Crafters of all ages are dusting off their sewing machines and seeking out remnants of fabric to make bunting to adorn the medieval village of Dunster this summer. The brainchild of the team at the Dunster Tourism Forum (DTF), the idea is to bring the community together to make this beautiful village even more attractive to visitors once lockdown is over.
The DTF has been amazed by the response to their call for willing crafters to help sew their way to a pretty display of hand-made bunting this summer. People up and down the village – as well as Exmoor locals who love Dunster – have answered the call to create bunting flags from old curtains and duvet covers, scraps of dressmaking material and unwanted clothing. The plan is to decorate the village from the Visitor Centre, down through the High Street, up Church Street, West Street and to the GP Surgery at the end of the village. Our wonderful beach chalet community are also coming together to create bunting across the iconic waterfront.
Andy Rice, Chairman of the DTF says: “It’s been heart-warming to see the massive response to what was just one Facebook post asking for volunteers to help decorate our village this summer as we look forward to the end of lockdown. Even though we can’t be together in person at the moment, this community effort has been a great way of our villagers keeping in touch with each other, and maintaining our ‘can do’ spirit. Plus with so many people getting involved, we’ve got our eye on the Guinness World Record for the longest hand-made bunting in the UK – but we’ll need a lot more volunteers to achieve that.”
Villager Susan Ashton is leading the volunteers, and hopes many more people will come forward to create bunting flags in their spare hours during this extended lockdown period. While strictly exercising social distancing, crafters are following a pattern and ‘how to’ videos posted on the community’s Facebook page, and delivering them to Susan who will bring them all together.
Susan says: “The bunting is easy to make, so stitchers of all levels of expertise can get involved. It’s a great way to spend time during lockdown, and to use up scraps of fabric and material, which has the added benefit of making it a sustainable activity. I’ve been posting videos on Facebook to show how to cut the template and construct the bunting, and I’m enjoying that so much that we have a Zoom chat planned where we can show each other what we’ve created.”
If you’d like to be part of this community effort, and help us achieve that Guinness World Record, please contact bunting@group365.co.uk to get involved. You don’t need to live or work in Dunster, and all contributors will be mentioned on our Facebook page and entered into a prize draw to win one of four vouchers worth £15 to spend in the village.
Full information, templates and a helpful video can be found on their Facebook page.
Photo credit: Nina Dodd Photography.
