THE Reverend Olwen Woolcock, who is curate at Claines church, was the speaker at our last meeting.

Olwen went to school in Wales, where she learnt to sew. Before she took up her present occupation, she was a teacher of crafts. A love of fabrics has been one of the main reasons for Olwen's interest in making patchwork.

Patchwork is as old as history. If you look back to pre-Christian times, mediaeval paintings show patchwork in them. Patchwork was used to repair clothes. By the 17th Century, it had become much easier to print fabrics, quilts were then made out of oddments of material using patchwork.

Quilt making became very popular in the US. Young girls were expected to make 13 quilts before they were married to form a hope chest. Early quilts were quite simple - nowadays there is block patchwork and crazy patchwork, to name but two. Scraps of material are no longer used, in fact shops sell cut patchwork of new material ready to use.

We were assured that patchwork is not as hard as it looks. Everyone admired the samples and the quilt Olwen made for her daughter.

On May 24 at 7.45pm at the Young Peoples leisure Centre, Droitwich Road, Worcester, Mrs Waldron will talk about the History Of Teddy Bears. All visitors are very welcome.