Hidden gem keeping regional traditions alive

From: Anne Lord, Colne Valley Museum, Golcar, Huddersfield.

I WAS bowled over by your From The Archive photo (Yorkshire Post, September 11) of Alan Cox clogging in Colne Valley Museum in 1984 – definitely a golden oldie!

As the opening sentence states “the renaissance in traditional crafts has been going on for longer than you think...”

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Well, I have to tell you, it’s still going on. This hidden gem of a museum, tucked away in the Colne Valley south of Huddersfield and run entirely by its volunteer members, is still busy preserving and teaching traditional crafts 43-plus years after it first opened.

We shall be running another Craft Weekend on October 5 and 6, with ongoing demonstrations of spinning, weaving, clog-making, lace-making and featuring the West Yorkshire branch of the International Guild of Knot-Tyers and the Knitting and Crochet Guild.

Last weekend, we 
demonstrated scone baking in our Victorian kitchen and 
served them as cream teas to our visitors.

Oh, and by the way, Alan is still an enthusiastic member of our museum, although he has now passed his clog-making skills (and possibly his leather apron) on to other members who demonstrate in the clog-maker’s shop each weekend.