50ft Scarf Arrives at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery!

Posted on: 22/04/2025

A team of talented knitters from (coincidentally named) SCARF have used their skills to create a 50ft long scarf in anticipation of the forthcoming Adventures in Time & Space – an unofficial Doctor Who exhibition. The exhibition, which opens at Peterborough Museum on Saturday 3 May is creating a real buzz of excitement, so much so, the museum’s resident knitting group have embraced the Time Lord spirit and with a click of a sonic knitting needle have produced a 50ft replica of the iconic Doctor Who scarf! The original scarf which was worn by the fourth Doctor, played by actor Tom Baker, reportedly measured eighteen foot, so this woolly masterpiece is almost three times as long.

Sitting down for a cup of coffee and a chat with some of SCARF’s members, they shared how the group started around 35 years ago, when founder member Chris Leaves relocated to Peterborough and taught some of the new friends she met to knit. The group which stands for, Sociable Coffee And Reliable Friends has evolved over the years and now meet once a week in Peterborough Museum’s Squires Café for a catch-up, coffee and creation.

As well as forming a great friendship group and support network, the members (about 14 in total) raise money for The Children’s Society by selling their beautiful hand-made items. They never stop knitting and have two official sales events a year, along with coffee mornings and other fund-raising activities.

Posing for a photo, the friends shared how they planned for the scarf to be long enough to wrap around the museum’s stunning staircase; “It took about six weeks to knit the scarf and we are really pleased to have gifted it to the museum to support the exhibition. Once, the exhibition comes to an end in November, we are going to turn the scarf into shorter versions and along with the museum will be donating them to a local homeless charity in Peterborough”.

(From left to right: Tina Edwin, Ann Seaden, Doreen Davey, Nora Baker, Maureen Webb, Chris Leaves, Linda Smith, Pauline Tate)

The scarf will be on display from Saturday 3rd May. Tickets for Adventures in Time & Space – an unofficial Doctor Who exhibition, are on sale now.

SCARF meet at Peterborough Museum every week, if any knitters or sewers would like to get involved, pop along on a Tuesday morning to find out more.

Notes to Editors:

Adventures in Time & Space is an unofficial Doctor Who exhibition. It is not endorsed, licensed by, or affiliated with the BBC.

The scarf is a replica and has been created by a group of volunteers.

The exhibition runs from Saturday 3 May to Sunday 2 November at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery.

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