It's a thriving hub for needlework enthusiasts

Janey Swanson discovers the history and lasting legacy of the Wemyss School of Needlework.

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SINCE 1877 the Wemyss School of Needlework in Fife has been teaching traditional  needlework skills.

When the school opened almost 150 years ago, it gave miners' daughters living in near poverty the chance to earn a muchneeded wage.

"The Wemyss School of Needlework was founded by twenty-one-year-old Dora Wemys - an extraordinary woman with a strong sense of social justice," Fiona Wemyss, who is married to Dora Wemyss's great-greatnephew, explains.

"Dora lived in Wemyss Castle on the Fife coast with her four siblings and her widowed mother, Millicent.

"As well as running the family's large estate until her eldest son, a small boy when his father died, was able to take the reins, Millicent also founded the local hospital, and she encouraged her five children to follow her philanthropic ways.