‘Stitching Wantage 2016’, organised by Oxford Health Arts Partnership, is a textile sampler incorporating modern techniques and materials including hand and machine embroidery. It was created by over 20 volunteer stitchers of all ages who took part in a project run by the Vale & Downland Museum to capture the Wantage townscape in stitch.

The design and creation of the sampler was led by local artist Anne Griffiths and funded by Vale of White Horse District Council and Tanner Trust.

The 2.5m long artwork is on loan to Wantage Community Hospital from the museum as part of a larger project ‘Remembering Wantage Community Hospital’: a project which has also seen the launch of postcards for the public to fill out and send in with any photographs or memories they have of the hospital.

The installation launches a new partnership project with Oxford Health Charity and the district council, and the collected memories and ephemera will inform a new artwork for the hospital.

Suzie Tilbury, who is curator at the Vale & Downland Museum, said Wantage has a long association with embroidery and needlework.

“I am so pleased this wonderful community creation is being displayed at the hospital.

“It seems so fitting that it is displayed in one of the buildings portrayed so beautifully within it.

“I hope that patients and visitors to the hospital enjoy seeing the creativity and hard work that went into it.”

Oxford Health Arts Partnership is a joint venture between Artscape, Creating with Care and the Oxford Health Charity. It enables art activities to take place across the Trust – with both patients and staff – and undertakes projects to enhance the environment.

Anyone who would like to get involved in the project can pick up a postcard from the museum or at the hospital reception.