The recent Kendal Wool Gathering held in early October provided a great template for a celebration of wool which could be held in towns throughout Oxfordshire with a history in the wool trade.
The event in the famous Lake District town mixed demonstrations, fun activities and displays, all connected to wool on which the town’s wealth was built. Stands and stalls representing all aspects of commercial wool products, including carpets, looms, spinning wheels and crafts were on display.
A guided wool walk took in sites in the town where, in the past, the wool trade had flourished. The ‘gathering’ also featured fun events such as a knitting blitz and other have-a-go activities, all organised by volunteers. The event confirmed that there is a growing interest in natural fibre.
You can imagine a colourful festival of this sort being held in Witney, a town with a long history of blanket making, or maybe at Blenheim Palace, where the estate has begun marketing its own wool products.
One of the stallholders at the ‘gathering’ was The Wool Clip, which began as a co-operative of Cumbria-based crafts people back in 2001. The group were all enthusiastic designers and makers who enjoyed working with wool and wished to promote British wool and sheep farming and highlight the loss of traditional craft skills.
The group went on to set up a shop at Priest's Mill at Caldbeck . Each member spends a couple of days per month in the shop and the commission from sales pays for the upkeep.
Members of the group also organise the popular annual Woolfest in Cockermouth, Cumbria which began in 2005 and now attracts more than 100 stallholders and 4,000 visitors every year.
Wool seems to be on the up after many years of decline. Wool prices have risen 34 per cent this year, due to competitive bidding by wool buyers. The indicator price for wool settled at 153p/kg in September, up from 114p/kg at the same time last year, according to figures from the British Wool Marketing Board.
Tony Oakland-Smith, head of marketing at the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) said: “In the past few years there has been a growing trend towards natural, sustainable fibres, which has placed British wool in a favourable position with consumers. There has been an increased demand for wool products right across the spectrum from the innovative to the traditional, vintage appeal.”
For example, a modern twist on a 300-year-old idea could see many more people opt for what could be the ultimate green send-off – in a coffin made of wool.
Almost 350 years ago, an Act of Parliament decreed that everyone had to be buried in a woollen shroud to boost support for the English wool industry. Unfortunately for English sheep farmers, the law was repealed in 1814. But Yorkshire-based family-owned textile firm Hainsworth hopes to rekindle at least some of that demand with its novel Natural Legacy woollen coffins. Company director Adam Hainsworth explained: “It takes three sheep fleeces to make each coffin. We settled on a blend of Dorset Horn and UK Downs breeds,” Adam said. “This has the microns, fibre lengths and crimps suitable for the felting properties needed for coffins.”
As you can see, there are many more uses for wool than knitting!
For details visit www.naturallegacy.co.uk/
You will recall that a couple of weeks back I mentioned my new ram Percy, and mentioned organising a meeting between him and our other tup, Valentine.
It did not go well.
After a week of getting to know each other through the fence, things looked promising. But when I brought them together fisticuffs ensued – they were running at each other and clashing heads, which produced a horrible sound which could probably be heard above the hum of traffic on the A34.
Percy looked bemused, while Valentine was strutting about like Mike Tyson. As Percy is a valuable animal and we are relying on him for some good lambs next year, I decided that caution was the best approach and separated them again.
I am not sure they will ever be best mates – but at least they are sitting sort of together, side-by-side on each side of the fence.
No comments:
Post a Comment