‘A Good Yarn’

A simple piece of fabric can carry a world of meaning.

It might evoke a memory - a place, a person, a feeling. The moment you touch it, you are transported. A forgotten texture, once held close, suddenly brings back a story long stored away.

Fabric can mark achievement, represent a former identity, or reflect a personal journey. It can remind us of who we were, who we are, and where we've come from. Patterns and colours act as visual echoes of times that were joyful, difficult, or transformative. Some cloths carry ancestral connections, stitched with history and tradition. Others may have once served a practical need - offering warmth, protection, modesty - and are now kept as symbols of meaning.

A piece of fabric can stand for many things: religion, status, rebellion, power. Or it may simply spark the imagination, inviting us into new possibilities. What we wear, keep, or pass on is never just cloth - it is memory, identity, and story, woven together.

Stitching archival sounds, community voices and original music to create a tapestry of sound to represent, connect and explore the strength, texture and diversity of the people of Bradford's BD10 postcode.

Against the backdrop of the city’s historic fabric and textile industry, this soundscape will showcase the local pride, the characters and the resilience and values that make up this community. Symbolising every strand, weave, knot and plait; people are invited to listen to this original piece by The Broken Orchestra.

Like a ball of yarn, each person is like a strand of thread, woven together to form connections and relationships, some intentional, others by chance. And like fabric, a community can stretch, tear, fray, or warm and protect - depending on how well its threads hold together.