Local Face : Cate Bowley

Cate was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada where she spent her first 14 years. Her father then took a job with the Canadian Government and was posted to The Hague, Holland. Having never been more than a day’s travel away, this was a big adventure for Cate and her two sisters. They travelled to Europe on the Queen Mary and by train. She attended the International school there and obtained a Grade 12 American High School certificate plus a few O Levels ( Oxford) to “hedge her bets”.

The family came to London in January 1964 and Cate decided to apply for a place in nurse training – an ambition since she was 3 years old. She was accepted at Barts and started in August that year. Her plans were always to return to Canada but they had to stay on for a fourth year to get the hospital badge. Fate intervened and she met David. They were married at St Bartholomew the Less in April 1970 and moved to Wendover.

Here they are 43 years later and even still in the same house! Cate worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital until the birth of Ben in 1974. She had not long gone back to work part time when Eleanor came along in 1976. After that Cate did various things including child-minding, Marie Curie nursing and 3½ years as Welfare Assistant at John Hampden School. Cate then went back to hospital nursing at The Chiltern Hospital where she remained for 21 years, hours varying depending on family needs.

Cate has always been involved in village organisations and their committees including Toddler Club, Playgroup, Brown Owl, Swimming Assoc, Scouts, WI, Wendover Art Club etc.

Stitching and craft always played a big part in her life – from playing with her mother’s button box when she was tiny, to making clothes, trying ideas from magazines. She wanted to know how to design her own work so embarked on a City & Guilds Embroidery course. Five years later, she still wanted to do more, so when Ben & Ellie had finished at university, Cate signed up at Amersham College and 3 years later left with a BA(Hons) in Applied Textile Studies plus a C&G Adult Teaching Certificate. A chance meeting in Tesco’s car park lead to teaching C&G Embroidery at Aylesbury College for 3 years!

Cate now teaches occasional workshops in various techniques, She also convenes a U3A Creative Textile Group, teaches felt making in a school and has been an active member of Aylesbury Vale Embroiderers Guild (AVEG) for years.

AVEG was involved in THE BIG STITCH day at the Ashmolean, Oxford last December and Cate was in the modern art gallery demonstrating one of her techniques. At the moment she has work in Aylesbury Museum Gallery as part of “Splendid Stitches” and has also been stitching amongst the exhibits there.

In 2001, Cate was invited to exhibit for the first time in St Dunstan’s Church during Bucks Open Studios with a group of artists. This was exciting for her and confirmation that textiles could also be Art. Since then, she has taken part in Bucks Open Studios regularly. She now works with a group of former students. Called HORIZONS, they show their work at Stone in a lovely garden setting (#62 in the BOS listings). Even when they have a common theme, their work is always very different. Do pay them a visit.