For Immediate Release

Royal Embroiderer Brings Magna Carta Embroideries to Essex

The Magna Carta Embroidery is continuing its UK tour with an exhibition at the Braintree Museum in Essex as part of its UK tour, and will be there from 9^th to 29^th November.

Rhoda Nevins, part of the team that embroidered the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress, created the 12 embroideries. The embroideries tell the story of how the Barons persuaded King John to agree to Magna Carta, arguably the most important legal document in our history, laying the foundation for justice and freedom, not only in this country but throughout the world.

The exhibition will be opened in a special, ticket only event on Monday 9^th November from 3pm when Rhoda will be giving a talk on the creation of the embroideries.

The project has taken more than three years to complete, and Rhoda, helped by a team of twelve volunteers, reckons they spent 30,000 hours working on the embroideries.

"The Magna Carta Embroidery project is one of the highlights of my career, it was only when someone said to me recently that I was ‘creating something for the nation' that I realised how important this project was", says Rhoda.

The embroideries will be part of Braintree Museum's ‘Medieval Toil & Trouble - Castle Hedingham : Magna Carta' exhibition. This display looks at local baron Robert de Vere's involvement in the events of 1215, and explores the district in the early medieval period.

Rhoda is a member of the Royal School of Needlework and has worked on many high profile creations - as well as working on the royal wedding dress, she also embroidered two panels for the official Magna Carta prize-winning garden at the Chelsea Flower show and was part of the team that created the official 2012 Olympic quilts.

The embroidery panels depict the events that led up to the sealing of the Magna Carta in Charter Towns throughout the UK. Each Magna Carta Trust town has its own panel; these include Runnymede, Bury St Edmunds, St Albans, the City of London, Canterbury and Hereford.

The five other panels depict how Magna Carta influenced the spread of law and order throughout the world from 1215 to the present day, with panels for America, Canada, Australia, India and South Africa. An additional panel shows the shields of the 25 barons who were present at the sealing. The panels are a lasting legacy to the country in honour of one of the most important historical events in our history.

Rhoda Nevins says, "We are really looking forward to bringing the embroideries to Braintree as part of the 800^th Magna Carta anniversary commemorations. It's been amazing year, the response has been fantastic and the more people that can see them the better, the embroideries appeal to history buffs as well as stitching enthusiasts".

The embroideries will be on display for a limited time only from Tuesday 10 November - Sunday 29 November 2015.

Ends

Notes to Editors

www.magnacartaembroidery.com

The website is packed full of information about the Rhoda, the embroideries an the team behind the project. There is also an online shop with Magna Carta souvenirs and a book about the project.

www.twitter.com/MagnaCartaSew

www.facebook.com/MagnaCartaEmbroidery

For further information and jpegs please contact: Caroline Ratner, Caroline Ratner Communicationscaroline@carolinecoms.com020 8209 0120