Adrienne Thunder: Lace Maker of Rothbury. Guest article by Janet Hardie.

Adrienne modelling two scarves and bag, all made by her.

Crafts of any sort did not feature in Adrienne's early life, though her mother always knitted. She recollected, almost in horror, being given a ball of hard, dark wool at primary school and made to knit a pair of socks which she did very badly.

However, she eventually started knitting in her teens.

When I commented on a ball of what looked like wool on the sofa she told me about an on-going knitting project here in Rothbury - a generous donation had been made to the W.I. of a quantity of cotton (not wool) to make a double bedspread to be auctioned for charity.

Adrienne had married David Thunder in 1971 and they moved to Rothbury in 1978 when David started work at Northumberland County Council.

They had two children, Richard and Lucy, and when Adrienne was pregnant she felt she needed to be occupied, and as her mother-in-law did canvas work Adrienne took up her needle and made her first cushion cover in 1974.

She found she was particularly adept at following pattern instructions and steadily began trying her hand at several different crafts.

I asked Adrienne when she became interested in lace making and who had influenced her. It wasn't until 1998 that she decided to have a go, “though I had resisted for a long time as I knew if I started lace making it would take over my life - I had a feeling there would be a total commitment, which is exactly what happened.”

Three things encouraged her to act - Richard her son moved to middle school in Rothbury, her father died, and Adrienne was given his car, so they became a two-car family and then Kirkley Hall announced the start of a lace making course.

She talked with enthusiasm about the two women who had clearly made a huge difference to her chosen craft.

Adrienne was influenced by lace maker Audrey Fairbairn, sadly no longer with us, who taught craft classes at the then thriving Adult Association in Rothbury. She was shown the process of lace-making and sat down with a lace making book and made a piece of lace carefully following the instructions.

Gil Dye was her tutor at Kirkley Hall in 1988 where Adrienne attended the lace making course. Gil subsequently became a very good friend and colleague and she and Adrienne combined forces to make a lovely instruction book entitled 'Bobbin Lace' full of clear diagrams and colourful photographs.

Through the influence and friendship of these two women Adrienne's own expertise is now much sought after, and not only does she teach lace making, but is often called upon to give demonstrations.

At this point she told me an interesting story about visiting Japan, first in 2007, three times altogether.

Apparently, department stores in Japanese cities often have large event rooms at the stores' top level where residents socialise and attend organised events.

A Japanese company invited her, as an Honoured Visitor, with all expenses paid, to provide six days of demonstrations on lace making at a British Fair.

“The whole experience was absolutely fascinating” and she had to learn quickly all the unwritten rules and Do's and Don'ts of polite Japanese society so as not to offend.

She sold some of her lace whilst there at a good price as it was much valued, including an unfinished cross stitch, at the insistence of the buyer.

She wrote an article about the trip for the Lace Guild magazine of which Adrienne is a member - she was in fact its Chair in 2005.

She was a studious child and gained a scholarship to King Edward VI High school for Girls in Birmingham. From there she went on to Hull University where she studied geography which she loved.

At the end of her degree Adrienne was invited to stay on as a research assistant in the geography department and gained her PhD. Her position was sponsored by British Transport Docks to do background research in the deep-water port of Immingham.

After University, Adrienne decided on a complete change of career and gained a teaching certificate, feeling that it was right move for her. She became a primary school teacher and those skills helped in later years when teaching adults.

Adrienne has always enjoyed teaching and laughingly said, “Teaching adults turned out to be no different from teaching 5-year-olds!”

Adrienne has taught not just lace making but other crafts too, and has run numerous evening classes, as well as weekend and holiday courses, throughout the county.

We talked about photography briefly, as Adrienne has a reputation of being a good photographer. At the early age of eight or nine she had been given a Box Brownie camera and then for her 18th birthday was given a 35mm camera; “I'm not very good, but perhaps a bit above average - I can get a straight horizon!” she said.

Her photographs are her visual memory of all the travelling she undertook with David. She has shown her photographs at W.I. talks, using her slides but now uses PowerPoint for her presentations - she commented that she had probably talked to every W.I. in Northumberland.

Adrienne showed me the various projects she was working on at the time of our interview, saying she always had different ideas on the go - “probably too many!” There were four or five pieces underway, all of them of her own design.

She explained the different methods used - lacemaking is a the process of “free weaving”; the basic stitch uses four bobbins and pins support threads when they change direction with the pinholes marked on a pattern or pricking under the work; the lovely threads and silks (the more delicate and expensive ones coming from America); the stuffed pillows which are used to support each piece of work, filled with chopped straw, polystyrene or even sawdust.

One beautiful piece of work, using metallic threads and beads, had won a trophy at the Guild's Biennual exhibition - she described it as a Bucks Point hexagonal with a modern twist making it into a spiral.

The bobbins used are all very colourful and delicate. Indeed, they are a work of art in themselves with each one telling its own story. Some are more identifiable than others and Adrienne pointed out one that an Australian friend had sent; others that was antiques, and one that was hollowed out with its own tiny bobbin within the hollow.

Adrienne kindly gave me a tour of her house showing many of her framed creations on the walls. Some small, some large, a few behind glass, others not. She particularly appreciates knot garden patterns and had made several knot garden creations from her own designs.

A most spectacular piece was a three-dimensional theatrical creation made in the 2000s. Called 'Deep in the Forest', it had been displayed in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry for a competition. At the flick of a switch the small stage could be lit up giving a truly magical effect. If you peered through the tree trunks you could see a small green dancing figure - an elf perhaps?

It was made by a group of lace-makers, including Adrienne, who met on the C&G course and continued to meet weekly for many years after the course finished.

I left Adrienne and her exquisite creations with the impression that her hands are never at rest. She has such a need to Create, that I imagine her mind must be full of designs floating around waiting to become reality.

What a gifted person she is, with her unique skills. I felt very much like an Honoured Guest to have talked with her about her craft and to have seen so many of her beautiful pieces.