| The Greenwich Millennium Embroideries |
| Celtic & Roman | Saxon & Viking | Medieval | Tudor | Stuart | Georgian | Victorian | 20th Century | Golden Jubilee |
| Even the website has a story to tell! |
|
The website was originally created by me in early 2008 as part of the campaign to raise funds for the archival frames. I was asked to help fund-raise and discovered that nobody could actually view the Embroideries - so how could we raise money for something that potential donors couldn't see? I set about building a website so that we could show people what a wonderful work we were asking them to support. But the campaign started at about exactly the time of the recession and people were unwilling to part with their money. Banks collapsed, the economy went backwards and job security was threatened. Everybody was holding onto their money 'just in case'. I know because I was, too. A major donation had been half-promised from a building company but as their sales and profits evaporated they could not help. Fortunately Greenwich Council augmented the funds that the group had already raised so that one frame (of four needed) could be bought. Now we had something tangible for people to see. An appeal was made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To our surprise it was turned down, on the technicality that the preservation and display of the embroideries was not actually a heritage project. Salt was rubbed into the wound when the Lottery people told us that had a grant been sought before the embroideries were created the whole project including the display frames would have qualified. But back in 1998 the need for display frames was not foreseen so the money would not have been requested anyway. But just after these huge setbacks providence smiled and a donor with a connection to the Embroideries came forward with every extra penny needed, the frames were ordered and a grand unveiling took place at the Greenwich Heritage Centre in December 2009. Now the embroiderers, having seen the project linger for twelve years and, as many of them will admit, not being as young as they once were, can take a well-earned rest having completed the job at long last. But I felt that the Embroideries deserve to continue to have a website so I gave the old website a complete makeover and I now maintain it voluntarily as my tribute to the hard work put in by so many talented people over so many years. Apologies: A good website will have each page looking the same. But more and more was happening in Greenwich as the centuries passed so the panels became busier. Consequently, the later panels have had to be presented in sections to keep the pictures aligned with the words. The Golden Jubilee Embroidery then provided the additional challenge that it is in horizontal format. It would also have made a better website if the full-size pictures were trimmed to the same size. But I wanted to use the largest pictures I could find, even though they were photographed at different times on different cameras. Consistency has had to be sacrificed so that you can see the maximum detail. This site is partly an advert for my web design service so I thought it best to explain that sometimes it's necessary to depart from the rulebook in order to better present the information - which, after all, is what a website is all about.  This website is created maintained and hosted at no charge
|