Tablecloth
Creative pursuits ease worries for mother of a soldier
During the 1940s, a mother of two sat anxiously waiting for news of her son fighting in World War II. To ease the strain and keep herself occupied, Mildred Barrett began fashioning this crocheted tablecloth. The wait finally eased when she learned her son Bill had survived. In fact he later sent word that he’d become so taken with the Indigenous people of Borneo that he volunteered to stay and teach English in their jungle villages long after the war finished. Barrett’s daughter, also named Mildred, took this tablecloth with her when she moved to Northampton and later donated it to Chiverton House where she worked as a volunteer.
