstered chairs in the music room. Two volunteers work here on a Thursday morning.
• Severn Valley - We are nearing the completion of the Conservation of an Altar Cloth from St Mary;s Church Bitton, outside Bristol. which bears the date 1663 and dedicated to the memory of Sir John Seymour.It is thought that the Cloth was made in about 1720. It is of coarse blue wool embroidered around the edges and with a central motif and lined with linen. The Cloth had been assessed by a professional Conservator but the cost was too much for the Church to bear. The Church wardens were happy for us as amateur conservators with considerable experience to undertake most of the work that had been identified.Consequently we have separated the upper cloth from the lining, cleaned both layers with a low powered vacuum cleaner and patched numerous moth holes with a compatible colour wool felt.The lining was too small for the top layer causing it to ruckle up so we extended the lining on one side.We are now stitching the two layers back together and will probably have finished by the time of your meeting. At present we do not have the next project lined up but we want to continue working together. 
• Teme Valley - Garden project at Abberley Hall and costume making at Berrington Hall.
• West Gloucestershire - compiling a photographic catalogue of the collection at the Nature in Art Gallery, Gloucester, revising the history of Wallsworth Hall and photographing the collection at Berkeley Castle.
• West Wales - The Heritage Volunteers are continuing with their long-standing work restoring the textiles in Bristol Cathedral. They have so far clocked up 8 years doing this on Monday afternoons and as you know, the team was awarded the Group Award in the recent Marsh Awards presented at the AGM a few weeks ago.                                                             We have also helped to set up a small second-hand book shop at the Castle. The family of the previous Director, Dai Evans, had generously donated his extensive collection of classic and contemporary books to help set up the shop to assist with fundraising efforts. We continue to sort and shelve books donated to the shop and understand that the enterprise makes a welcome contribution to funds which are allocated to the maintenance of the library collection.       We have commenced a new activity; the recording of the collection of Victorian and Edwardian Toys and Games donated by the Stimson family. These are to be displayed in a new exhibition space in one of the castle rooms to be made accessible to the public. There is still plenty of work to keep us busy and I would like to thank our splendid team of volunteers who continue to give their time and enthusiasm to this project.
• Worcester - Conserving Royal Worcester pattern books at Dyson Perrins Museum.
• Repair and restoration of church textiles, making new offertory bags and embroidering a new lecturn fall at Worcester Cathedral.
• The latest projects have been replicating sun-damaged chaircovers for chairs in the saloon at Hartlebury Castle, originally worked by Lady Julia Carew in the early 20th Century.