SHAWLS, COPES and CANARIES

Norwich City Football Club has changed its logo to mark its 120th anniversary.
The updated branding includes a new badge that has been modernised for the "digital age" and a new typeface called "Norwich Weave". The club said it consulted with supporters and was "proud of our history and the connection the club has with the heart of the city".  The branding "pays homage to Norwich's industrial past, when during the 16th Century the textile and weaving industry in the town boomed following an influx of refugees from the Spanish Netherlands, known as 'The Strangers'"  (who incidentally introduced canaries to Norwich). The Norwich Weave typeface has been specially created for the club.  It was two years in the planning and demonstrates the importance of textiles  to the city.

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At the AGM at the end of May we had the rare pleasure of examining some beautiful Victorian  Norwich shawls in the collections of some of our members and learning more about them from  resident experts Helen Hoyte and Joy Evitt.   These exceptionally fine textiles were of premium quality, they were a favourite of Queen Victoria and were exported around the world.  It was wonderful to see these precious textiles close-up, to learn more of how they were manufactured and discover how these huge pieces of cloth 12ft (3.6m) wide, would have been folded and worn over a lady's crinoline.   

Another treat for textile fans was the chance to see a splendid exhibition of exquisitely embroidered ecclesiastical textiles which bedecked St Peter Mancroft church over the Jubilee weekend.  Church raiments, copes, altar pieces, pennants glowed with colour in the medieval building and it was a great chance to see how fashions have changed across the decades even in these conservative textiles.  Alongside intricately stitched traditional goldwork and hand embroidery, were copes adorned with chinese silks incorporating buddhist symbols of good luck, some even experimented with tie-dye  -  a great celebration of the creativity of makers.