To honour the legacy of the Yeats sisters and in particular Lily Yeats. St . Angela’s College ran a national embroidery competition for junior and senior cycle Home Economics students in this year of the 150th birthday of W. B. Yeats.

The brief for the St. Angela’s College Lily Yeats Embroidery this year was to construct an original hand embroidered piece inspired by a WB Yeats poem of choice. The work submitted was very varied. It showed a high level of creativity and skill in embroidery.

The 1st prize winner of Competition this year is Katy Cody age 16 from Loreto Secondary School Fermoy Co. Cork. Her embroidery was inspired by W. B. Yeats poem ‘The Peacock’. Congratulations also to her class mates Elisha Bergin and Emma Mc Grath who are runners up and their home economics teacher Mary O’Connor.

John Nugent, IDA, Border Region, presented the prize to Ursula O’Shea on behalf of Katy Cody at the Official opening of the Lily Lolly Craftfest on Friday the 12th June in the Yeats Memorial building where Orla Kiely renowned fashion designer and patron of the Lily Lolly Craftfest opened the festival. St. Angela’s would like to thank the IDA Border Region for sponsoring this year’s competition. The opening ceremony was also addressed by Karen Hennessey of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.

The embroidery competition was one of a series of events organised by St. Angela’s College Textiles, Fashion and Design team as part of the Lily Lolly Craft Fest 2015 to mark the 150th anniversary of W. B. Yeats birthday. ‘This year’s Lily Lolly Craftfest was the best yet and has generated a renewed interest in Crafts in the Sligo area. People travelled from all over the country to attend the workshops and thoroughly enjoyed them’ said Ursula O’Shea, secretary of the Lily Lolly Craftfest committee. Workshops by fibre artists Theresa Kelly in Carrickmacross Lace and Bernie Gallagher in Contemporary Whitework were both very popular in Nazareth Care Village and St. Angela’s College on the 12th of June. Their exhibition ‘The Light and the Half Light’ is running from the 12th June to the 31st July in Nazareth Care Village. Other textiles exhibitions include ‘Vivid Cloths’  which features work by graduates of St. Angela’s College Certificate and Diploma in Creative Textiles is taking place in Teach Ban Gallery Drumcliff until the 30th  June and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland touring Textiles exhibition ‘Entwined Memories’ is in the Model until 12th July.