Bunting petition made up of embroidered railway carriages
- Made:
- 2011 in United Kingdom
- maker:
- The Craftivist Collective
Train bunting petition. Railway themed bunting made up of approximately 150 embroidered train coaches 16 x 12cm each, approx. 32 meters long. Each train was created by individual ‘Craftivists’, is embroidered or cross stitched on cotton, and contains statistics, quotes and views on the effect of train fare rises and the then UK Government’s carbon-friendly transport policy.
The petition was created in 2011 as a joint project called ‘Railway Adventure’ with organisations The Craftivist Collective and Climate Rush. On 10 April 2011 ‘Craftivists’ stitched the trains in stations around the country, including events in Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, Devon and Kings Cross, London. Train carriages were then sent them to the Craftivist Collective in time to use the full bunting petition at an ‘unfair fares’ protest in London on 16 April 2011.
The item was also used for another 2011 event with group Campaign for Better Transport when bunting was shown to Transport Minister Phillip Hammond at a national government transport meeting ‘He was very moved by the time everyone had taken to make their bespoke carriage to represent their petition’.
The National Railway Museum holds rich archives from organisations such as Railfuture, Campaign for Better Transport and Save our Railways which document campaigns for lower rail fares and sustainable transport from the 1950s onwards. Physical objects used during railway campaigning and protests such as placards, posters, banners are often lost or discarded, meaning they are much rarer. These items provide unique evidence of the people behind campaigns, their individual views, and the unique methods they used.
Protest and campaigning around railways has existed as long as railways themselves however objects and accounts that have survived from early campaigns in the 1800s are often dry, scarce and most protest objects will not have been preserved. We have an opportunity to actively collect contemporary protest and campaign items now before they are also lost to future generations.
Details
- Category:
- Miscellanea & Curiosities
- Object Number:
- 2023-845
- Materials:
- wood (unidentified) and cotton (textile)
- Measurements:
-
overall: 320 mm
- type:
- bunting