A BANGOR student has received top honours at Buckingham Palace for her work in creative design. Aylerie Dowdall was recognised for her achievements in creative design by The Princess Royal and the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers at an awards ceremony recently in London.
She received the Medal Of Excellence from the Livery Company for original work undertaken during her Level 3 Certificate in Textiles. This is the second consecutive year that a Belfast Met learner has won this particular award. Aylerie, a mature student at Belfast Met, decided to learn about embroidery following her retirement after 30 years as an English teacher.
The mother of four has always had an interest in fashion and wanted to learn about customised clothing to achieve a designer look without the price tag. She first joined a creative embroidery course at Belfast Met and quickly learnt the basics before moving on to machine work.
She said: “I signed up to my first creative embroidery course just to learn about customising my own clothing, so I never imagined receiving such an esteemed award that celebrates my talent in this area.”
Over the past five years, Aylerie has exhibited annually as a member of the Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild. Her work was represented at Belfast City Hall’s 400-year celebrations in 2013.
Patricia Vallely, lecturer at Belfast Met, added: “We are absolutely thrilled at Aylerie’s fantastic achievement and are very proud of the outstanding work she has competed over the last few years.”
Chris Jones, chief executive of the City & Guilds Group, said: “At City & Guilds, we’re all about helping people get into a job, progress and move on to the next job. Receiving an award from one of our founder members is a remarkable achievement