'Yarn storm' by Womens Institute members

The site of the Ealing Empire Cinema was 'yarn stormed' on Saturday (15th Feb) by the West Ealing Women’s Institute.

Graffiti knitting was applied to the hoarding surrounding the cinema as both a protest at the lack of a dedicated cinema in Ealing and also to promote the Ealing Music and Film Valentine Festival.

Lorna Barton-Nicol, President of the West Ealing WI said:

“We had Deadly Knitshade, a famous graffiti knitter talk at our January meeting and we were really inspired. As we have been volunteering at the Music and Film Valentine Festival this weekend we wanted to tie the two together. Many of our members have knitted, crocheted and sewn hearts over the past few weeks and we applied them to the hoarding on Saturday morning. It’s outrageous that given Ealing’s historic contribution to film that we still don’t have a dedicated cinema. What better way to demonstrate that by covering the site with hearts to show our love of film?”

Stephanie Keen, the WI’s treasurer, also knitted some film characters, including the ballerina from the Red Shoes, a film shown during the Valentine festival. Other characters rendered in knit include Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Wall-E and Spiderman.

The West Ealing WI meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month at Northfields Community Centre at 7:30pm.

The West Ealing WI is a ‘New Wave’ WI made up of women of all ages and has a young committee. They meet on the 4th Tuesday of the month at Northfields Community Centre at 7:30pm. They have a book club, craft group, choir , pub quiz team at the Star and Anchor and frequent cultural outings.

The next meeting is Tuesday 25th February. More details can be found on their website: www.westealingwi.wordpress.com

18th February 2014