Meet Margaret Seaman, Norfolk's queen of knitting, as her knitted Sandringham goes on show
Where can people see knitted Sandringham this month?
I will be showing it in St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich, as part of the Norfolk Makers Festival (March 9-20). I’ll be there every day of the Festival to talk to people.
Tell us about knitted Sandringham:
It’s the Sandringham estate with the stables, the museum, the ballroom, small houses and the church, plus the gardens with flowers and the lake, and more than 100 trees. It took a long time to make!
What did the Queen think of it?
I think she enjoyed it! Meeting her was wonderful, the highlight of my life. I never dreamed that I would meet the Queen.
And what did Her Majesty make of seeing the knitted Queen?
She just pointed at it and smiled and said, ‘How lovely.’ She was really charming.
What is your favourite part of knitted Sandringham?
The church was the most interesting to make, and the hardest, getting all the details right.
What are you working on next?
I’ve got another church to knit - Filby Church. I’ll be taking that with me to knit at St Peter Mancroft so I don’t waste any time.
What do you enjoy about knitting?
Once you are knitting, time seems to go really quick. In lockdown I was knitting between 10 and 15 hours a day. And the main thing is the end product does some good as it raises money for charity. I knitted Yarmouth seafront first and that raised a lot of money for a little girl with cancer.
When did you learn to knit?
When I was about seven I had twin brothers, seven years older than me, who had to knit their own school socks, so my mum taught them to knit and they taught me.
How did you begin knitting scenes?
After I lost my husband nearly nine years ago I joined a knitting group, as something to do, and did different projects with them to raise money for charity.
Do you knit for your family?
I've 14 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren, so only when they’re babies!
Do you have any other exhibitions this year?
I’m hoping Sandringham will go on display again and I shall eventually sell it to raise money for charity. I hope the seafront will go on display in Yarmouth and that we’ll find a permanent place for it so it’s always on display.
Once visitors are allowed back into hospitals and we are back to more or less normal, Knittingale will go to the three hospitals {Norfolk and Norwich; James Paget, Gorleston; Queen Elizabeth, King’s Lynn} to continue raising money for them. I’m up to £28,000 for the hospitals and I’d like to get it to £30,000 so I can give them £10,000 each.
Margaret Seaman has raised around £80,000 for charity with her knitting and is fundraising at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/margaretknitsfornorfolk She be at St Peter Mancroft Church for the Norfolk Makers Festival from 10.30am to 2.30pm, March 9-20. norfolkmakersfestival.co.uk
