Book Cover

Have you seen the Woman of Wortherly Woods?

Have you seen the Woman of Wortherly Woods? 

Have you ever walked home in the dark and felt like someone was following you? Have you ever been asleep, woken up and had the sense of a looming source of energy at the foot of the bed? Or have you even sworn you’ve seen someone in the corner of your eye and you’ve turned to only realise that there’s nobody there? These are feelings that I know only too well. My name is Diane and I live in Wortherly, a village housing only 200 people. Wortherly is one of those places in which nothing ever seems to change. Time seems to simply stand still. We all still carry on maturing and growing older but we never seem to change our way of life. The whole village still piles into the pub at 11am every Christmas eve, Dave the milk man still brings our milk on alternate days and the ghost stories that are told to my children are the same as the ones that I was told as a nipper. As a community Wortherly is very closely nit, maybe too closely nit. Everybody seems to know your business before you do. The kids all go to one tiny school. The more elderly folk all go to the same ‘knit and natter’ session on Tuesday mornings. And unbeknown to some of the yummy mummies in the bottom of the village they seem to share their husbands. However there is one very specific topic of conversation that splits the village. The Woman of Wortherly Woods.

This is a story which some of my neighbours have put down to myth while others take it as true fact. Where do I stand? I believe that she exists... well at least I think she does.

My anecdote to this tale is not as cliché as the usual, ‘When I was a child I was playing in the woods…etc.’ When I was told of the dreaded woman in the woods during Brownie camp in 1983 I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous. I was one of those matter-of-fact children who didn’t have time for fairy tales. I was a proud member of the myth party until last year when I saw something that changed my opinion totally.

I had been at the pub with my husband Tom and a few of our friends. I had had a fair few medium house whites and Tom and me had decided to call it a night and walk home. There are two ways to our house from the pub. The first of which is the route I tell the kids to take on the way home from school. It is along three brightly lit footpaths and takes twenty minutes to walk. The other is through the woods with no lights or path and of course only takes ten minutes. Naturally. Being the sensible adults that Tom and I are, we decided to take the later route. As we walked into the woods I gripped his hand tightly, mainly as I was worried about falling on the uneven pathless ground. We carried on walking discussing the day’s events, checking in with each other so we knew what the kids had planned at the weekend and which bills needed to be paid. Boring stuff.  We were just walking past the west hut when I saw her. I stopped. Frozen. The cold dim light from our phone torches revealed her long dark tangled hair. She was there, stood right in front of us blocking our way. She was turned away as if she hadn’t even noticed that we were there. Her clothes were dirty and draped off her like a load of old handkerchiefs.  You could see the mud on her fingers as if she had been digging the ground. I was terrified, I looked at Tom and his face was as white as snow. Suddenly, she jolted round snapping out of her daze. Her face was hanging almost as if she felt sadness, full of pain. We ran. I broke forwards grazing her as I went passed. She was cold; it sent a shiver down my spine – only pushing me further forwards. We ran faster and faster towards our house. Tom was gripping my hand still tighter than ever, making sure I was safe. We scrambled across the wall onto the road and then though door into our hallway.

I didn’t sleep that night; I lay in bed, wide awake, wondering if what we had seen was real. Had we just imagined it? Or had we seen a neighbour that we didn’t recognise? If so, what were they doing in the woods? I’m not sure. Since that night all I know is that I can’t seem to shake her face, her emotion. I sometimes start to feel sorry for her, all alone in the cold woods.  It’s for this reason that I have decided to compile this book, to display other people’s stories of the Woman in Wortherly Woods. Hopefully, to one day find some truth in her tale, and to help her to get rid of her pain.

Yang Du.

 

Du Yang is an emerging designer from Dalian, North China but currently based in London. She graduated from both the BA and the MA at Central Saint Martins and has gained work experience at Vivienne Westwood, Giles Deacon and John Galliano.

 

 

The designer started her own label ‘Yang Du’ in 2009 and has presented her collections at London Fashion Week ever since. Despite showing her S/S 2010 collection on the runway with On|Off she mainly presents her work to the world’s media and buyers through a look book or exhibition. Her style is fun, quirky and humorous and she is also said to blur the lines between fashion and art.

 

 

Boudicca.

Boudicca is a fashion design duo consisting of Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby. They both graduated from the BA Fashion Design course at Middlesex University in 1997. They are considered to create pieces of art through their fashion design. They’re goal is, “to forge the identity of a future of design that is not just about making clothes, but the craftsmanship” (Broach, 2006). 

  
They have previously shown their work at the V and A and were the first British design house to be invited to create an haute couture collection in Paris. Their individual perfume, Wode by Boudicca, shows their creativity and ability to think outside the box as it was available in both a scent and a paint. The paint appears as a deep blue colour when sprayed onto the skin.

 "Mind-boggling—in a good way" Anon, style.com

Fashion East.

What are they?

 

Fashion East is a non-profit initiative established by the Old Truman Brewery in 2000 to nurture emerging young designers through the early stages of their career. The organisation receives sponsorship funding from Topshop, TOPMAN and The London Development Agency.

 

At what stage do they help you?

Within 3 years of starting your own business.

 

 Key figures…

Brix Smith-Start 
Owner of Start Boutique, London

Charlie Harrington
Fashion Director Stella / Sunday Telegraph

Charlie Porter 
Freelance Journalist

Francesca Burns 
Fashion Editor, Vogue UK

Harriet Quick 
Fashion features Director, Vogue UK

Kay Barron 
Fashion Features Editor, Harper’s Bazaar

Lauren Cochrane 
Freelance Fashion Writer

Richard Sloan 
Creative Consultant / Stylist

Sarah Mower 
Contributing Editor, Vogue USA and Style.com

Hugo Scott 
Head of European Operations, Marc Jacobs

Lulu Kennedy is the director of Fashion East and editor-at-large at Love magazine. She has been awarded an MBE for fashion services and is known as the Fashion Fairy Godmother.

Kennedy launched an eponymous clothing label Lulu & Co, which brings together some of the enterprise's alumni and creates their designs in a more accessible, affordable way. Not quite as mass market as a high-street collaboration, Lulu & Co provides a middle ground of commercialisation that appears to benefit all parties.

What do they give you?

The organisation provides the opportunity to present a catwalk collection to the international press and buyers attending London Fashion Week. Designers receive a bursary, free venue and complete catwalk show production, professional catwalk photographs and video. Designers are also given mentoring, guidance and in-house PR throughout the season from Lulu Kennedy and her team.

They also take designers to a sales show room in Paris each season, giving them the opportunity to showcase their collections to top international buyers.

 

Who they helped?

Previous Fashion East designers include, Richard Nicoll, Holly Fulton, Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, Gareth Pugh, Marios Schwab, Louise Goldin, Roksanda Ilincic and Meadham Kirchhoff.

The designers for this season are, Ashley Williams, University of Westminster graduate who had Pixie Geldof and Alice Dellal walk in her graduate show, Claire Barrow and Ryan Lo.

Taste.

 

Phoenix’s taste:

Phoenix loves extravagant objects and surroundings. She admires ‘the high life’ and takes an interest in smart but casual clothing. Her taste is for quite masculine things and her favourite colour is black.

 

 

 

My taste:

I love soft and feminine imagery. Texture interests me and I admire controlled chaos. The splashes of vibrant colour I like add a vivid layer to my mostly organic interests.  

Why I like what I like…

I like natural and organic things because I spent a lot of time in the countryside when I was younger. I also think that I like splashes of vivid colour because colour is one of my mum’s greatest interests.