Embroidery has been at the heart of the decorative arts for thousands of years. Many people still enjoy hand embroidery today, but what sets the RSN apart is teaching to the highest standards in a wide variety of hand embroidery techniques, and being the only centre to offer degree programmes in hand embroidery in the UK.

As a registered charity, with no support from government, we rely on individuals, trusts, Livery companies and foundations for much of our income. A gift left in your Will could be a vital help in enabling the RSN to maintain and develop world-class embroidery skills.

Work your legacy could help support

If you leave a gift in your Will for our general charitable purposes it will go to the area of greatest need or to a specific opportunity that we could not otherwise take up. This could include supporting:

  • Our educational programmes, by enabling us to continue offering the Foundation Degree, BA, Certificate and Diploma programmes.
  • Our resources and facilities, for example by enabling us to add new books to our library.
  • Bursaries and scholarships for students so that we may select students for courses based on merit, rather than ability to pay.
  • Our Collection. We have some 60,000 objects in the Collection, some are embroideries, others are archive items that tell the history of the RSN. The Collection needs to be looked after, cleaned and conserved, catalogued and made available on-line for others to study.  This is work we can only do with specific funding or legacy gifts.
  •  Exhibitions and displays of works by our students and from the Collection at centres outside the Royal School of Needlework. Mounting an exhibition is costly and time consuming: pieces have to be researched, selected, framed and a catalogue has to be produced with photographs. A gift in a Will could help make possible these important opportunities for the RSN to display its work.

These are just a few ongoing opportunities. Other times, we may have urgent needs that we cannot meet from core funds and then legacies for general purposes are greatly appreciated. For example, starting a new project always costs more than one anticipates and we rarely have the funds to invest in things that we think are going to be beneficial but which need significant up-front money to get them started. Legacy income could really help us in this area.

For more information

If you are considering leaving a legacy to the RSN then please contact Chief Executive Dr Susan Kay-Williams or T:+44 (0) 20 3166 6936.