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By A Thread - Embroidery & Needlework in Wartime

10th February - 22nd May 2024

During the First World War, two million soldiers were injured, a quarter of whom experienced life changing wounds. To aid their recovery, many of these with long-term conditions were trained to make embroidery. This had both a therapeutic effect on recuperation and for a few also an economic value, as unfit for any other work, some retired veterans made needlework to sell. Soldiers on the frontline also acquired embroidery works as souvenirs to bring home for family and sweethearts. Through thirty previously unseen works, this exhibition explores a range of embroidery spanning the late Victorian period through until the Suez Crisis of 1956.

This show is a visual spectacle which will interest those fascinated by the quirkier aspects of well-known history, those who enjoy and engage in embroidery and needlework and others who would like to explore a different aspect of the personal histories of the soldiers of the County regiment who fought through the World Wars.

Entry is included in the general admission to the museum.