Bath’s Assembly Rooms has been festooned with hundreds of yards of yarn as part of celebrations to welcome the Olympic Torch Relay.
For the past few weeks, more than 20 groups of knitters – ranging from Keynsham Girl Guides to German tourists – have joined in with an initiative, organised by the Council’s Fashion Museum, to produce a total of 2,454 knitted pennants (flags) for bunting to welcome the Olympic Flame to Bath.
On Sunday night – under cover of darkness – a team of “guerrilla knitters” decorated the whole of the front of the Assembly Rooms with the “Torch Knit” bunting to unveil an explosion of celebratory colour the next morning. This will remain in place until after the Queen’s Jubilee.
In keeping with the Olympic Legacy, the knitted bunting will then be turned into blankets and donated to good causes.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “This is an imaginative way to welcome the Torch Relay to Bath and has got all sorts of people involved in the excitement. It ties in with the Fashion Museum’s current Sport and Fashion exhibition as part of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s programme of activities designed to celebrate the 2012 Olympics coming to Great Britain.”
The Bath-based knitwear designer Sue Bradley has also created a knitted Olympic Torch – standing more than 50cm tall – which is on display at the entrance of the Assembly Rooms.
She said: “I was excited by the challenge of producing a ‘knitted flame’ for the Fashion Museum’s Olympic Torch – since it is probably one of the most unusual commissions that I have ever undertaken!”
With 65 ensembles on display, the exhibition offers something for everyone – from the sports enthusiast to the casual follower of fashion or those with a passing interest in popular culture. As Great Britain prepares to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics, the Sport and Fashion exhibition traces how historic sportswear has influenced the creations of contemporary designers.
