William Riley
Gansey Sunday
Crowds flocked to the second Gansey Sunday
at Old St Stephen's Church in Robin Hood's Bay, where the William
Riley was displayed where Evensong followed at 3pm. Deb Gillanders,
volunteer custodian arranged for the church to display traditional east
coast fishermen’s jumpers, she said: “at our heritage week end we celebrate
the farming harvest by focussing not on the loaves but on the fishes.
"The church was festooned with traditional
fishermen’s jumpers ganseys from the Whitby area including the
oldest which was fifty years old, a Seahouses pattern representing the
tree of life. This was knitted by Marjorie Fewster, a well-known Bay
knitter who died 18 months ago." “Jude Readman donated several
ganseys which had been knitted in more recent years by her mother Dorothy
Readman."
Times were hard for the fisherfolk along Yorkshire’s
coast and survival at the time depended upon what state of the art equipment
and clothing was available. The gansey, a jumper knitted from thick
wool that provided much needed protection from the elements without
impeding the wearer’s movements was a vital factor. Ganseys were woven
by mothers, daughters and sweethearts while the men were at sea helping
to at least occupy their minds during time of concern.
Pictured from left, Romy Halder, Rev Michael
Waters and Deb Gillanders with some of the ganseys.
At a time when communities were much more
isolated, each fishing village would have their own distinctive pattern,
woven into the gansey itself, many of which are still readily identifiable.
The Whitby gansey is distinguishable from a Scarborough or Filey gansey,
with individual families adding their own twist to the village’s design
making them unique to their own family members. Such was the durable
nature of the garment that the gansey was often passed down between
generations. In the event of a tragic sea accident, the jumpers design
and make meant it would remain firmly attached to casualty who could
therefore be identified far easier.
Miss Gillanders wore a Whitby pattern gansey on the day knitted by
Alf Hildred who still knits ganseys today whilst Romy Halder wore a
gansey which had been given to her mum, Shelley Anderson, when she was
just eight years old
The William Riley pictured at the top of Robin Hoods Bay.
(Photograph courtesy of Alan Wastell)
Copyright © Colin Brittain 1999 - 2022
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