AFTER two years of planning and endless knitting, two local women have transformed Fairfield Farm College into a woolly wonderland, delighting visitors.
Local women Lynne Vercoe and Penny Hill are members of the Woolly Wednesday club that meet every week at the college’s cafe. Wanting to help raise the profile of the college, the pair came up with the idea for the yarnbombing.
The two years of hard work has paid off with visitors thrilled by the results. “People’s reactions have been absolutely amazing. The smiles and the chuckles as they stumble across the surprises has been priceless,” said Penny.
“The reaction to it all has surpassed what we could’ve hoped for, everybody has smiled and what more could you ask for than to make somebody smile?”
Lynne added, “They’ve loved the bees and the woolly wysteria. The butterfly bush has created a lot of conversation. Buddleia bush is also known as the butterfly bush, so that was the inspiration behind that.”
A small woolly bicycle that is the handiwork of Penny, has also proved a popular attraction, “I’m really glad I didn’t do a full-size bike! It lived in my sitting room for three months as you have to keep measuring what you are doing,” said Penny.
Whilst raising the profile of the college, the yarnbombing has also helped in other ways. “We have also managed to raise some money for the college,” said Lynne. “People have been asking to buy the bees and butterflies, so we have been going home each evening and making more to sell. So that’s an added bonus. Something we didn’t anticipate happening.”
Penny added, “The money will help towards the indoor horse arena that the college are trying to build.”
Once the woolly exhibition comes to an end, the good work of the pair won’t be going to waste. Penny explained, “The squares that we and the community have made are going to be turned into blankets for the homeless.”
