Royal School of Needlework

Meet some of our legators

Every legacy gift to the RSN is greatly appreciated whether large or small. To us, each donor is important and that is why we don’t just think about the amount given but about the people who chose to make this special gift to the RSN. Here are just a few of them.

Jean Panter was an avid needlewoman, who had taken lessons at the RSN. As described by her brother she ‘went to work between stitching’, not that she had a small job. She was a senior police woman serving in both the Metropolitan police force and in Hong Kong. She also travelled to the US on a Winston Churchill scholarship to investigate the relationship between the Police and Social Services in America to see if there were any lessons to be learned for the UK. During her time away, especially in Hong Kong she took the opportunity to acquire a number of locally stitched pieces in a variety of styles, as well as be inspired for her own work.  When she died her studio occupied an entire floor of the house she had shared with her sister. Jean had filled it with embroidery and sewing materials: fabric, threads, leathers as well as books, sewing collectables and 27 sewing machines from when she herself taught stitching and worked on joint community projects.

Jean left all her estate to the RSN including all her materials and stitching equipment. This was of great help to the RSN. As the gift had no stipulations upon it we were able to use it straight away. The notification of this gift coincided with our being told that the RSN was not going to get government funding for the degree programme, due to their changing policy.  Because we knew of Jean’s legacy, the Council were able to take the bold decision to go ahead with the degree course. As such this was a significant gift for our future.

Since then, Jean’s legacy continues to help the RSN. Materials and books that she left us have been of direct use to students of the Degree, Certificate and Diploma courses. It was at the heart of the November 2010 sale which helped us to raise a further £16,000 for the school. And most recently, we have modified our trestles, so that they occupy less ground space when stacked, based on one found in Jean’s studio. In all these ways, Jean legacy is continuing to have an enduring benefit for the RSN.

Victoria Adams was a Life Friend of the RSN. Originally from England she moved to Canada in the 1980s but continued her relationship with the RSN and remained very interested in hand embroidery. In her will she left 40 per cent of the residue to the RSN. This was a sizeable estate and the money has been put into an endowment fund.  Victoria was very keen on supporting more people, especially young people, in having the opportunity to learn the skills of hand embroidery and keep the techniques alive and in use. In recognition of this desire, the Trustees are currently using the income to support bursaries for Degree students.

Wendy Hogg joined the RSN in 1969 at the age of 19, originally on a one-month contract. In 2009 we celebrated 40 years of Wendy being at the RSN, during that time she had worked on a wide variety of projects from the Overlord embroidery to a centenary project for Guiding (another passion of hers) and helped many people with mounting their work. Wendy died in 2011 from lung cancer, a cruel irony as she did not smoke, at the age of 60, but such was her commitment to the RSN that she left us a legacy. This was a residuary gift (share of the final estate), Wendy was a generous person with many interests and we received 3/57s of her estate which will go to student bursaries.

Margaret Planner was a Life Friend of the RSN and when she died in July 2010 she left a pecuniary legacy (a specified amount) of £5000 to our work. This was for general funds, which helps us in so many ways.  The money was received at the end of the financial year and as we had met the running costs for that year, it went towards new books for students. Our students often need lavishly illustrated books to act as points of inspiration and these can be expensive, especially once the book goes out of print, so an unexpected gift like this really helped us to further develop what has been called one of the best specialist libraries in the country.

 
All these legacies mean a great deal to the RSN – yet at the moment we cannot count on any regular income from this source so we do not factor it into the annual budget. This means that once we have met our operating costs, unexpected legacies for general purposes can help us to undertake special projects that would not otherwise happen.