Putting it together

The project could have ground to a halt when, in 2003, Charles and Cathy Clayson decided to realise their long-held dream of buying a house in the Mediterranean and moved their home to Mallorca. Although they sold their house in East Meon they kept an English base near Chichester and the monthly progress meetings continued as regular as clockwork.

Just before they moved out of the village, Charles built the wooden frame onto which the calico was stretched by hand. The frame wouldn’t fit in their roof-rack so it had to be manually carried to the Hall. The calico was stretched by hand and stapled in place – with several attempts required before the weave was sufficiently well-aligned and under the correct tension.

So it continued for five years with Cathy returning to East Meon every third Tuesday and Wednesday when they were in the UK, and with Maggie Marks, Ann Hutchings or Jane Brown deputising for them when they were in the Mediterranean.