Tamworth craftswomen have helped curate the Anzac Commemoration Postcards exhibition, which opened this week at Wests’ Diggers.

It is a travelling collection of 90 embroidered postcards, known as silks, which were the traditional way many servicemen corresponded from abroad to their loved ones at home in Australia.

The NSW Embroiderers’ Guild has recreated those small silk postcards and their beautiful messages, to honour both the tradition, the service and the men’s memory.

According to Tamworth convenor Jacquie Gahan, the exhibition will strike a real chord with many locals, not least because of our proud service record and the heritage and history of our World War I stories, but also because of the personal connections many families still cherish.

For two Tamworth guild members, there’s also a proud link.

Embroiderers Gwenda Veall and Dorothy Hawksworth helped unpack the collection this week and put it up in the club’s display cases.

“Gwenda’s husband, Bob Veall, and Dorothy’s late husband, Ernie Hawksworth, were both members of the Australian Defence Force, serving overseas with tours of duty in Vietnam,” Mrs Gahan said.

The story of the silks is also one with a female touch.

“Possibly 10 million silks were produced between 1914 and 1918 by women in France, Belgium and England, to help support their families during the war,” she said.

“In turn, these postcards filled a great need, by sending heartfelt messages from military and medical personnel serving overseas to their loved ones.”

The postcards have been exhibited in Sydney and throughout regional NSW and come to Tamworth courtesy of sponsorship from the RSL sub-branch and local embroiderers group.

The exhibition is in the foyer of Wests’ Diggers, in Kable Ave, and is free and open during club hours until September 23.