A quilt that tells a story

Quilt to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Royal Canadian Airforce at Beningbrough 1943-1945, by Susan Hill

As part of the Country House at War celebrations in 2013, Beningbrough volunteer Susan Hill made this wonderful sampler quilt. It was to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Airforce at Beningbrough Hall 1943 - 1945. Two Canadian squadrons were billeted at Beningbrough during this part of the war, flying out on missions from the airfield at Linton-on-Ouse, and the quilt tells their story.
 
Canadian Airmen at Beningbrough

The squares 'Pierced Star', 'Crazy', 'Flying Geese' and 'Card Trick' tell the story of the Canadian airmen at Beningbrough

The first square on the row above is 'Pierced Star' as the pilots would fly out at night in starry skies, often navigating by the stars.

The second is named 'Crazy', which refers to the quilting style, but also has a Beningbrough story behind it. Lady Chesterfield was Beningbrough's owner during the war, and she frequently complained about the airmen's behaviour. On her list of gripes were graffiti, theft, and riding a motorbike up the cantilevered staircase! Most of the men were very young, facing dreadful missions (47% never returned) and obviously needed to let off steam. Nevertheless, they drove Lady Chesterfield 'crazy'.

The third square is 'Flying Geese' for 408 Flying Goose Squadron at Beningbrough, and the fourth is 'Card Trick' as gambling helped the airmen pass time between missions. These are just four of the ten quilt squares which relate to the Canadian airmen.

The story of Gipsy and Olie

A particularly poignant story is told by the square 'True Lovers' Knot' where a block pattern surrounds the embroidered graffiti '1942 Gipsy and Olie' - the original of which is carved on the sitting room fireplace mantel in the Hall. For some reason, Lady Chesterfield never had it removed after the war.

Gipsy was a WAAF stationed at Beningbrough and Olie a Canadian air gunner. Olie's plane was shot down over Germany and he remained a prisoner there. On his release, he wrote to Gipsy, asking her to meet him at Southampton where his boat would dock on its way back to Canada. Sadly, she was too late. The boat had sailed, and they were never to meet again. 

The story behind the graffiti was a mystery at Beningbrough until a visit from a lady during the 1980s. When shown the graffiti by a room guide, she was overwhelmed to see it, and revealed that she was 'Gipsy'.  

Canadian women during the war 

Canadian Red Cross

As well as telling the airmen's story, the quilt also remembers the effort of Canadian women during the war. Women made quilts which were distributed by the Canadian Red Cross to families, refugees, nurses and the services. It was these Canadian Red Cross quilts and the stories of how much they meant to recipients in a time of fear and shortages inspired Susan to undertake her project. Some of the squares in her quilt use patterns which were popular with the Canadian women at the time.

A quilt made at Beningbrough 

Susan made the quilt over a year and a half, while on duty as a room guide at Beningbrough, mainly  in the "war room" which was set up to tell the story of Beningbrough at war, and also in the saloon, sitting on a window seat  - where the light was ideal.  It was a great talking point for visitors as she was making it, many of whom shared their own war recollections with her.

We're hoping to display the quilt in the Hall some time in the very near future.