Sunday, July 15, 2007

Distance Club News

With Nola's permission, here are a few excerpts from her recent article in the July Record about her travels with her husband Laurie, promoting "Fun with Stitches" and meeting current and possible new students.

"Laurie and I travelled to far West NSW in April... at White Cliffs and Wanaaring. The highlight of our trip...for me was meeting two of our Distance Club students at Wanaaring and being priveledged to spend a couple of hours with them, their younger sister and mother. I was able to show Sigrid and Erin how to make two of the braids ...Judith Langdon had taught the YTFG leaders at the ALM.. with kits Judith sent for them. They quickly picked up the technique and by the time I left each of the girls had made two different braids.

I was also shown the school room where the girls do their Distance Ed lesson from Cobar school and heard them both play the keyboard. The lessons for this they have via the telephone! (their mother) Anya, a non-embroiderer, has always wanted the girls to learn to sew and had tried to teach them from books and magazines. However, she is finding the task much simpler as she told me the "Fun with Stitches" instructions are very clear and easy to follow. She also mentioned how excited the girls are when they see their work on the Guild website.

We met a lady who lives 50km from Louth and is the casual teacher for both Louth and Wanaaring schools. She spends two days a week at each of the one teacher / eight pupil schools, travelling many kilometres on unsealed roads to assist the teachers. White Cliffs also has a small school, one teacher and nine pupils. It is very rewarding to meet the people in the far-off towns of our state and especially to meet Distance Club students. We are always excited to have new students for "Fun with Stitches" so if you know of a young person between the ages of 8 and 18, please let us know."

STOP PRESS We have just enrolled our first overseas student, in Singapore! More details later.