WIN AN AUTHENTIC HAND-KNITTED
WELLS-NEXT-THE-SEA PATTERN
FISHERMAN'S GANSEY

Beautiful hand-knitted Wells Gansey to be won

Based on a pattern 'reverse-engineered' in 1981 from a 1920s photograph of the Wells Lifeboat crew, local knitter Sara Phillips, wife of one of the lifeboat's current volunteer crew, has made this superb traditional gansey to be raffled this summer with all proceeds going to the Wells Shannon Lifeboat Appeal.

Tickets are available priced £2 from the Wells Tourist Information Centre and at other outlets and events around the town. The prize will be drawn at the Lifeboat Guild Christmas Bazaar on November 8th.

This durable and warm fisherman's sweater is hand-knitted in 5-ply worsted wool for a size 40" chest. It is made the traditional manner, knitted 'in the round' using multiple needles. It is dark navy in colour and features Marriage Lines and Coil of Rope patterns and the 'Rig and Fur' bands typical of Norfolk. The sweater took six weeks to make and has over 102,000 stitches.

Wells Lifeboat crew, c.1920

Tickets

Tickets priced £2 each or £10 for a book of five are available from the Wells Tourist Information Centre on Staithe Street, Wells and at other outlets and events around the town. The prize ticket will be drawn on 8 November at the RNLI Lifeboat Guild Christmas Bazaar. Please ensure you write your name and contact details clearly on each ticket purchased.

If you cannot get to Wells and would like to enter the prize draw, please write, enclosing a stamped self-addressed envelope and a cheque for £2 per ticket, to Wells Shannon Appeal Gansey Draw, c/o The Barn, Burnt Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1HL. Cheques should be made payable to 'RNLI Wells Station'. We are sorry but we cannot take on-line or telephone payments for tickets at present.

Norfolk Ganseys

A gansey is a tightly knitted jumper, usually made in navy 5-ply worsted wool. They were worn by fishermen all along the east coast from Scotland down through Norfolk and beyond into Cornwall from the early 1800s to the 1950s. Different communities had patterns that they were fond of, and the ganseys from Norfolk, particularly Sheringham, were some of the finest knitting found in the country.

A gansey is knitted 'in the round', traditionally on a set of five long, double-pointed needles, or these days on a circular needle. After a welt, usually knitted in knit 2, purl 2 rib, the body is knitted in plain stocking stitch, with the addition of a false seam (made by knitting a purl stitch at each 'side' of the knitting) up to just below the armholes, where three bands of purl stitches make the typically Norfolk 'rig and fur' (ridge and furrows) pattern which echoes ploughed fields as many Norfolk fishing families also worked the land to earn their living.

Above the rig and fur, the pattern starts. Other fishing communities have quite complex patterning, but in Norfolk ganseys often have a simple but effective repeated vertical banding pattern on both the chest and back. The patterning starts above the fishermen's oilskins so that it can be seen, and as it is much thicker due to the extra wool used to make the patterns, the chest and back have extra insulation. The patterning is often continued at the top of the sleeves for the same purpose.

As the pattern progresses towards the armholes, a distinctive diamond-shaped gusset is formed under the arms, to give ease of movement in what is traditionally a close fitting garment. Once the shoulders are reached, a shoulder strap is created - again using the 'rig and fur' pattern, and the front and back shoulders are grafted together. Stitches are picked up around the armhole and the sleeves are knitted from the top down. The remainder of the gusset is worked and the false seam continues down the sleeve to the cuff, which again is worked in K2, P2 rib before being cast-off. An advantage to this is that when the cuffs or elbows get worn or frayed, the sleeve can be unravelled easily and re-knitted. Finally the neck stitches are picked up and a small ribbed neck is worked. The sleeves and cuffs are traditionally quite short to avoid the sweater getting wet and messy when working afloat.

The finished gansey is durable and warm and comfortable in both windy and wet conditions.

The Wells Shannon Lifeboat Appeal

The current all-weather lifeboat in Wells-next-the-Sea, Doris M Mann of Ampthill is coming to the end of her service life and the RNLI will be replacing her in 2016 with a new Shannon class lifeboat. The crew, guild and supporters are trying to raise £250,000 towards the cost of the new boat in an appeal that runs until the end of 2015. Your support is appreciated... for more information, please see the Wells lifeboat website.

A Shannon lifeboat