See all that bunting in the photo below? In Yarndale's first year, hundreds of people around the world made all those triangles to decorate the hall. Lucy received thousands of triangles and it looks amazing. I made a few myself. In year two, she asked for mandalas. Again thousands arrived - including mine. (You can see them on display again on the Attic 24 link above.)
This year, it was flowers that were requested. Sheila, in the photo below, wanted to raise funds for the Alzheimers Society and thought crocheted flowers could be used to make brooches, corsages, floral wreaths etc and then sold. "Flowers for Memories" was the tagline. Again, hundreds of people made and sent in thousands of flowers and they were able to make the most incredible display.
(To my shame, I simply never found the time to make any, although I meant to from the moment I first read about it as my mother died from Alzheimers.)
Ever since the show back in Sept, I've been checking both Lucy's blog and the Yarndale pages for news of how the flowers were going to be sold and intended to buy several myself and then give as gifts to family and friends, with a note saying where they were from and why.
However, reading Lucy's blog today, it seems that so many of the visitors to this years Yarndale said it would be a real shame to break up the display and it should "go on show" for more people to enjoy. So rather than sell the flowers, they requested donations from people asking to take photos. And they raised a whopping £1800 over the 2 days.
The whole thing sounded amazing and I wish I had been there to see it - I would gladly have given a donation, then made my own flower. I left a comment this morning and I've just gone back for another looking while writing this post and started reading the comments other people had left...some of them were vile, complaining that they had been lied to as they made flowers to be sold and now they wouldn't be. I didn't read many of them. I just couldn't.
Just look at the joy on Sheila's face with the reactions the display received. To see the whole display in "the flesh" must have been quite overwhelming and emotional and anyone who has been touched by Alzheimers would completely understand the decision not to sell.
So I think as a tribute to Sheila and Lucy's amazing efforts, I will be making some flower brooches over the coming weeks and giving them to family and friends. And for every flower, I will make a donation. So sucks to all the people who left those nasty comments - you should be ashamed.
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