Battle Of Britain Lace Panel

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 October 1948, Page 4

Battle Of Britain Lace Panel

Exhibition At Marton And Other District Centres

Commemorating the Battle of Britain, a remarkable lace panel, measuring 15ft. by 65ft., is to be on display in Marton on Monday, and later in the week at Raetihi and Ohakune. Also on display will be Hitler’s first secret weapon, the VI Jet-pro-pelled bomb.

This display, which is to be brought to Wanganui city in November during the organisation of an industries fair in the Drill Hall, is being arranged with the kind co-operation of the New Zealand Air Force, and :.e funds raised are to go towards t*e Wanganui Memorial Hall project, for which the greatest queen carnival ever promoted in the Wanganui district is now being organised. Woven into the intricate design of the lace panel, which is an outstanding exhibit and took two years to design and produce, are incidents of, the Battle of Britain and the bombing of London. Aircraft, guns and parachutes are reproduced correctly in amazing detail, St. Raul’s, soaring triumphanlty above the battered city, provides the keynote of the whole design. The crests of the Empire forces and the national emblems of their countrmies surmount the design. The badge of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, with the national fern leaf, occupies the top left-hand corner of the panel.

Thirty-six copies of the panel have been made by the lace-makers, Dobsons and M. Browne and Co., Ltd., of Nottingham. The jacquard, a perforated cardboard belt controlling the operation of the loom, was destroyed when the work was finished to ensure that the design can never be repeated. The first panel was given to Mr. Winston Churchill, and three have been presented to the Royal Ait Force. Two of these hang in the head quarters of Nos. 11 and 12 Fighter Groups and the third is in thi R.A.F. chapel at Southwell Minstei, near Nottingham. Another panel has been esnt to the BJurgomaster at Appledoorn, in Holland, Nottingham’s “adopted” city In Europe; others have gone to Australia and South Africa, and one has come to New Zealand, that which is to be exhibited at Marton, Raetihi and Ohakune next week, later at Taihape and Wanganui. The remaining panels are being presented to the mayors o London, Beckenham, Croydon and Sheerness. The designer, Mr Harry Cross, aged 73, began to prepare the panel in 1944, working from photographs, drawings and postcards. After draughtsmen completed the master drawing of 75 square feet of paper, nearly 40,000 jacquard cards were punched to form the master cardboard belt guiding the loom.