Jenny Lewenstein and Liz Lewenstein from the RagBag weaving sessions

• I WRITE as a person who joined RagBag workshop almost 10 years ago, (West Hampstead weaving club at risk of closure after four decades, February 20).

I have so many happy memories and have got so much from all aspects of having this really joyful group to participate in each week.

It is not only a place where I learnt how to spin my own yarn, weave fabric on their looms, and try out other textile skills.

It has been a group which has offered me a great deal of emotional support, acceptance in a social setting, which I have struggled with for many years.

I will be heart-broken if this group has to close because of the financial pressures on the Kingsgate Community Centre. The women who attend the group regularly have become family for me.

When I started making bears for fun I gave one to several of the members as an expression of my thanks and gratitude for their compassion for me, through several major crises I have had to struggle through.

I have no family of my own and no contact with birth family. So it feels really important to my life that I continue to have this group for support and safe social contact and engagement.

Perhaps in the scheme of things this seems so small as to be unimportant but I really believe the craft skills and community I have found here are life-saving for me, and will keep me healthy as I head into my senior years, if we can keep it going.

Collectively there is a wealth of knowledge, the women who come to sit and work together each week are wise and funny in equal measure.

It’s hard to put a money value on that, which will be lost for ever, if the price increases and storage charges go ahead as proposed.

The world will have lost an ancient skills resource and the values of gentle caring that only come when multiple generations come together to learn and share.

ELIZABETH JOHNSTON
Address supplied