THE hard work of a group of art society members is on display in a museum in Hereford.

Twelve women from the Hereford, Malvern and Ross-on-Wye groups of The National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies spent 7,158 hours stitching crewel embroidery drapes for the four poster bed in Hereford's Black and White House Museum.

The house, built in 1621, is a well preserved timber-framed building.

The modern embroideries, using 40 stitches, were designed by Sally Ziesler, drawing on traditional 17th century imagery including the 'tree of life' motif from a carved chest in the house.

The individual flowers, leaves and birds were the inspiration of the rest of the group.

In addition, Sue Pemberton designed and worked a cushion for a settle including hop kilns, SAS helicopter, a Wye salmon and many other modern and traditional Herefordshire features.

The Arts Society in Hereford meets for illustrated lectures at the Green Dragon Hotel, Broad Street at 2pm on the second Tuesday of each month. Call 01432 272151 for details.