Following the news last year the popular Morpeth tea pot and tea cosy festival would be the last, Dungog took up the reins.

Planning is well under way for The Dungog Tea Party planned for August 20-25 next year.

Campbell’s Store owner Trevor Richards and his wife Shirley had run the Morpeth event since 1987. It was a 10-day event with more than 4000 vessels on display.

The Dungog event will include a Tea Cosy Challenge which is sure to attract some wonderful creations.

Champion tea cosy designer Lorraine Laverty is one of the people behind the big event.

“It’s sure to draw people in to town,” she said.

“The event itself will be held in the James Theatre but people will walk around town and we hope all the businesses will get involved.

“Living here in Dungog I think we can tend to forget what a special identity we have here.”

Lorraine, who won the tea cosy challenge for the last two of the three years it was held in Morpeth will not enter her creations in the Dungog challenge.

She is keen to share her skills and knowledge with workshops for local knitters in the pipeline.

Always a keen knitter, Lorraine took it up with a vengeance when she had a hip injury.

Then came a painful bout of carpel tunnel syndrome which put Lorraine’s knitting needles on hiatus for around a year.

“What used to take me about three weeks to make now takes me about three months,” said Lorraine.

But the enjoyment is still there.

She has created a Pink Frangipani Fairy tea cosy to be raffled by the committee to raise money to promote the event.

The exquisite work includes a porcelain fairy which Lorraine dressed and even knitted her golden wings from embroidery thread.

Tickets for the raffle will be available at the Dowling Street Christmas party on Wednesday December 5.

You can follow the Dungog Tea Party on Facebook or phone 4992 3692 for more information.