About MHA
Methodist Homes (MHA) is a charity providing care, accommodation and support services for 17,600 older people throughout Britain. We are one of the most well-established care providers in the sector and amongst the largest charities in Britain delivering services to older people for nearly 75 years.
About the project
In December 2017 LFTA ran a project in association with Community Co-Ordinator Sarah Crockett at MHA Stratton House. The project involved creating Christmas cards from designs created by residents at Stratton House and then making those available as small packs for Stratton House’s Christmas fair.
The cards were created by LFTA and supplied free-of-charge to Stratton House as a donation. Stratton could then, in-turn, sell the card packs on a donation basis (suggested price) and raise money for their charitable operation.










Sarah's notes on the residents' designs
Wool wrapping designs - the Winter forest was created by Frank Nicholls, former Concorde engineer, and champion tomato grower, and his daughter Mary.
Peggy Cook and her family created Mistletoe - Peggy was a hairdresser, and her family all come in and gather round her - she is a matriarch with the most fantastic sense of humour.
Myrtle Berry's sunrise wool wrapping. Myrtle trained as a teacher just after the war, being billeted in what is now the American Museum. Originally from Devon, she makes marvellous cream teas, as well as her own cards. She is skilled at tatting, smocking and cake decorating, although her fingers let her down with the fine detail now.
Win Thomas is a skilled textile artist. These are pieces that are usually on display at her son's house. Win was invited to submit pieces to our creative life exhibition last February, and this was the first time people outside the family had seen her work. She was really pleased, and modestly surprised that we liked them so much.
Jack Mugridge has lived in Bath most of his life, working in the local mines, as a spitfire engineer during WW2, and as a local painter. He used to sell in local cafes in Bath. His paintings formed the backbone of our creative life exhibition earlier this year. The colour piece is a copy of a J T Breen piece. The black and white line drawing is of the lady on the fountain by Bath Abbey.
Margaret Empson is 101 and has lived in the Bath area all her life. She went to art classes for a while, and thought that she wasn't much good at a lot of styles, but is proud of her floral pieces. Margaret was unable to contribute to our exhibition, and is thrilled to think that she might be able to take part in the card project. She has also been a textile artist - creating banners for the Church for her Guide pack.