Marches Scribes mark 35 years preserving the art of calligraphy

Marches Scribes marked 35 years in Herefordshire by putting its calligraphy work back in front of the public, with the group taking part in the Vikings at the Priory exhibition in Leominster and planning further displays at the Lion Ballroom and the Shropshire Discovery Centre later in the year. The anniversary underlined how a local guild can keep a specialist craft alive through teaching, shared standards and regular practice, not just celebration.

Founded in 1991 by a small number of artists with a shared love of calligraphy, the group is based in the Welsh Marches near Leominster and says its aim is to inspire and promote calligraphy and lettering. Local reporting placed its membership at 37, while the group’s own website says it has more than 40 members. Its reach stretches well beyond one town, drawing people from Herefordshire, Shropshire, Powys, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire and Kidderminster.

That spread matters because the group is built around the ordinary machinery of craft survival: workshops, exhibitions and a library of books. Marches Scribes runs 10 workshops each year and offers access to that library, giving members a place to study letterforms, compare scripts and keep standards consistent. The Hereford Times said the group was founded by attendees of classes led by Christine Oxley, a detail that points to how the skill has been passed on through teaching rather than isolated practice.

The membership itself reflects that broad, practical appeal. The Hereford Times described members coming from arts and crafts backgrounds such as leatherwork, bookbinding and paper arts, alongside people drawn to history and manuscripts or to the simple pleasure of making cards and handwritten gifts for friends and family. The group has also said it receives tuition from internationally recognised calligraphers and artists, keeping its work connected to wider professional practice as well as local enthusiasm.

Marches Scribes has been showing that mix of community and discipline for years. A 2003 Hereford Times report noted an annual exhibition in Leominster Library, and a 2000 report described the group creating a Mappa Marches display for Hereford, complete with Millennium envelopes and a map measuring two metres by one metre. That history now sits behind the 35th anniversary, which arrived with the group still working publicly and still gathering around the page.

Priory Arts linked the group’s work to the Hereford Gospels and other illuminated manuscripts, a reminder that calligraphy in this county is tied to a deep manuscript tradition rather than nostalgia alone. In that context, Marches Scribes’ anniversary looked less like a commemorative marker than a living workshop floor, where older skills kept getting handed on, one workshop and one exhibition at a time.