Makers: Cathrine Wilkinson, Adelaide Wilkinson, Meg Walley

Panel number: 197

Petition Sheet Number: 238

Person honouring: Sarah Ann Ayers

Relationship to makers: None

Sarah was born in Eastwell, a village of farm labourers southeast of Nottingham, England, the fourth child of William and Sarah Judson. In 1859 the family, with five children, emigrated to NZ on the ‘Clontarf’. It was a terrible journey: passengers and crew endured four months of violent storms, a fire, and measles. Five adults and 28 children died, including the Judson’s baby, Martha. Sarah Ann, aged two, was nearly thrown overboard as dead, but the captain gave in to her mother’s pleas that she was still alive. She was the youngest child to survive the journey, and although she recovered, she was never robust, living with only one lung. (She always enjoyed the puzzlement of doctors over this.)

Panel materials: Fabrics used included quilting fabrics from my daughters quilts, fabric that had been used to make garments over the years. We did purchase some iron on transfer to enable us to include the page of signatures that included Sarah’s signature.