Many are familiar with the Boston crest featuring the twin mermaids to signify the borough’s maritime connections and the ram seated on a woolsack in recognition of its historical wool trade. A new exhibition, Boston Unfurled, will explore this further as well as the use of banners and flags as communication and celebration.
The exhibition, admission free, will take place on Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10.30am to 3.30pm, from Wednesday, January 24 to Wednesday 14 February, and will include items from the Guildhall archive. For more details, visit this link.
It will also be the starting point for a new project by the Boston Hanse Group and Boston arts organisation Transported to create a set of 20 flags and finials to represent and celebrate Boston today. It is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council and Boston Big Local.
They will be created at free community workshops led by artists Ruth Pigott (Curiosity Creators) and Kathleen Smith, using fabrics and 3D printing. The workshops will take place at Boston Guildhall on Fridays from 11am to 3pm, starting on Friday 9 February and running until Friday 29 April. More details are at the links below:
The flags will be used at future community events and festivals and taken abroad to represent Boston at New Hanse events in Europe.
Anyone wanting to take part should contact bostonhansegroup47@gmail.com to book a place.
Boston rejoined the Hanseatic League in 2015, after a 700 year absence. Boston was a warehousing site and trading partner with Hanseatic League countries in medieval times and owed much of its early prosperity to the trade it enjoyed from across the North Sea. It joins 189 other towns and cities including King’s Lynn, Kingston upon Hull, Aberdeen and other members from Belarus, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden in the Die Hanse, the modern-day Hanseatic League.
Boston Unfurled, which will take place throughout this year, will involve schools and community groups from around the town to create a collection of 20 flags and pole tops (finials) that will be exhibited throughout Boston.
Chairman of Hanse, Alison Fairman, said: “This a wonderful opportunity to involve all Bostonians old and new in the long history of the town. People will be able to see their designs on display and in the long term this could be the start of a much bigger project.”
Hanse Day will take place on Saturday, May 27, in Boston Market Place.
