Woolsack was part of the Cultural Olympiad. The project enabled anyone to contribute to making a cushion from British wool. These were given as a personal welcome gift from the people of Britain to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Those participating in the project included schools, colleges, community groups, individuals, craft groups, smallholders, farmers, breed societies, British Wool yarn producers and processors, hand-spinners, dyers, the knitting, crochet and craft press and media.
The 2012 Games promised to 'Inspire a Generation'. Those involved with Woolsack were aged from 2 years to 105 years. We inspired 5 generations!
Making these cushions helped people gain craft skills using a sustainable material and also to learn about the production of British Wool, on which the British economy and early industry were originally founded. The project thus involved a wide range of people, able to be inspired by the 2012 Games, but not all able to participate directly in sports and athletics.
We shared this with the athletes by making personal gifts for them that were beautiful, functional and were a little bit of Britain to take home with them.
Newsletter 10 summarises the success of the project and the legacy of the continuation of the Woolsack website