January 

Our year started on a high as the first extracts from the Ministry of Justice’s short film about Fine Cell Work were released. The full video, featuring Fine Cell Work stitchers, apprentices, volunteers, staff and trustees, was uploaded to their YouTube channel in March, and was their most watched video of all time, with over 70k views – if you missed it, watch it here. 

February 

Our first big event of the year was A Night of Words & Music, hosted by Dominic Dromgoole at St James’s Church in Piccadilly. A momentous occasion, the first edition of Words & Music, 25 years ago, was Fine Cell Work's very first fundraising event. February’s event included readings by Simon Callow and Fine Cell Work Patron Isabella Tree, a performance of our Patron Esther Freud’s play Stitchers by Sinéad Cusack and Will Keen, and music from Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir and the Zielinsky Quartet.

March 

The stockroom of our warehouse was bursting at the seams so, to make space for new products, we hosted a Studio Sample Sale at our Battersea hub, where we sold a selection of our classic designs at significant savings. It was wonderful to meet so many of our supporters in person – watch this space for the dates of our 2025 sale! 

April 

As spring sprang into action, we celebrated all things flora and fauna through our product launches. We added an exquisitely embroidered Ponies Cushion to our design collaboration with Knepp Wilding, one of our most complex, challenging designs to date! We also launched a series of dapper dog cushions, designed by Fine Cell Work Trustee Kit Kemp. 

May 

May saw the launch of the first products to emerge from our new textile workshop within a women’s prison, our stunning Gingham Shell Bags and Purses. Through fortnightly sessions with a focus on skills-based learning, the workshop gives the women the opportunity to embrace their creativity, build their confidence, and consider their next steps. 

Fine Cell Work were selected to take part in the Craftworks show in Shoreditch, East London. Curated by Jade Ilke, Director of Designing Futures, the Craft Really Works showcase presented a selection of projects and approaches from across the UK, focusing on the positive effects of craft for the wellbeing of society.  

We also travelled to Cambridge, where the Friends of the Michaelhouse Centre generously held a sales event in their beautiful chapel to raise funds for our work, and hosted a Volunteer Lunch at the Hurlingham Club for our amazing in-prison volunteers. 

June 

In June, Fine Cell Work Patron and bestselling author Tracy Chevalier journeyed to Sheffield, where she gave a talk on The Sleep Quilt that she commissioned from Fine Cell Work for her 2014 exhibition 'Things We Do In Bed'. The quilt was on display at the Millennium Gallery as part of their Ruskin: Hand, Heart & Head exhibition. 

We also ran our first Reflective Practice session for prison volunteers, as part of our new Volunteer Strategy. An ongoing initiative, these sessions will provide volunteers with a space in which to discuss their experiences of working in what can be a challenging environment.  

July 

In July, Sky News correspondent Mollie Malone and a camera team visited our headquarters to speak to staff and apprentices about the vital work that we do at our post-release hub in South London, supporting prison leavers with employment skills, training and mentorship. If you missed the feature, you can watch it here. 

Katy Emck, Stitch Specialist Kate Nolan and one of our volunteers were invited to take part in Isabella Rosner’s Sew What podcast, where they talked about Fine Cell Work’s beginnings, our work with people in prisons and post release, and the rehabilitative powers of needlework. 

We also welcomed More Or Less Magazine to our Battersea offices, where photographer Laurence Ellis, writer Alix Fox and the team spent a day in our Battersea hub with several of our post-release apprentices. The feature, published at the end of the year, was a fresh and insightful take on Fine Cell Work. 

August 

Our Online Sample Sale in August saw an unprecedented level of orders, as our supporters shopped from a selection of one-off production samples, slight seconds and end-of-line-designs. We were bowled over by the response in what was our biggest and best Sample Sale to date! 

The wonderfully talented Sarah-Jane Hemsley joined us to run a footstool making workshop at our Battersea Headquarters, which was generously supported by the Worshipful Company of Upholders. Sarah took everyone through each step of the process with creative flair and incredible attention to detail, resulting in a lovely batch of Geometric Footstools ready to find homes!  

September 

September was a busy month, as we popped up at Peter Jones in Sloane Square, and held our biggest ever house sale in Suffolk, organised by volunteers and supporters. 

We also launched our limited-edition Pahang Collection of hand-quilted bags and needle cases, which sold-out instantly. Open The Gate apprentices at our Battersea workshop pieced together silks donated by the former Queen of Malaysia with other remnants, exploring intuitive stitching, and the results were stunning! 

We focused on expanding our in-prison programmes across England & Wales throughout 2024, and in September, we opened a new group in the North-East, and our first group in Norfolk. 

October  

October was a month for exhibitions, as we started off at Winchester Law Week, where our Cell Quilt was on display in Winchester Cathedral. Our iconic Prison Calendar needlepoint was also featured in the Catching the Chain exhibition at St Albans Museums, which is on until 21st April 2025.  

The Tallow Chandlers’ Company in the City of London hosted a wonderful Champagne Reception and Sale for their members, guests and Fine Cell Work supporters in their historic hall, which was a great success. The Fibreworks in Chipping Norton also kindly hosted a morning pop-up sale on behalf of Fine Cell Work – we were blown away by the sales at this event!  

We also launched a new collection with long-term design collaborators, William Yeoward, a series of five hand-embroidered cushions, the names of each resonating with the mission and values of Fine Cell Work.

We held a day-long embroidery workshop at our Battersea headquarters, where participants made their own hand-stitched Christmas decorations. Everyone who joined us loved it, so watch this space for future workshops!   

November 

Our Programmes Team held two Open Days at our Battersea hub for our Open The Gate  programme, giving organisations working within the post-release and probation areas an opportunity to learn more about our work. 

November was also the month of our Stitcher Awards – this year we made 202 awards, paying a total of £10,840 to stitchers in prisons in recognition of their outstanding work throughout 2024. 

With Christmas drawing ever-closer, we sold our stitchers’ work at two festive fairs. In the middle of the month, we took our stitchers’ work to the Cotswold Christmas Fair, before finishing November with the jewel in our Christmas crown, Fine Cell Work’s annual fair at St Peter’s in Notting Hill. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of staff and volunteers, and the generosity of our supporters, we far surpassed sales of previous years at both events. 

We also found time to host a Quiz Night, with ten teams pitting their wits against each other for the win. And let’s not forget, we released 2024’s limited edition Christmas decoration, Baking Bear, into the wild. You wowed us again, snapping up 249 hand-stitched bears in a record amount of time! 

December 

December was an exciting month for fundraising. We took part in The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, where donations were match funded by our supporters and the Monday Charitable Trust. We reached our initial target of £10K in less than 24 hours and we went on to raise over 40K overall! Funds were also raised by Fine Cell Work staff, volunteers and supporters who took part in the Battersea Park 10k Run Challenge. They put in 110% and braved Storm Darragh, raising an amazing £3507!  

We concluded the year with two very special events. Apprentices and graduates from our post-release Open The Gate programme, along with staff and volunteers, all gathered together to share food and play games at our annual apprentice Christmas lunch. As one of the highlights of the Fine Cell work calendar, the lunch is a real team effort that really brings home the importance of what we do.  

Finally, Fine Cell Work staff enjoyed a visit to the incredible Knepp Estate for a guided safari walk and a team Christmas lunch at the Knepp Wilding Kitchen. The Knepp Rewilding project in Sussex was co-founded by Isabella Tree, daughter of Fine Cell Work’s founder Lady Anne Tree, so the team were very excited to spend the day immersing themselves in the amazing landscape at Knepp.  

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