CHIPPING Norton is preparing to mark its wool and weaving past with a new event.

The Fibre Festival, organised by Fibreworks, the knitting and crochet shop, will take place in the town hall from 10am to 4pm on May 4.

Claire Jarvis, who co-owns Fibreworks with Lesley Wildman, said: “Chipping Norton has got a long tradition of links with the textile industry. It was a wool town and lots of wealth came from the trade.”

The 53-year-old, of West Street, added: “The town is famous for the Bliss Tweed Mill, an iconic building in the valley, which was operational until the late 1980s.”

Ms Wildman, also 53, of New Street, said: “Chipping Norton has a long and proud association with wool and over the past 18 months the Fibreworks has had considerable success promoting local, contemporary crafts and encouraging a new generation to explore the pleasures of handmade textiles.

“I felt the time was right for something on a bigger scale and so the idea of the festival was born.”

Greeted by sheep and lambs outside the town hall, visitors will be able to view and get involved with demonstrations of spinning, weaving and other textiles crafts such as rag rugging.

Local craftsmen and the Fibreworks’ teaching team will have stalls of their work and will talk about the classes they hold in the shop’s studio, including quilting, crochet, millinery, sewing and screen printing.

There will also be a vintage tea shop selling snacks including sheep-shaped shortbread.

The Local History Society will host a display of the history of Bliss Tweed Mill and the town’s wool trade, and there will also be guided walks led by John Grantham with access to the grounds of the mill itself.

For more information, see thefibreworks.co.uk