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Monday, April 16, 2012

Wearable Art in the Blackball Hilton

You just never know what you will find as you travel around.  Here I was, miles away from anywhere, in the famous “Formerly the Blackball Hilton Hotel”?  I’m not really one to frequent pubs, I hasten to add, but this wonderful old historic hotel was at the heart of the Blackball Mine Strike, and the Labour political party started here, quite possibly planned in the very bar we were sitting in.  Hanging in an adjacent room were several garments from a recent wearable art competition.  The garments seem to have been made from recycled materials.
DSCF0812 Wearable Art – Blackball style
DSCF0814Pretty in pink
DSCF0816Made from a dress pattern
As I sipped my latte and Robin enjoyed his handle of beer, I looked around at all the memorabilia on the walls.  The Blackball Mine strike lasted for three long months, and was over the right to take a 30 minute lunch break, instead of just 15 minutes which the company insisted on. This brought about the start of Trade Unions, and the birth of the Labour political party, so history was made in this little mining town.   
But what’s this I see hanging on the wall?  It looks rather like a quilt to me.  Closer inspection showed that it was not a quilt as it did not contain any batting, but a very pretty coverlet made from strips of silk and satin.  Although the bar maid could tell me it was made by a local stitcher, she did not know how or why it was hanging in the bar.  Mmmm, a bit of a mystery, but a very pretty item indeed.
DSCF0809 Hanging in the bar
DSCF0806(Formerly) The Blackball Hilton Hotel

1 comment:

Blackball Bling said...

Hi there, the Wall Hanging you have on your page was made by myself, It was originally a pull up blind, was commissioned by Jane Wells when she owned the pub, and at that time my business was know as Busstop Crafts, [now Currantly Oddfellows]Around this time I also made vests, often working through the night for travellers. I am again working on vests and you can see them on my facebook pages, and I also have a blog, not sure it is polite to post links as a comment here though. Blackball Bling is visable via google...Regards Wendi aka RBMc