MASTER craftsman David Packwood has been making corn dollies for over 50 years. At the age of seven he was captivated after seeing a small one made in a cornfield and has been making them ever since. His splendid collection is to go on show for three months at Bewdley Museum.
Believing that with competition from television and computers games, today it takes more than a cleverly woven batch of straw to capture the imagination of young people.
He said: "I thought big and decided to concentrate on 6ft and 9ft high sculptures creating them into knights and maidens and hoping that youngsters will become interested enough to pass the craft on to the next generation.
"At the 1951 Festival Of Britain in London, I was impressed by two large straw sculptures and, as far as I know, I am the only master craftsman in the country today making them," he added.
Last week, backed by the Elmley Small Grants Arts Fund, and Rural Response, David Packwood held a Mother Earth workshop in Tenbury Methodist Church Hall, that featured a 6ft fertility figure which needed to be completed. The finished piece will be displayed at venues in Tenbury.
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