'Where lives the man on Britain's furthest shore

To whom did never sound the name of Lemster ore?

That with the silkworm's thread for fineness doth compare.'*

A MAJOR summer event featuring a parade of 'art sheep' is being planned as a step in reconnecting Leominster with its woolly heritage.

The Leominster ore (gold) praised in old poems, such as that above, was its wool. It was famed for centuries thanks to the area's flocks of Ryeland sheep and the trading activities of the Priory monks.

"Among short wools, Ryeland has the pre-eminence with Leominster at the centre of its trade," an Elizabethan writer observed. Ryeland fleece once filled the woolsack, the seat of the Lord Chancellor, at Westminster.

Now a regional grouping of artists and farmers who are working to raise the profile of locally produced wool and wool products in a new era are putting together plans for Sheep Shape 2003.

The Woolgatherers, formed in 1999, says this is the ideal year for a special event - it's the Chinese Year of the Sheep and the 100th anniversary of the Ryeland Flock Book Society.

The group hopes Sheep Shape could attract widespread media interest during the Leominster Festival in June.

Artists working with groups of local people will create three dimensional sheep models from local and recycled materials during May.

There will be a 'sheep market' preview and auction and a show involving judging and the awarding of rosettes at The Grange on June 6.

The Woolgatherers co-ordinator, textiles artist Angela Martin, dreamed up the idea after seeing a similar fun event, a cow parade, in central London last summer.

She said: "We hope Sheep Shape will be a beginning for re-establishing Leominster's connection with wool and acting as a focus for new developments. A number of new enterprises are now flourishing in the county ranging from wool garment making, to felt-making and the curing of sheepskins."

The new ventures are a reminder that, historically, wool meant jobs - especially for Leominster. Spinning, weaving, hat making, felting, fulling and dyeing (much of it with Herefordshire's hedgerow damsons) made the town a hive of industry.

This summer's Sheep Shape activities could create a new buzz, the Woolgathers hope.

Leominster Youth Group and the ECHO group for people with learning disabilities are among local organisations that will be taking part and making their own sheep for the art competition.

l Groups and individuals who would like to take part or offer help can contact the Woolgatherers on 01588 640017 or look at the website at www.woolgatherers.net

*Lines from an Elizabethan poem quoted by Norman Reeves in 'The Town in the Marches.'