THE HISTORY
OF THE
GUILDHOUSE
MADE BY MARY
In the 1920s the founder of Stanton Guildhouse, Mary Osborn, worked at Kingsley Hall in the East End of London. It was there that she met the man who would change her life - Mahatma Gandhi.
He shared her love of spinning but what impressed her most were his descriptions of his `ashrams', which were the simple religious retreats he had founded in India.
His philosophy gave her the germ of an idea - she would set up a similar type of centre, a retreat from the world, but dedicated to the instruction of traditional crafts.
After Mary Osborn's death in 1996, the Guildhouse, which was also her home, has continued to be a place where people can get the best tuition in traditional craft techniques.
The trustees planned to continue the legacy of Mary Osborn.
"When Mary died we had to decide how to keep the Guildhouse going. These days there is not so much demand for spinning and weaving so we go with what people want to do. We have got to be prepared to be flexible and move with the times."
The most significant development at the Guildhouse in recent years has been its growing role as a national training centre for social entrepreneurs, bringing together business, public and voluntary sectors and others involved in community services.
Stanton Guildhouse provides residential breaks or away-day visits, training facilities, tutored manual arts and crafts programmes and specialised workshops throughout the year.
Mary Osborn met Mahatma Gandhi in London in the Thirties and was inspired by his belief that there is a spiritual aspect to the simplest of human activities, especially those involving traditional skills and the use of basic materials. In the book stone upon stone, Mary tells the story of her life, her beliefs, and the struggle to achieve her dream: the building of the Guildhouse at Stanton and the creation there of a centre where crafts could be practised in an atmosphere of community and peace. Since it opened its doors in 1973 the Stanton Guildhouse , with its continuing programme of activities, stands as a monument to Mary Osborn’s faith.
She also opened her doors to give temporary homes to homeless families, a base for those in times of personal turmoil and happy summer holidays for children from disadvantaged areas.
Over the years the centre has enjoyed the support of such well-known people as J B Priestley, John Betjeman, Enid Blyton and Flora Robson - as well as from its inspiration Mahatma Gandhi. He maintained links with Mary Osborn and on his 63rd birthday was presented with a spinning wheel by Indian students in London.
After founding a charitable trust, Mary Osborn set about building the centre with the help of a team of young international volunteers and local people. The building, which was completed in 1973 and listed in 1999, was built out of reclaimed materials from the surrounding area and also includes paving stones from the streets of London and oak from the Blenheim Palace estate.
THE STORY TODAY
TURNING A PROBLEM INTO AN OPPORTUNITY
THE MAKING OF A MODERN SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
PARTNERS
Anthony had worked with Andrew on The Great Banquet program in London in 1995. He was struck by his self-belief and enthusiasm and practical acumen, which he had seen at work during the hugely successful Great Banquet. A London wide project supported by the church leaders of London, which involved over 30,000 people across the capital. This project used a simple meal to bring people together and take the partnership agenda into local communities across the London. Andrew reminded Anthony of Mary.
Lord Mawson of Bromley By Bow (Andrew) was approached in 1996 by the Sub Dean of Westminster Abbey, Dr Anthony Harvey and asked whether he would consider taking responsibility for Stanton Guildhouse, a charity operating in the heart of the Cotswolds. This small not for profit organisation was founded by Mary Osbourne in the 1950's.
In 1931 Mary had spent some of her early life at Kingsley Hall with the Christian Socialists Muriel and Doris Leicester, next door to what is nowadays the internationally renowned Bromley by Bow Centre. She was there when Mahatma Gandhi stayed at the Hall for 10 weeks in 1931 for the Round Table Conference on India. Mary was profoundly influenced by the experience. She then left east London in the 1940's during the blitz and founded Stanton Guildhouse based on Gandhian principles. It was Mary's dying wish that this amazing house be returned to the people of Bromley by Bow and hence the approach to Andrew by Anthony Harvey
It was clear that the present model was unsustainable. Andrew replaced the board of trustees with their agreement and made them the 'Friends of Stanton Guildhouse'. He faced up the skills gap that was obvious and brought in new and experienced trustees from the Bromley by Bow Centre. He and a small team rationalised the business model creating different cost centres and initiated a mixed economy, creating a small range of different income streams. Having many eggs in the basket seemed to make sense. He and his colleagues now generated a modern culture focused on entrepreneurship and quality outcomes and faced up to some of the more outdates practices that had taken root.
What you see on this website is the result today of one of the country's first successful social enterprises, which now no longer requires any grants and has a fully sustainable social business model. A real gem with a rich and purposeful history that could have been lost to the nation was saved and is now open and serving the nation 365 days a year. Today The Guildhouse is attracting a new and younger generation of artists and entrepreneurs.
If your charity or social enterprise is in challenging times why not give us a ring, we are here to help.
Andrew’s championing and development of an integrated working model – involving health, education, housing, business and enterprise – has received international recognition. Andrew and the Trustees believe in supporting and promoting the unique gifts of every individual in the community, this is the secret to the Guildhouse's ongoing success.
Lord Mawson OBE, President of Stanton Guildhouse, is one of the U.K.'s leading social entrepreneurs. Andrew founded the internationally renowned Bromley-by-Bow Centre over three decades ago. Successive governments have used the Centre, along with many of the other pathfinder projects that Andrew and his team has created over the past 35 years, frequently as national exemplars for successful community regeneration.
With the support of the private, public and social enterprise sectors we work with our partners to promote social entrepreneurship, assist with corporate team building and provide support and advice to businesses and the public sector across the country. Lord Mawson is also available to speak at and host, events. Contact the Guildhouse for more information. info@stantonguildhouse.org.uk
From small beginnings in a run down local church, today the Centre employs over 280 staff, supports 87 local businesses and social enterprises run by local people, and is responsible through its network of integrated health centres for over 40,000 patients. Last year 2000 people visited the Centre along with leaders from 23 visitors from across the world. Lord Mawson is the Founder and now President of this pioneering project, whose work and principles are now being shared with communities across the UK.
Thirty years ago, a group of ten or so furniture designer makers were invited to Stanton Guildhouse on the behest of Andrew Mawson and the then manager, Frances Lang. We spent half a day in its delightful setting listening to them explain its history, ethos and intended legacy. It was also explained that they were seeking a design for a cabinet to house the archive of the Guildhouse’s founder, Mary Osborn. It may have been that I was more enthusiastic than the majority and I was thrilled to be informed that I had been chosen for the task. My research led me into Mary’s vision, obdurate drive, tenacious faith and its embodiment in the very stones of the Guildhouse. Her belief in creative pastime as a necessary driver within our culture resonated powerfully with my own. I recognised the ethos and her compulsion to deliver it.
The cabinet was to be launched at a grand opening in central London The crew and I were still working through the last two nights before the show, to finish it…. we did not and had to improvise by exhibiting it as work-in-progress. I was mortified, not an auspicious start. However, Andrew, Frances, fellow exhibitors and the public were sweetness itself and what followed has not only humbled me but evolved into a thirty-year creative relationship that has flourished and delivered to this day and hopefully beyond. The Archive Cabinet took up its place in the Guildhouse and there immediately followed a request to provide shelving for a small library, then a small table and chairs, then, a low table and TV cabinet, then a kitchen…and then beds….. bathrooms…mirrors, sideboards and beyond. We are now working on designs for a linen press, a large dining table, maybe a Stanton chair and as a thankful response from me , a cabinet to display Mary’s spinning wheel, and iconic symbol from which the Guildhouse sprang. I have continued throughout to use elm, now increasingly rare as a timber, and without realising it the furniture has become an ‘Epitaph to the Elm’. I aim that the work will be seen as a ‘Hymn to the Artisan’s, of our time. For me this has been a thirty-year privilege, being lost in creative labour, an enactment of Mary’s chosen motto ‘Laborare est Orare’, ‘labour is prayer’.
Our design and make service for free standing and fitted furniture (and the occasional shed, bridge, fence or as yet unspecified request) where you set the brief and we apply our skills to interpret. We relish working with you and we set out to make it exciting, individual and enjoyably rewarding for both you and us. Your needs and how we resolve them within the budget set, is the engine of our creativity. This lovely process is inadequately referred to as commissioning
MATTHEW BURT where the designer, the maker, the engineer and the artist unite to give you 21st century English furniture.
We take enormous pride from having our furniture in numerous homes, in major museums, in public spaces, in business HQs, in churches, gardens and amongst the unexpected throughout the UK and beyond.
