Since our initial meetings a couple of months ago where we established the Lacemakers of Tomorrow community, and sought views to inform our focus, Caroline and I have been working hard behind the scenes to bring things to life.
Our significant first step was to apply for funding to set up and run a mentoring scheme for new lace teachers in the UK. Two of the key reasons that bobbin lacemaking was categorised as ‘endangered’ in the Heritage Crafts 2025 Red List was that there is a lack of teachers and an aging demographic whose skills and knowledge are being lost. By matching aspiring teachers with experienced lacemakers and teachers through mentoring, we can address both of these issues at once. We’re still awaiting the outcome of our application but Caroline will be discussing this in further detail at our next event, this Sunday evening.
We’re planning further webinars over the summer to respond to the key issues our community need to support their lace teaching. I’ll post details here and you can follow myself (@catternlace) and Caroline (@englishlacemaker) on Instagram for updates.
We were also featured in a national magazine which will hopefully raise the profile of the craft and our initiative:
If you’re a UK-based lace teacher – existing or aspiring- and would like to be involved, or find out more, please just get in touch.
Cattern Lace 
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