Hats off to Patricia

A life in art, a gift to the community

Patricia Smith, a resident at Avondale sheltered housing scheme in Newport, Isle of Wight, has always had a keen interest in art.

“I was nearly always top of my class in art,” she remembers of her time at the local grammar school, which she attended after passing the first Eleven Plus exam in 1944.

On leaving school at 16, Patricia was given a chance to explore her passion after being hired as a junior illustrator at the RAF Staff College in Bracknell.

She says, “We drew very large diagrams and maps for lectures, all on black paper with yellow poster paint.

“The Civil Service also paid for me to attend Maidenhead Art School one day a week, where I studied perspective and life drawing. I worked at the Staff College for seven years, all very enjoyable and interesting, and I met quite a few well-known RAF personnel, including Spitfire pilots, and heard of their lucky escapes.”

Patricia has also leant her artistic eye to other creative endeavours, including leather-work, crochet and knitting.

“My mother taught me to knit when I was five,” she recalls. “I used to make my own clothes, and my two daughters’, and I taught myself tailoring.”

However, in doing what she loves, she has also been able to give back to her local community.

“I've knitted a few hundred hats for the maternity unit at the local hospital,” she says, “and also knitted dolls for different Island charities. It is my way of donating and I have the time.

“I have been thanked for what I do by the people receiving the things I knit, and that’s enough for me. I just enjoy what I do with lots of love over the years.”

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