2016 Stone the Crows Festival - Chronicle #2

Entertainment - The program is very well advanced and current scheduling includes lots of great poetry activities as well as fantastic entertainers like Lucky Starr, Rodney Vincent and Jamie Way, who returns from last year.

Don’t forget one of our resident celebrants will be conducting a renewal of vows for married couples and we would love any solos to be the flower girls, page boys or witnesses. No one needs feel excluded. One solo lady even asked if it would be OK if she renewed her commitment to her husband who died a few years ago – what a lovely thought that he was so loved!

In our continuing endeavours to make Stone the Crows Festival the ultimate event for those over 50, we continue to think up great ideas but sometimes don’t have the helpers needed to create that new activity.  One such item would be “The Crow-kers” which could be a glee club or choir.  Is there anyone in our flock would like to start this musical activity, maybe one hour per day for three days, with the aim of having an entry in the talent quest and a performance on the final night? You don’t need to be a professional, enthusiasm is more important when mixed with a bit of knowledge!  If this is of interest, please email or ring Jim or Chrissy to discuss your thoughts.

Trivia Night – the Crows have voted and after a close count of the numbers, the decision is that Jim will be relieved of his Trivia Night duties for 2016 and instead will be running an Euchre tournament in the Club House. The Trivia Night will continue with questions on 15 photos on the big screen showing places in the world to be identified, then 15 questions on Australiana and finally 15 name that song segments. (Jim says, 'I am devasted to be sacked from the Trivia. Only one team failed to get over 50%! I'm taking my bat and going home! Oh no ...evidently I'm not allowed - I'll run the euchre tournament instead! You can't get rid of me that easily!')

Don’t forget the poetry and photography theme for 2016 is "insects" so get those cameras clicking and the creative juices flowing for your entry.  Whether you’re on site or not, you can still enter these sections.

For the textiles, there is no theme – it’s your choice completely.

Squawkers’ permits – the ACTA management are undertaking drainage works at present. Once this is completed, the variations to our current site map will be considered (and amended if necessary) after an inspection of the venue. This has to be done before the Squawkers’ Permits can be sent out.  So don’t worry if you don’t get your Squawker’s Permit till near Christmas. It will come!

Marquees - The Crow Central Marquee will be moving from the central “diamond” as the grass needs to be in good condition for the Clay Target Championships that commence the Thursday after our Festival is completed.  Daddy Day Care and Crafty Crows marquees will be larger and similarly repositioned and what was the craft marquee last time will now be the Talks and Seminar location.  Music instruction will be in the clubhouse as last year and there will be additional guitar tuition.

Plenty of Unpowered Sites and extended generator area sites are still available.  There is a waiting list for powered sites and only medically necessary requests will be added to the current ‘possibles’. Powered sites will only be available if there is a cancellation.

The Daddy Day Care and Crafty Crows workshops are being organised at present, so if you have any talent in these areas which you would like to share with our flock, please email info@stonethecrows.com.au to be involved.

Wagga Quilt Challenge
Carole Stacey, one of our Crafty Crows,  has come up with a really appropriate suggestion – a tradition which incorporates the name of our venue location and a project which would be much appreciated and beneficial to folks less fortunate than ourselves.  So you understand the background to the name – here is a brief history of Wagga Rugs or Quilts.

Wagga rugs were originally made by Australian Bushmen in the 1800’s by hand sewing together wheat or flour sacks, using packing needles and twine, then sometimes stuffing them with whatever they could find, even straw or grass, to provide more warmth when required. When they started to wear out they would stitch another bag over the top of the worn patch

The name Wagga’ quilt most likely came from the name printed on the flour sacks made for the Wagga Lily flour mill in Wagga Wagga which was then the centre of the wheat production area. The sacks that had imperfections were given away to the men.

Domestic Wagga quilts started to be made by women in the early 1900’s using pieces of old clothing and upholstery fabric and sample swatches of woollen fabric  given away by travelling salesmen when they were no longer required.

These were generally sewn to a backing of hessian sacks which were later replaced by softer calico flour or sugar sacks and sometimes lined with a blanket. This was the era of  ‘make do’ and never throw away anything that could be re used, unlike the modern tradition of a throw away society.

Carole's Wagga Quilt Challenge .... "I would like to propose that we have a Wagga Quilt challenge at the Stone the Crows Festival with the quilts to be donated to the people sleeping rough in Wagga Wagga. They could possibly be given to one of the ‘Soup Kitchens’ for distribution. I have started sourcing clothing from the local op shops in my area. They often have woollen and corduroy trousers and jackets that could be used.  If you have any leftover pieces from a flannel quilt, these could also be utilized. Alternatively you could use whatever you have in your stash or at home. These are also sometimes available from the op shops. Old blankets could also be used or whatever you have that you think would be suitable. Some sites you could for check out information on Wagga quilts are:
www.powerhousemuseum.com/collections/database then search for Wagga quilts
www.wrap.wagga.blogspot.com.au
www.found-stitched-dyed.blogspot.com/2010/08/wagga-quilt.html"

What a great idea Carole – thank you for your suggestion and Stone the Crows Festival would love to adopt it. One of my girlfriends did a Wagga quilt using an old 50’s chenille bedspread as the backing with all old clothing cut into squares and joined together for the top. It doesn’t have to be top of the range fabric, old shirts, jeans, in fact anything recyclable would be ideal.

So fabric lovers, have a think and see what you can come up with – the size is up to you but probably a single bed topper would be a good starting point so it can wrap around for winter warmth. The Salvation Army are in the loop and happy to distribute any Wagga quilts, knitted or crocheted rugs to those in need.  Can’t wait to see what creations we will receive!

Till next time, travel safely and take care
Chrissy, Jim, Grant and all the STC team