North East success in national competition

We are delighted to announce that Northumbria Lacemakers have won first prize in a national competition as part of The Lace Guild's Triennial Competition & Exhibition for 2025 on the theme of Treasure.

Our group entry was a 3D item displaying a dog and his treasured collection of bones, which we hope the judges found to be a unique and amusing take on the more typical interpretation of the theme. For our 2024 Northumbria Lacemakers competition, many members made a lace bone and these were subsequently gathered together on a ring pillow ready for the trip down to The Hollies, the headquarters and museum of The Lace Guild in Stourbridge.

Our winning group entry 2025 in situ at The Lace Guild ' Treasure' exhibition

Special thanks Ann Hotchkiss for crocheting the dog and putting the final piece together, and to Diana Blackburn for transporting the piece to The Hollies.

It is the first time the group has entered the group competition for group sizes of 10+ and had to enquire in advance whether it would be acceptable to enter, as the trophy for this particular prize was originally donated by the group and is known as The Northumbria Lacemakers trophy. We were therefore doubly pleased to win on our first occasion of entering the competition as a group.

This year the North East was strongly represented, with winning entries from Ann Hotchkiss, our chair Diana Blackburn, and our junior member Libby with this lovely Bedfordshire dog design.

Libby's winning entry

The group entry, along with all other entries, was on display at The Hollies until 9th August 2025, and we had a lovely email from a Trustee at The Lace Guild, who we were delighted to hear confirm "Woof has been absolutely loved by visitors"! Thank you to all who contributed bones to the group project and congratulations to Ann, Diana and Libby on their wins.