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Quarry Bank Mills
Tales of the Mills project- what we achieved
Memories of the Working Past
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Tales of the Mills project- what we achieved
Location: Kirklees
What was achieved by the successfully completed Tales of the Mills project, and the lasting effects it has had in the community.
As well as producing a book, a CD-ROM, and two exhibitions, this project enabled members of the social group Friend to Friend to try their hands at a wide range of craft skills, which they went on to share with other groups in the community.
The project began as a practical activity for a weekly lunch club, building on a millennium project funded by Awards for All, and drawing on the members’ interest in local history, particularly the textile industry which had formerly been of great importance in the area.
Over the course of eighteen months, forty meetings were held, ranging from talks on local history and textiles to arts and crafts sessions.
Many of the members had moved from other areas to live with relatives, and had limited mobility, so they appreciated this opportunity to learn more about their new environment. With assistance, some were able to visit places of interest, to take their own photographs, and to learn how to manipulate images from digital cameras and produce Power Point presentations.
The group visited the National Trust’s Quarry Bank Mill, to see how traditional methods of spinning and weaving were transformed by the introduction of machinery. They practised weaving and rug-making, made brooches with different colours of felt, knitted one quilt, and dyed all the material to make another. Twenty-five members of the group each created a square designed to represent themselves on the quilt, which they all signed on the reverse. Samples of the group’s work were displayed in the window of the local tourist office.
Oral history recordings were made of the memories of people who had worked in the textile mills, or whose lives had been affected by the industry. Transcripts of these recordings formed the basis of the project's book, ‘Tales of the Mills’.
The project encouraged links across the generations by donating copies of the book and CD-ROM to local schools, and by arranging for elderly residents who used to work in the mills to meet the children and talk about their experiences.
A subsequent grant from Yorkshire Arts enabled them to run arts and crafts sessions with older people in residential homes and care homes and day centres. Workshops with a group of Black Elders provided an opportunity to foster positive multicultural links within the community: “We’re not trying to get on with each other, we just do get on while we’re doing things together.”
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