MELKSHAM is an even brighter place to be after another tree was ‘yarn bombed’ in preparation for the town hosting the South West in Bloom seminar.
The regional seminar for South-West in Bloom will be held in the town on Thursday 12th February and to show off the town in its brightest light, a second tree has been turned into a colourful array of patterns.
Yarn bombing is a form of contemporary graffiti and political art movement. It enhances urban landscape through knitting and crochet techniques which then cover items such as the tree in Melksham.
The tree in the centre of the roundabout by the Market Place was first yarn bombed at the end of 2014 when a Melksham Oak Community School project aimed to raise awareness of the range of community projects and groups based in and around Melksham and to build links between the various groups and their local community.
Now, a second tree has been yarn bombed as a tree outside the Melksham News office has been brightened up by several patterns knitted together by the community.
Organiser of the town’s yarn bombing project Martina Liggins from Melksham Oak Community School said, “I thought we would be taking the first one down but it has proved to be a huge hit so we decided together with the town council to yarn bomb another tree.
“We had a lot of knitted patterns left over so it makes sense to use it. The big knit was inspired through this idea of community spirit and aimed to rekindle the art of knitting; literally ‘knitting the community together’. We have been overwhelmed by support and contributions from people from all walks of life, from those who are new to the area, some who are new to knitting, some old, some young, some cross generation knitting, some extreme knitting and some celebrity knitting from our very own Lewis Moody, who will soon be working with our school, coaching our young people.”
Deputy town clerk Miriam Zaccarelli added, “We are welcoming the South-West in Bloom committee on the 12th February which is a huge honour as we are still new to the competition. It is also a great opportunity to show the town in a colourful fashion. They have asked in the past what the town does in the winter months when flowers aren’t blooming, and this is a chance to show off the great community spirit in Melksham and it looks great.”
