How Yorkshire weavers are celebrating spinning for 40 years

It is also the monthly meeting place for a group of men and women who are helping to keep the city’s textile legacy alive. In the year that the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, the Bradford Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers is commemorating its own milestone, having turned 40.

To celebrate this achievement, members are showcasing their work in a special exhibition running until August 14 at Bradford Industrial Museum.

Reflections of Bradford, the wall hanging produced to celebrate the guild’s 10th anniversary, is among the exhibits, along with the creations that members have each crafted from ruby coloured Corriedale fibre.

One of the guild’s members, Edna Barker, from Harrogate, explains how each piece has been specially wrapped in acid-free tissue, sealed in plastic and frozen in a six-week process to protect them from moths and ensure they have no larvae to spread to the museum collections. Among other exhibits is the Ruby Wrap, hand-spun in various thicknesses, plied with hand-spun ruby silk, and woven on a Varident rigid heddle loom in plain/tabby weave.

A ruby clutch and ruby socks are also among the plethora of hand-made creations, some demonstrating how sheep fleece could be dyed naturally, using traditional methods such as flowers and plants, long before chemical dyes were introduced in the 19th century.

Keen gardener Phil Hatton, who is busily spinning some commercial wool on his traditional Ashford spinning wheel, says he has dyed some of the wool fleece he has sourced from farms in Leeds and Otley, from weld plants he has grown.

The retired Baptist minister, originally from Leigh and now living in Leeds, comes from a family of weavers, spinners and dyers. “My family were in textiles professionally. I have a lot of weavers and dyers in the family. My mother was a dressmaker, two uncles were in dyeing and bleaching and a lot of my aunts and another uncle were in weaving,” says Phil.

He joined Bradford Guild of Weavers and Spinners in 2016 after looking online for a group to join after purchasing his spinning wheel.

“My wife is interested in knitting and I saw a peg loom – it sparked an interest and my wife encouraged me to buy it,” adds Phil. “I was interested in going further back in the process so I bought a spinning wheel.”

He has created several scarves over the years – all gifted to family members – and has turned his hand to cushion covers. His spinning skills also come in handy for the wool his wife uses to knit.

Listening to the gentle whirr of the wheel, as Phil presses the treadle with his stockinged foot, gives a sense of serenity in comparison to the noise which would once have reverberated around these walls from the spinning machines and weaving looms now stood idle on display in the space where the group are gathered for their informal drop-in. “There is a sense of doing something that has been going on for years. It’s relaxing,” says Phil.

Gwen Bloor, from Baildon, joined the guild shortly after it was set up. Knitting and growing up around wool, it was a natural progression for her to share her passion for crafting with like-minded people. “I lived in a shop and sold knitting wool so I couldn’t get rid of wool!” says Gwen with a laugh, spinning her wool, from which she intends to create a cardigan, on a small portable Lendrum Canadian spinning wheel. “Everybody used to come in on a Friday and buy a couple of ounces – our living room was full of stock.”

Some members can relate to their living spaces being crammed with crafts but having fleece to hand proved beneficial to Philippa Pemberton during the Covid lockdown.

“During lockdown I dug around at what I had at home. I had some alpaca, which needed some wool with it, and a bag of Indigo dye. I dyed the wool outside over the garden barbecue. I carded the alpaca and wool together, spun it and knitted it into a jumper,” she says proudly.

Philippa, from Guiseley, has been a member for around six years. She was working for Bradford Council when she discovered the guild during a spinning demonstration. “It’s a bit like Harry Potter’s muggle world and magic world. Until you tumble into it, you don’t realise it is there and suddenly this whole new world opens up.”

Briony Hallas, from Ackworth, believes crafting helped many cope during the coronavirus pandemic. “Crafts like knitting are good for the soul – and you get to wear something afterwards,” says Briony, whose interest developed in childhood when her grandma taught her to knit.

In her early 20s she learned how to spin her own wool on her mum’s Shetland Double Point spinning wheel, before moving on to an Ashford Traditional, and demonstrated her skills when the family’s working farm became an interactive museum for agriculture.

She recalls the beautiful brown and cream cardigan she created from the Jacob’s fleece from her father’s flock for her eldest son which has since been passed down the generations.

After picking up crafting again in retirement, she is spinning her own wool from Lleyn and Portland sheep. Merino gloves and hats are among the items she produces for her online enterprise Bizzy Biz Crafts which takes its name from her childhood nickname “Biz” for being a busy girl.

Serena Hardman, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, joined the guild to put a spinning wheel she was given to use. “I had it sitting as a piece of furniture for a long time – 20 years maybe,” says Serena.

Seeing some of the Bradford guild members demonstrating their skills at a local show, Serena decided to join. “I didn’t knit, I didn’t crochet and it has opened up a whole new world.”

Julie Whittingslow agrees: “I’d always enjoyed knitting and crocheting. I wanted something more to do, I wanted to expand my horizons.”

At a time when many traditional organisations are struggling to survive, the guild continues to thrive with 50 members ranging in ages from 20 to 80. Camaraderie, friendship and generosity of time to educate and pass on skills to others are testimony to the group’s success.

“We feel we are part of the heritage,” says Jean Lorrain-Smith. Jean, a retired home care organiser from Baildon, joined the guild around 20 years ago after taking an interest in spinning.

Originally from Edinburgh, she has made mostly blankets. Jean was hand-working a braid, something quick and simple to create which is multi-functional. She says they can be used as bracelets or even stylish cable ties.

“It is lovely we are here because it is another form of saying that once upon a time Bradford was really quite special for its textiles, it still has some textile mills, and it is a way of showing children that textiles matter,” says Jean.

Bradford Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers meets on the third Saturday of every month at Moorside Mills, Moorside Road. www.bradfordguildwsd.org.uk