In conversation with The Quilters’ Guild

The Quilters’ Guild is the national organisation for people involved in patchwork and quilting, whether you are a beginner, an experienced quilter or someone interested in the history and development of patchwork and quilting. Founded in 1979 by a group of quilting enthusiasts, it has grown from a founding membership of 300 to over 6,500 individual members today.
We are delighted to have them as part of Prosper North’s first cohort and to be able to support their business growth. 

Can you tell us a bit more about your organisation and your mission?
The Quilters’ Guild was founded by a group of committed quilters in 1979, it later became The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (The Guild).  The Guild is a membership organisation, and a registered educational charity since 1983.
It is the national organisation for people involved in patchwork and quilting and has over 7,000 members and Affiliated Groups.  The Guild is celebrating its 40 Birthday this year!

The Quilters’ Guild is open to everyone and is run by its members.
We bring together quilters in a spirit of friendship and learning. We promote quilt-making in all its forms across the UK.
As an educational charity we preserve the heritage of quilting and work to ensure a vibrant future for the craft’.

There are 18 regions across Britain that provide regional and area days for members and none members. There are also five specialist groups that cater for specialist interests with challenges, meetings, retreats and summer schools. Members have plenty of opportunity to join in, learn something new and make new friends – just what The Quilters’ Guild is all about. We have a Young Quilters section for 5 to 18 year olds, our volunteers work with these young people to help them to develop their sewing and quilting skills and their work is displayed at exhibitions and entered into competitions. (see pic x 1 attached)
The Guild Office at York also houses our Accredited Museum Collection of historic and contemporary quilts.  We have one of the largest collections of British quilts, with over 800 quilted items including the world famous 1718 Coverlet, the oldest dated quilt in Britain.  Quilts from the Collection are displayed in other museums and at events such as the Festival of Quilts, held at the NEC Birmingham which has over 25,000 visitors over 4 days each year.   Quilts from the Collection are travelling to The Tokyo International Great Quilt festival 2020 which takes place in January.We also have a large Library Collection which is housed in York and at Bolton University library.
The Guild also has a subsidiary trading arm, Festival of Quilts Ltd (trading as QGBI Enterprises) which was incorporated in 1998. The profits made by the subsidiary are Gifted to The Guild annually. https://www.quiltersguildshop.org.uk/

What appeals to you / your organisation about the Prosper North programme?
Having the opportunity to have an external business adviser take an independent look at what we are doing and giving us the benefit of their expertise.

 What do you hope Prosper North can help you with?
Our current Business Plan finishes in 2020 and we hope that the programme will help ensure we have a strong business plan for 2020 to 2025.