Operation Tea Cosy Uptown

At last year's Port Eliot Festival the Empress and I entered the Inaugural Port Eliot Festival Tea Cosy Competition to design and make a tea cosy.   Our work was a conceptual piece based on a Victorian travelling circus tent consisting of panels made from old rod bags adorned with original silk labels from  British tackle makers most of whom are sadly now obsolete.  It beat a field of over 80 International entries to win First Prize.  The competition was sponsored by Fortnum and Mason and now 38 of the designs have been chosen to be auctioned off by them for the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Trust who are specialists in heart and lung care.  Our entry - photographed below by our good friend and collaborator Neil R. Thomson is amongst them and you may bid on this artwork using bundles of ironed online fivers or fifties if you're feeling flush by clicking here (No. 138).  The designs will also be on display at a short exhibition which will run on the First Floor at Fortnum and Mason between Friday 26th June and and Monday 6th July.   Thank-you in advance for your generosity of spirit.