BZ to Boyanup

One of the loveliest things for me is when children get involved in Aussie Heroes. I will move heaven and earth to make it possible for them to contribute and I have to say I will also do the same so that they get some sort of response.

This story comes from a school in a town with a population of around 1200 in the south west  of Western Australia, Boyanup Primary School.

This is how it started... with an email from Marion Lewis 

Hi Jan-Maree

I read with interest your article in the latest Country Threads magazine and it got me thinking. I am a pre-primary teacher at  Boyanup, . a small rural school

20 kms south of Bunbury in Western Australia and I thought we would be able to participate by getting the children (and parents)  to decorate the front of a laundry

bag.  The adults would then finish off the sewing together of the bags. 

How exciting.... I love it when kids get involved and this would require a lot of effort from this dedicated teacher.  As luck would have it one of the early supporters of Aussie Hero Quilts is Marg and she is a Boyanup local. I put the two ladies in touch.

Here is the story .........

With the centenary of Gallipoli this year  Boyanup primary school teacher Marion Lewis put forward  to her fellow staff members in the pre-primary the suggestion of designing and constructing homemade laundry bags for Australian troops serving overseas.  This was after she had read about the initiative in one of her patchwork magazines.  

Parents and community members were asked to donate fabric  and some gave  money to buy the fabric or cord.  Other  parents offered their help to sew the bags together later.

Before she started the bag designing she read the story ” Lighthouse Girl”  to the children tying in the fact the girl sent messages from service personnel on the convoy assembled at King George Sound in 1914. She did it so their family knew where they were and in return she received letters and cards from them in Egypt.

On March 26^th all the pre-primary students and their parents painted a 50 X 30 cm fabric panel.  There were  lots of excited adults and children painting that day.  Early in 

Term 2 several adults assembled at Boyanup Primary School to complete the bags  and afterwards took extra fabric home to make up more.  The Year 5/6 children in their art time threaded the cord through the top for us. 

The last step was for each child to trace over the letters in their letter to our Aussie Hero’s, print their name and draw a picture before we laminated the whole letter.

The children had it explained to them that this is giving to others and their laundry bags will be works of art and also works from the heart. 

That last part got to me, works of art and works of the heart! 

And yes they are!!   There are 36 of them but only a sampling the photos that follow.

Check them out!

Aren't these just the most precious laundry bags you have ever seen?

You can read the article in the local paper about them here if you wish.

Well done Boyanup Primary School and especially your wonderful teacher Marion Lewis. 

As they say in the navy..... BZ (well done!)

and as if that is not enough... I will have another wonderful story of laundry bags and a school's involvement next week.... as soon as I get time to write it up.

Till next time..................keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree  xx