Meet the traditional candlemakers still going strong in the Dales after nearly 50 years

After Jane Hammond and Sandra Hewitt, of White Rose Candles at Wensley in the Yorkshire Dales, lost 85 per cent of their stock to flash flooding during the summer of 2019, they hoped that better times were on the horizon.
Chandler Jane Hammond dipping candles in hot wax at White Rose Candles in Wensley, near Leyburn. (Tony Johnson).Chandler Jane Hammond dipping candles in hot wax at White Rose Candles in Wensley, near Leyburn. (Tony Johnson).
Chandler Jane Hammond dipping candles in hot wax at White Rose Candles in Wensley, near Leyburn. (Tony Johnson).

Little did they know that, just a few months later, they would be forced to close as part of the national lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 and demand for their handmade wedding, Easter and church candles would also plummet as a result of social-distancing measures.

“Last year was a write-off, but we thought 2020 can’t be as bad. Now we’re wondering what 2021 will bring,” says Sandra with a wry smile.

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“We were busier over the summer after lockdown lifted but our figures are down compared to where they would be,” adds Jane. “On the plus side, we’ve had more visitors because fewer people went abroad. However, because our shop is small, we could only let one household or support bubble in at a time so we were losing people who maybe don’t want to wait.

Sandra Hewitt making novelty sheep at White Rose Candles, which is based in a 14th century watermill. (Tony Johnson)Sandra Hewitt making novelty sheep at White Rose Candles, which is based in a 14th century watermill. (Tony Johnson)
Sandra Hewitt making novelty sheep at White Rose Candles, which is based in a 14th century watermill. (Tony Johnson)

“A lot of our business is around Christmas and Easter but, of course, lockdown happened just before Easter. We make candles for Ripon Cathedral and lots of other churches, but there were no church services for months. There were no weddings either and that’s another part of the business that we rely on, so we lost out in more ways than one.”

Thankfully, White Rose Candles is still going strong despite everything that Jane and Sandra have had to contend with during the last 18 months. It even managed to use the first lockdown period productively by developing a website and social media channels that will help to bring its artisan candles to a whole new audience.

This ability to bounce back from the toughest of times and see the positive in every situation perhaps explains why White Rose Candles had endured for almost half a century; it will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. It has probably also the reason that the business somehow managed to remain open after surface water from the road seeped under the door and up through the floor of the three-storey 19th century water mill in which it is based following the torrential summer downpours of 2019.

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Jane recounts the events of that fateful day. “I saw a line of silt and thought it had come through the roof, but I went downstairs and it was like a waterfall. All the boxes in the store room were soaked. The path was washed away but customers kept coming, so we had the path repaired the following day to make it safe and managed to stay open.

Candles await to have the wicks added.Candles await to have the wicks added.
Candles await to have the wicks added.

“All the stock we’d made in preparation for Christmas had gone so we had to work through to the end of our busy summer season and replace the Christmas stock at the same time. Then Covid-19 put paid to our plans to catch up because we couldn’t make everything we wanted to due to social distancing.”

Once again, Sandra and Jane rose to the challenge and voluntarily implemented their own track and trace system when the shop reopened after the first lockdown to try to make it as safe an environment as possible for their customers.

The business is spread over all three floors of the mill and includes a workshop, where customers are usually able to watch Jane hand-making candles using traditional dipping and casting methods.

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“We’re a tourist attraction-come-shop-come-manufacturer, so a lot of the experience before Covid-19 was that people were able to watch us make things, but now we can’t do anything that encourages visitors to linger,” says Jane, speaking before the latest lockdown. “We’ve been making videos and putting them on the website so people can still see what we do.”

Although the pair hope to begin hosting candle-making workshops for customers to participate in, their plans have had to be put on hold for now. It’s just one of a number of ideas they have for the future development of the business.

Sandra and Jane took over the day-to-day running of White Rose Candles from its original founders, Mick and Jen White, who remain silent partners. Mick showed Jane how to make candles using the traditional techniques that he had taught himself over the years using a variety of homemade tools and devices, many of which were made by upcycling everyday objects.

Although soy wax has grown in popularity in recent years, White Rose Candles continues to use paraffin wax on the basis that it’s a bi-product of the oil industry so the team is essentially recycling a product that would otherwise be disposed of. Although soy wax is often marketed as an environmentally-friendly alternative, Jane and Sandra have concerns about the methods used to grow the soya beans that it’s derived from.

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“I’d previously worked in banking, but when my youngest went to nursery about 13 years ago, I was looking for something else to do,” says Jane, who became a partner in the business in 2015. “Mick and Jen asked me to go in and help out with a school trip visit. They wanted to take a step back and asked me if I would be interested in a job.”

She served a kind of apprenticeship. “Mick shared everything he knew. There’s a lot of science involved; Mick knew the make-up of the waxes and how wicks were made. The designs may have changed, but the process has changed very little.”

There is a lot of recycling involved. “It’s one of the reasons the business has lasted; we’ve always been careful and creative. Using what you have makes sense from an environmental point of view too.”

Skilled in arts and crafts, Sandra’s role is to add the finishing touches to the candles. Having worked for the business for several years, she too became a partner in 2019. “I rely on Jane and the skills she learnt from Mick to make the candles. I serve customers and also do things like adding frosting to scented candles, strips of gold wax to our dinner candles and decorating our hollow burning ball candles,” she says.

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Jane points out that Sandra paints charming scenes of the Dales onto one of their candle ranges by hand and often finds creative ways to turn their ideas into a reality. It’s clear that the pair enjoy bouncing ideas off one another to come up with new products.

However, anyone who has visited them at Wensley Mill will know that there is an all-important third member of the team, who just happens to be a huge hit with visitors. Margot - Jane’s springer spaniel and labrador cross – usually accompanies her owner to work and has become an unofficial mascot for the business. In normal times, customers are welcome to bring their own dogs in too - there’s even a canine snack bar for them and their photographs line the walls.

“A lot of people come to the Dales with their dogs and the fact that we’re dog-friendly is one of the reasons that people remember us,” says Sandra. “We’re surrounded by trees and a waterfall, it’s an idyllic place. Lots of customers bring their children and grandchildren.”

Jane agrees. “People like nostalgia; they always tell us ‘it’s just the same’ when they visit. I think that’s a unique selling point for us. We are continuing to build on what Mick and Jen set up but putting our own mark on it. Tastes change and some things go out of fashion, whereas other things come back.

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"We’re trying to keep an eye on the trends and understand what people want, whilst also keeping the essence of the business to ensure that people keep coming back and bringing their children and grandchildren.”

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