CRAFTSWOMAN Susanne Pickup is appealing for help unravelling the secrets of a red and white quilt stitched more than 100 years ago in her home village of Bratton.

The 70-year-old, of Upper Garston Lane, has been given the task by Bratton Baptist Church, which was presented with the quilt last year.

Made in 1913, it consists of 270 squares, each stitched with patterns including people’s initials, quotes from the Bible, animals and Chinese symbols.

Mrs Pickup, who has been a member of Westbury Quilters for more than five years, is hoping to give a presentation about the quilt – and two others currently on display in Trowbridge Museum – in October to Bratton History Association and reveal its mysterious past.

The retired librarian, who used to work at the former Hill Street public library in Trow-bridge and at Sheldon School in Chippenham, said: “We don’t know why it was made, but I suspect people in the area were asked to send in donations to get a tile on it, hence all the initials, so it might have been a fundraising exercise.

“The embroidery is exquisite and it would have been done by several people, probably taking roughly a year to complete. It may have been raffled and won by this lady in the area who moved away in the 1920s.”

The quilt may have been used as a church tablecloth. It was then either won or bought by Ethel Snow in the 1920s, and handed back to the church last year by Mrs Snow’s daughter-in-law, Janet Couldrake.

Mrs Pickup added: “I want to find out the purpose of the quilt, why it was made and whose initials are on it.

“I’m hoping that after I have done my research and given it back to the church, it will be put on display.“It is certainly worth seeing.”

Contact Mrs Pickup on 01380 830037.