eye arts guild - a potted history
In the beginning:
“A meeting was held at the house of Mrs T. Hodgins in Church St., Eye on Tuesday 12th January 1982 at 7.30pm.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
This was the first official meeting to establish the Eye Arts Guild with a constitution governing the future activity of the group. The Guild was fortunate in having The Rt. Hon. Lord Henniker, KCMG, CVO, MC, as its President. Among the 18 people attending were Mrs T. Hodgins, Mrs Betty Thomson, Mrs S. Parton, Mrs R. Shuttleworth and Mrs J. Drummond, the only founder member still attending the Guild meetings after 40 years. It is a great credit to June Drummond, George Lillywhite and the others that their passion for practising and promoting art led to this group still gathering aspiring artists of all abilities today.
We do have minute books from these early days, but here are the reminiscences of both June Drummond and George Lilllywhite:
June remembers that the Old Guildhall in Eye was used as offices, belonging to the Suffolk County Council; the two front rooms were used as a bookshop. “Several of us who went to a painting class decided to have a small exhibition in one of the rooms in the Guildhall. The outcome of that was ‘Lets start an art club’, so into action we went and invited anyone who was interested in painting to come to a meeting. We hired a room at the Horseshoes Pub, which became the home of Richard Dinnin, and surprisingly several people turned up. They included George and Mary Lillywhite. We decided, because of our association with the Guildhall, that we would call it ‘The Eye Arts Guild’.”
George recalls: “Mary and I were interested in painting and were invited to join the newly formed group by Ruth Shuttleworth. I became Treasurer. I remember the first exhibition being held in a tatty old barn in Tacon Close (now a house) once owned by Pippi Barlow. There were no doors, just an old tarpaulin to keep out draughts. The exhibition was on two floors, watercolours upstairs, oils etc downstairs.” (Because the floor was unsafe, they did not want too many people upstairs at the same time for the preview!)
Permanent exhibitions of work were held for a time in the room above a shop in Eye and at the Mendlesham doctors’ surgery. Exhibitions are now held at various locations from time to time.
It seems that this original group worked hard at running the weekly meetings and regular events, with much socialising and merriment. How nice it is to see the current Guild of 50+ members still pursuing those ideals of furthering the development of the visual arts by study, practice and the holding of exhibitions.
An earlly Chairman, Angela Lee, said that she was looking forward to continuing the tradition of the group over her years in office, whilst Jackie Johnson, the previous chairman, commented “To be part of the 30 years' celebrations of Eye Arts Guild was something very special for me and a wonderful climax to my three years in office”.
“A meeting was held at the house of Mrs T. Hodgins in Church St., Eye on Tuesday 12th January 1982 at 7.30pm.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
This was the first official meeting to establish the Eye Arts Guild with a constitution governing the future activity of the group. The Guild was fortunate in having The Rt. Hon. Lord Henniker, KCMG, CVO, MC, as its President. Among the 18 people attending were Mrs T. Hodgins, Mrs Betty Thomson, Mrs S. Parton, Mrs R. Shuttleworth and Mrs J. Drummond, the only founder member still attending the Guild meetings after 40 years. It is a great credit to June Drummond, George Lillywhite and the others that their passion for practising and promoting art led to this group still gathering aspiring artists of all abilities today.
We do have minute books from these early days, but here are the reminiscences of both June Drummond and George Lilllywhite:
June remembers that the Old Guildhall in Eye was used as offices, belonging to the Suffolk County Council; the two front rooms were used as a bookshop. “Several of us who went to a painting class decided to have a small exhibition in one of the rooms in the Guildhall. The outcome of that was ‘Lets start an art club’, so into action we went and invited anyone who was interested in painting to come to a meeting. We hired a room at the Horseshoes Pub, which became the home of Richard Dinnin, and surprisingly several people turned up. They included George and Mary Lillywhite. We decided, because of our association with the Guildhall, that we would call it ‘The Eye Arts Guild’.”
George recalls: “Mary and I were interested in painting and were invited to join the newly formed group by Ruth Shuttleworth. I became Treasurer. I remember the first exhibition being held in a tatty old barn in Tacon Close (now a house) once owned by Pippi Barlow. There were no doors, just an old tarpaulin to keep out draughts. The exhibition was on two floors, watercolours upstairs, oils etc downstairs.” (Because the floor was unsafe, they did not want too many people upstairs at the same time for the preview!)
Permanent exhibitions of work were held for a time in the room above a shop in Eye and at the Mendlesham doctors’ surgery. Exhibitions are now held at various locations from time to time.
It seems that this original group worked hard at running the weekly meetings and regular events, with much socialising and merriment. How nice it is to see the current Guild of 50+ members still pursuing those ideals of furthering the development of the visual arts by study, practice and the holding of exhibitions.
An earlly Chairman, Angela Lee, said that she was looking forward to continuing the tradition of the group over her years in office, whilst Jackie Johnson, the previous chairman, commented “To be part of the 30 years' celebrations of Eye Arts Guild was something very special for me and a wonderful climax to my three years in office”.
New Year's honours 2016
In 2016 Becky, a valued member of the Eye Arts Guild, and prime initiator of The Bank Arts Centre in Eye, was awarded the British Empire Medal, as cited in newspapers:
“Rebecca Lyne, Voluntary Co-ordinator Bank for services to the Community in Eye, Suffolk.”
Rebecca wrote from The Bank Eye
We are delighted to announce that the dedication and work by all the team, volunteers (past and present) and our wonderful community to create this amazing project has been recognised by Buckingham Palace. Our Chairman here at The Bank has been awarded the British Empire Medal which she has gratefully accepted on behalf of us all.
Your continued support and involvement is key to this project.
Thank you.
Rebecca
“Rebecca Lyne, Voluntary Co-ordinator Bank for services to the Community in Eye, Suffolk.”
Rebecca wrote from The Bank Eye
We are delighted to announce that the dedication and work by all the team, volunteers (past and present) and our wonderful community to create this amazing project has been recognised by Buckingham Palace. Our Chairman here at The Bank has been awarded the British Empire Medal which she has gratefully accepted on behalf of us all.
Your continued support and involvement is key to this project.
Thank you.
Rebecca