The Fred Light Museum's Bernadette Leslie with one of the Canadian Red Cross wartime quilts, called "Four-Patch Rabbits," that dates back to the early 1940s. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Second World War quilts

Fred Light Museum guest speaker to share history of wartime quilting

May 15, 2023 | 12:00 PM

The Fred Light Museum will have a special guest speaker coming to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 9 in Battleford who will discuss Canada’s legacy of wartime quilting and knitting.

Author, educator and quilter Pam Robertson Rivet, based in Medicine Hat, Alta., will give her presentation called “Stitches in Time,” on Tuesday, June 6 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

Museum manager, Bernadette Leslie, is looking forward to Robertson Rivet’s visit to the Battlefords.

“She [Robertson Rivet] will give a talk about how the quilts were collected [in England], to bring them back to Canada,” she said.

The Fred Light Museum recently received a donation of two Canadian Red Cross wartime quilts from the Second World War, which will be on display during the presentation.

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“We are just thrilled to have them,” Leslie said.

More than 60 of these quilts are returning to Canada.

Canadian women hand-made more than 400,000 comfort quilts that were given to the Canadian Red Cross who sent them to England to be used by families in need, impacted by the bombing during the Second World War, as part of the civilian relief effort. A group of women in England – the Canadian Red Cross Quilt Research Group – have been collecting these quilts and the stories behind them for the past 18 years.

Robertson Rivet will discuss the history of the wartime quilts, and share first-hand accounts of some of the Canadian women who contributed to this effort, making quilts and blankets for families overseas, impacted by the war. She will also share accounts from Second World War survivors and living veterans.

Robertson Rivet has been personally involved in helping distribute the quilts that were returned to Canada to museums interested in receiving them.

Visitors attending the talk are invited to leave a silver donation at the door, otherwise admission is free. Refreshments will be offered during the event.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow