QUEEN'S SEWING BEE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 15, 18 January 1940, Page 14

QUEEN'S SEWING BEE

HER MOTHER'S EXAMPLE

PRIDE IN THE WORK

People are full of admiration for the Queen's sewing bee at Buckingham Palace, and very interested to hear that her Majesty and her staff are concentrating on the kind of comforts which the British Red Cross Society are likely to require if, and when, the first batches of wounded soldiers are evacuated from France to the voluntary hospitals in England and in Scotland, states the "Queen." When Glamis was a Red Cross hospital during the last war, the Queen's mother, the late Lady Strathmore, could never have enough warm woollen garments for her soldier patients. It was her delight to keep the castle cupboards as full as they would hold of pyjama suits, body belts, woollen shirts, bed socks, ordinary socks, and so on, and her daughter, Lady Rose Bowes-Lyon—Countess Granville now —who was in charge, having trained previously as a nurse in one of the London hospitals, can recall the satisfaction which her mother felt at having such stocks of things to "go at" when fresh convoys of wounded arrived from time to time at the castle. PERSONAL SERVICE. The Queen probably had this in mind when, watching the preparations which women were making at the beginning of the present conflict, she cast about for some piece of personal service which she could inaugurate. She is delighted afresh every time a pair of socks, a suit of pyjamas, or a body belt is finished to add to her stock, and takes a great pride in the quality of the work which is being done. The sewing bee was organised by her Majesty for Buckingham Palace alone. Friends of the Queen would, of course, be welcome if they dropped in now and again, but the original idea was that women members of the household staff, the wives of outdoor employees of .their Majesties, the ladies-, in-waiting, and those in personal contact with the Queen should sew and knit together as part of their war work. So far, her Majesty has preferred to sew at each of the gatherings. She is a beautiful needlewoman and really enjoys the feel of material between her fingers, and the taking of tiny stitches. She often sewed for her children when she was Duchess of York, but for some years now, especially since she became Queen, she has had very little leisure to sit for very long with a piece of work in her hands. KNITTING AS WELL. Knitting is being done at the sewing bee as well as needlework, and the members wind their own wool and work out their designs from the official patterns of socks and belts and other comforts that have been issued from time to time.

The Queen bought quantities of wool in Service colours, and great bales of material, before she instituted her working parties, and all kinds of garments have been cut out by experts from the patterns which the Red Cross prefer.

Most of the arrangements were made in the first place by Mrs. Ferguson, her Majesty's capable and efficient housekeeper at the Palace.