The Berwick Tablecloth is a two-day participatory embroidery workshop led by artist Cath Campbell, and inspired by the historic Mons Tablecloth held in The King’s Own Scottish Borderers Museum archives.
The project invites members of the public, volunteers, community groups and visitors to contribute their own embroidered signature or stitched mark to a collective textile artwork. Individual pieces will later be joined together to form a large communal tablecloth that reflects shared histories, hospitality, remembrance and connection.
The workshops will run alongside the exhibition programme at Hide Hill and be designed as welcoming, relaxed drop-in sessions open to all levels of experience.
The project takes inspiration from the Mons Tablecloth, an embroidered cloth held in the KOSB collection. In August 1914, KOSB officers shared a meal with a Belgian family near Mons, signing a tablecloth afterwards as a gesture of remembrance. Years later, the family had carefully embroidered each signature, transforming the cloth into a lasting memorial and treasured regimental object.
This workshop reimagines that act of collective making in a contemporary community context — creating a new textile that records the presence, contribution and gathering of people in Berwick today.
Workshop Activity
Participants will be invited to:
· Embroider their signature, initials, name, or symbolic stitched mark
· Contribute to small fabric panels that will later be assembled into a larger communal tablecloth
· Learn simple embroidery techniques
· Engage with the story of the original Mons Tablecloth
· Reflect on themes of gathering, memory, hospitality and collective history
Materials and guidance will be provided throughout.
These sessions are FREE (drop-in, no booking required). All children must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the workshop.
Maltings at Hide Hill is a new Cultural Resource Hub made possible by funding from Create Berwick, the Culture and Creative Zone (CCZ) funded by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority and Northumberland County Council to support the growth of the cultural and creative industries in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The Living Barracks Project aims to restore and renew the historic Berwick Barracks site’s pivotal role as a central part of the town’s social and cultural life.
During the renovation, an art-led public engagement programme named Berwick Shines, led by the Maltings (Berwick) Trust, invites artists to explore and respond to the extensive heritage collections of the Barracks, the town, and what Berwick and its barracks has been, will be and could become, in partnership with the people of Berwick.
The Living Barracks Project is an exciting collaboration between Berwick Barracks Heritage Trust (BBHT), English Heritage, The King’s Own Scottish Borderers Association (KOSB), Maltings (Berwick) Trust and Northumberland County Council and proudly supported by The Arts Council England’s Cultural Development Fund (CDF), The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Northumberland County Council and other generous supporters.
The Cultural Development Fund is a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) fund administered by Arts Council England.