Yes I had to Google it! It means ‘through difficulty to heights’ and is a frequently used Latin phrase apparently! We just thought it summed up our 2024 quite well… It’s been a bit of a year!

Why not start the year with a little bit of light flooding?! Not the best way to start 2024 but it only came into the gallery up to about our ankles so we were able to get up and running again quickly. It is always a quiet time of year at the Tithebarn Workshops, so it could have been worse!!

Feburary saw Serena working hard towards Bath Art Fair with lots of paintings being done. It was our second visit to the Fair at the amazing Bath Pavilion, after a very successful 2023 event. We had a great reaction to the latest work and also a few sales, which is always nice.

March saw the final stages of the huge Wessex Water project at the top of Pound Lane. Sinking an enormous 160,000 litre tank to give additional storage for storm water… well that was the plan! This job caused a lot of disruption to the businesses at Barton Farm in the early part of the year and had a detrimental impact on the Lions Day in 2024.

April saw a set back to our new years plans to get fit and walk to work every day! Serena went and fell over, breaking her ankle. This was in the middle of preparation for our next art fair. Exercise isn’t always good for you!

Despite anklegate… we made it Rochester Art Fair in May and it was really interesting to travel away from our area of the country and guage peoples reaction to Serena’s latest work. Being upstairs didn’t make things easy for the prospective buyers (or Serena on crutches!) but again the work was very well received and sales were made.

June was a quiet month with time to relax a bit before the summer season really got going. Sitting outside our beautiful gallery with smell of the roses all around.

2024 saw some absolutely cracking events at the Tithebarn Workshops, including our Summer Fayre in July. Music, food, art and lots of lots of fun for the whole family. These events have been hugely entertaining and great fun to put on… 2025 will see more!

It may not seem much in the great scheme of things, but when we got our new signs at the top of Pound Lane it marked a big moment for the Barton Farm area. We had been putting out temporary signs for over 14 years and now everybody knew where we were! Thank you to the Town Council for their help with this.

And on the subject of signage… our rebranding was completed with some stunning structures put up by Felix Byrne. Even the local cat seemed impressed!

The Bradford on Avon Pumpkin Trail was handed over to us at the Workshops in October and SerenArts Gallery became Pumpkin Trail HQ. Over 35 businesses took part this year and the Ex-Libris book token prizes went down very well.

Told you there’d be more of this! November saw the worst flooding we’ve ever had during our time here, surpassing the awful floods of 2013. The levels went as high as 3.51m and although that was only 9cm more than 2013, the difference was significant. We were down here at 4am getting everything lifted and ready, but this surprised us with the speed and levels it got to. A lot of cleaning to be done and once everything dries out properly we will have to replace some flooring and walls. We were luckier than many other businesses hit in Bradford… at least our gallery is a cow shed and kind of built for this sort of problem. Hopefully this wake up call will be enough for developers and coucillors to see sense and not build on any flood plains in and around the town.

December has been a lovely month with the Christmas bikes and lights up around the workshops (thank you Katie and her team at Burbidge Electrical) and the hugely successful late night shopping event we held. Pop up shops within each studio, mulled cider, mince pies, music and a whole lot of festive support from locals for us all down here. It was so nice to get the backing of community after a difficult time.

There have been up and downs in 2024 but we are a resilient lot down at the Workshops and you’re always guaranteed a smile here. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2025 and thank you to every one who visited and supported us all this year.

Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous new year.