A long time City and Guilds student, she gained her certificate in August 1999. A subsequent move to Northern Ireland and then to France made it very difficult to continue the Diploma course she had started thereafter. Having found the Stitchbusiness school in Durham, run by Julia Triston and Tracy Franklin, enabled Shirley to get back into her studies, this time as a distance learner via the inte
rnet. Shirley finally restarted, from scratch, the Diploma in Stitched textiles in 2011. Despite having had a long gap in her training, Shirley continued to stitch and once established in Brittany she founded a bilingual group of stitchers called Brittany Broderie which still meets monthly to this day. Once back into her training, Shirley handed over the reins of the group to a new team who continue to run it with enthusiasm and expertise. Last year, Shirley fulfilled a long held ambition to teach embroidery and textile art to others and started a series of workshops based in the family gîte, Ty Louisette. The first season was a great success and the current season is now under way. Shirley was a tutor at the wonderful Jersey Textile Showcase in Saint Aubin and looks forward to going over again.
