Well Shod

Posted by brian in Our Yorkshire | Yorkshire Business and Money - (0 Comments)

dales-tannersTannery Workers in the Dales

‘With the large numbers of cattle and sheep raised in the Yorkshire Dales over the centuries, it is not surprising that industries associated with the by-products of the meat industry were established in villages throughout the area. Leather production indeed was once one of the most common industries throughout the whole of Britain’  according to the Dales National Park team read more.

Unfortunately many skins are now packed for export as explained by The Bradford Hide Co. and Sculcoates Tannery Hull. Tanning machinery once a thriving industry in Otley at G L Murphy is now on a reduced scale.

For working men good boots were a must, see the footwear above. Women and children were not always as fortunate and had to patch, repair and wear secondhand at times. In the 19th Century the wearing of slippers was the genesis of being slipshod.

Clogs of the traditional British design with a leather upper on a wooden sole have actually been worn since at least Roman times. Some historians suggest their origins may go back further still. The Yorkshire manufacture of Clogs Walkleys of Mytholmroyd claim to be ‘the only place in the world where the great British clog is manufactured in its entirety.’
Walkleys

Yorkshire Boots are made in Richmond at Altberg Bootmakers
See also Shoes Booted About

Shoes Booted About and Out

Posted by brian in Yorkshire Business and Money | Yorkshire History and Heritage - (4 Comments)

Stead & Simpson is one of the oldest, most well-known and respected names in the British footwear industry. The business can trace its history back to 1834, when it was founded as a Leeds based manufacturer of footwear. At its peak in the 19th century the company employed over 1000 staff in Leeds and manufactured 7000 pairs of shoes each week. During this period there were 23 tanneries in Leeds.

Factories and mechanization came to this large industry after 1850 as shoe makers gradually recognized the usefulness of consolidating the various processes at one location. Within these central shops, or factories, machines were perfected that imitated specific hand processes.

A ‘Cordwainer’ is someone who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather as distinct from a cobbler, who repaired them. This distinction gradually weakened during the twentieth century, when there was a predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired shoes. That also saw the end of another shoe related occupation a ‘Boot Laster’ or maker of lasts. Major volumes of imports started and continues today with only Clarks in Somerset as a major UK based volume manufacturer.

Stead & Simpson started as a footwear maker but switched focus onto shoe shops. In the 1960s it had more than 400 retail outlets and 4000 staff and is now based in Leicester. Stead & Simpson, whose brands include Shoe Express, Lilley & Skinner, and Peter Briggs, made losses last year and has been through a period of administration. The company has already sold off 25 factory outlet stores trading as Famous Footwear. ShoeZone of Leicester acquired the company in 2008.

Stead & Simpson were not the only shoe retailer to face problems. In 2009 the Ziff family rescued 160 Barratts and Priceless shops, part of the Stylo group at the Bradford based company from administration. Unfortunately 220 stores closed and the Dolcis brand disappeared.

Book CoverBook Cover

Book Cover
Available from amazon by clicking the book.

Greetings Cards a Yorkshire Industry Making Millions

Posted by brian in Our Yorkshire | Yorkshire Business and Money - (1 Comments)

What is in the water in Yorkshire that makes us the center of the UK greeting card industry?

Unfortunately old companies like W.N. Sharpe’s of Bradford have been gobbled up long ago by American giant Hallmark but the operation still continues in Bradford and Castleford. ‘Hallmark founder Joyce Hall was born the youngest of 3 sons to the poor but religious Hall family in Nebraska. J.C.Hall was a hard worker and in 1910 he boarded a train to Kansas City as a young man with a vision – this is when the Hallmark story really began. Based at the YMCA, he started selling postcards via a mail order business, which developed to become the world leader in greeting cards. In 1958 Hallmark set up in Bradford and grew by a series of acquisitions.’ ‘Classic Cards, Bradford: The History of W.N. Sharpe Ltd’; is available as a pamphlet from the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society. Now a days Hallmark is seen on satellite TV with a host of programmes shown on it’s own channel.
This seasons Valentine’s Day cards are on display at Hallmark.

Down the road in Dewsbury Hallmark’s largest international competitor operates.
‘For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation has been a manufacturer and retailer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships’. So runs the corporate blurb that can only come from an American company better known to us in the UK as the owner of Carlton Cards. They also own Care Bears and Holly Hobby on whose web site I have just enjoyed playing kids games

Today’s financial press reports that Wakefield based greeting card company Card Factory has been put up for sale but with the deal likely to go to a private equity firm this could mean more investment and the circa 4500 jobs should be safe. In addition to generating sales in excess of £150,000,000 the staff and company donated £1m to its corporate charity, Macmillan Cancer Support.

Collinsons have been established for over 100 years and now operate from Shipley in the West Riding. ‘ Focusing on Wedding stationery and Christmas cards, Collisons offers a wide choice to both the Wedding and the Christmas card market. Many of our Christmas cards are Charity based.’


History of Greeting Cards according to Wikipedia

The custom of sending greeting cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese, who exchanged messages of good will to celebrate the New Year, and to the early Egyptians, who conveyed their greetings on papyrus scrolls. By the early 1400s, handmade paper greeting cards were being exchanged in Europe. The Germans are known to have printed New Year’s greetings from woodcuts as early as 1400, and handmade paper Valentines were being exchanged in various parts of Europe in the early to mid-1400s, with the oldest Valentine in existence being in the British Museum.[2]

By the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization. read more

Interlude for Afternoon Tea in Shipley

Posted by brian in Food and Drink | Yorkshire Business and Money - (1 Comments)

Afternoon Tea

King George V would recognise many of the items on display at Interlude the Cafe Society tearoom ‘to be seen in’ when visiting Shipley. Between Elsie Russell’s florists and The Samaritan charity shop is an exceptionally well furbished cafe with great food and an environment to savor. High Tea comes a bit more expensive than Afternoon Tea but with boiled egg with toast soldiers for less than £2 the prices are reasonable and the choice just right.

All the tables are similar to the one shown with old china crockery and a collection of old art books, comics  and magazines to peruse. When you wish to order you have your own little bell to ring and there are numerous other touches to take in whilst you drink your Yorkshire tea.

Upstairs at  this Westgate Cafe is a boutique of vintage clothes, although my daughter thought they were more secondhand than 1920′s. Still the sound of syncopated rhythms and an occasional Charleston  wafted gently through the rooms. The emporium at the front of the cafe sells cakes and treats for you to take home if you wish and this shows the enterprise a business needs these days to survive. Support your local shops and visit Interlude when in Shipley. More about Interludes history can be found on there own web site.

Interlude

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Fanny Adams Bitter Sweet

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Do the proprietors of this shop in Halifax know the story of the original Fanny Adams? ‘Lest we forget’ here are some of the gruesome details. Eight-year-old Fanny Adams was brutally murdered and dismembered in August 1867. The head, eyes and ears were scattered and this notorious murder of young Fanny Adams made sensational national headlines, creating a wave of horror, revulsion and pity. A solicitor’s clerk was arrested and tried for Fanny’s murder and despite ‘it was my family upbringing defense, after only 15 minutes the jury returned a guilty verdict and Frederick Baker was hanged before a crowd of 5000 in front of Winchester County Prison on Christmas Eve 1867.

When the Royal Navy were served tins of mutton as the latest shipboard fast food in 1869, sailors gloomily declared that the butchered contents must surely be ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’. Thus “Fanny Adams” became slang for mutton or stew and then for anything worthless. Gradually accepted throughout the armed services as a euphemism for ‘sweet nothing’ it has passed into common usage as Sweet F. A.
That seems to be what is on offer in the shop window, certainly not the 1974 record ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ by the glam rockers The Sweet but inside you may find Sweet Fanny Adams knickers from New Zealand. None of these seem to be great tributes to a murder victim despite the catchy name.

Bah Humbugs Sweetie Shop

Posted by brian in Food and Drink | Our Yorkshire | Yorkshire Business and Money - (2 Comments)

Masham is really for beer not sweets but in the corner of the  market square is a shop to treasure. Not only because they offer Licourice sweets from New Zealand, Holland and Pontefract but because they seem to be going the extra mile in the provision of treats for the sweet-toothed amongst us. ‘Yorkshire Mixture’ is another favourite a Northern Classic of boiled sweets in an assortment of different shapes and flavours including Pear Drops, Fruit Rock & Fishes and mint rock.

I do not want to drive you away from this web site by if you want to look inside the digital sweetshop of Bah Humbug then click here.

With winter and flu nearly upon us why not stock up with some winter warmers like Coltsfoot Rock, Paynes Original Army & Navy Tablets or real Cough Candy. Too say nothing of Aniseed Balls and the retro range including ABC Candy Letters, Dip Dabs, Double Dips, Shrimps, Anglo Bubbly, Black Jacks, Refreshers and Lover Hearts .

Maxons Humbug Suppliers to the World

Maxons of Sheffield is one of the few remaining traditional sweet manufacturers in England specialising in boiled sugar and flavoured sherbet. Maxons continues as a privately owned, independent, manufacturing company under the direction the original Pitchfork family. Henry Dixon Ltd. had existed since the late nineteenth century and had acquired a significant reputation and history in the area. Following the end of sweet rationing in 1953, both the wholesale and manufacturing began to expand and, in 1958, they all merged.
The traditional brands, as supplied to Bah Humbug, of Maxons, Dixons, and Jesmona account for the majority of production. Traditional products like Pineapple chunks, Pear Drops and Yorkshire Mixture are made along side Black Bullets, Sherbert Fruits and Humbugs. However new ideas are launched like the Sherpots below.

Close Shave Edwardian Style

Posted by brian in Yorkshire Business and Money - (0 Comments)

razor 2

Sheffield steel for 21/- with a silver plated handle – What Luxury for shavers in this 1913 advertisement from The Durham-Duplex Razor Co Ltd of Sheffield. A guinea would have gone a long way in 1913.

Durham Duplex still manufacture millions of blades every month in Sheffield the UK’s cradle of engineering excellence. They ‘stock the worlds most comprehensive range of standard designs to suit all your cutting, slitting, trimming, slicing, and scraping needs.’ Started at the end of king Edward Vll reign in 1910 they will be celebrating 100 years production in this cut throat business next year.

They recently acted as the Industrial Sponsor for Myers Grove School for the Master Cutler’s “Made in Sheffield” Innovation Competition 2009. The pupils worked on a design then at Kelham Island they demonstrated the results to a panel including the Master Cutler.

Early razors made of horn, flint or stone with bone handles have been excavated from Neolithic caves. The ancient razors from the Late Stone Age slowly evolved, and by 3000 B.C. hieroglyphics and tomb excavations show that the people of Mesopotamia were shaving with finely honed obsidian blades. Rolls Razors developed safety razors in the the post war years which are collected by those interested in ‘Barberiana’, the term given to collectible items that have to do with shaving.
Cut throat razors can still be bought from example at Executive Shaving a Yorkshire business that recently set up new premises in Plymouth.

erasmic 2
After the business soft soap I also came across a 1920′s advert for Erasmic Shaving Sticks that have no special links to Yorkshire.

Wakefield Tattoos

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When you go to the barbers in Wakefield you may get more than a haircut. This was the second tattoo parlour I had seen within 300 yards and I was nearly tempted to have a piercing (of my own self-importance?). Instead I opted for a tattoo in invisible ink.

Last weekend was the Tattoojam at Doncaster Race Course. For more information and so you don’t miss other events try the Tattoo Club of Great Britain

‘Lasers have expanded the clinician’s ability to treat decorative, cosmetic and traumatic tattoos without scarring. Previous methods of gross tissue removal with resultant scarring have been replaced by highly selective removal of tattoo pigment with minimal changes in skin texture or pigmentation’. According to Hair & Beauty World in Mytholmroyd but at a heafty cost per square inch.

Tattoos from Cartwright Hall

A history of Military Tattoos is available from militarytattoo.org web site including this definition tattoo noun (pl. tattoos) 1. an evening drum or bugle signal recalling soldiers to their quarters. 2. a military display consisting of music, marching, and exercises. [from Dutch taptoe, shutting off of taps, signalling the closing of taverns at the end of the day]. From my experience Wakefield is very late in turning off the beer taps and closing the taverns

South Pennines Walk & Ride Festival

Posted by brian in Yorkshire Business and Money | Yorkshire Trips and Places - (0 Comments)

New Picture

If you want to stretch those leg muscles on a bike or long walk then the South Pennines may be the place to go. If you prefer to ride in style on horseback then you could do worse than try the Mary Townley Loop on your trusty steed. Fresh air and the right to roam should not cost us but these events are put on ‘for our benefit’  by our taxes so take full advantage.

Funding for this Pennine Extravagnsa

‘Leader’ (see the green boxy logo) is a European community-led approach to rural development, focusing on basic services for communities, culture and heritage, village development, and renewal. It is  funded Europe wide by  the European Union to the tune of 5,046 million euros over the last 5 years and is managed by Yorkshire Forward in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Further funding of £1.97 million is coming from the National Lottery for ‘The South Pennines Watershed Landscape’ project led by Pennine Prospects, a regeneration partnership.
‘ This part of the South Pennines runs up through the backbone of northern England, separating the major conurbations East Lancashire and West Yorkshire and consists of wide sweeping moorlands rich in wet bog, cotton grass, heathland and pastures with key habitats for wildlife, such as the rare ‘Twite’ which is also known locally as the ‘Pennine Finch’.’
It also receives the enthusiastic backing of the charity Pennine Heritage and 7  local authorities .

Do not let our extravagant quangos spoil a good walk get out and about in the South Pennines this September

Farmers Rural Enterprise

Posted by brian in Yorkshire Business and Money - (0 Comments)

Sutton Bank

Economic times are hard and Yorkshire farmers are a major force for the economic good of Yorkshire and the country. Perhaps that is why there are several support schemes to encourage enterprise, diversification, environment, efficiency and even retail therapy in our rural areas. To get the full picture you need to talk to a lot of quangos including Yorkshire Forward, Business Link, Local Authorities and there associated brands like the Airedale Partnership.

Rural Enterprise Programme REIP

Grants for rural businesses start at £25,000. The percentage of funding available will generally range between 30% and 40% of the total project cost and is dependent on the type of activity being funded. The upper limit for funding varies depending on the type of activity proposed. According to Yorkshire Forward ‘Activity under the following areas can be supported:

Rural business growth—through innovative farm diversifications; rural micro-business creation and development; and investment in the tourism ‘product’. Additionally, land-based businesses will be supported through the development of collaborative ventures.
Investment in supply chains and added value—within the food and forestry primary processing sectors, including innovation and collaboration within the supply chain and on farm renewable energy and resource efficiency.’

Farm Resource Efficiency Programme FREP

The funding will help farmers to buy capital equipment which will benefit both their business and the environment. The following technologies are eligible:

Renewable power—such as small-scale wind turbines (eg 500w-25Kw) and foundations; and hydro-electric, photovoltaic and grid connections
Renewable heat—such as heat-recovery systems; biomass boilers; solar-heat and ground-source heat pumps
Rainwater harvesting/water-recycling systems—including fixed pumps, UV filtration systems, piping, and storage tanks
Manure management—including solid/liquid separator systems such as rotary screens, roller presses, screw presses/augers and nutrient testing kits
Technical fees associated with the commissioning of the above systems would also be eligible.

Applications for grant investment should be for a minimum of £1,500 and a maximum of £25,000 based on 40% of the overall cost.


Rural Business Support Programme RBSP

Grants of up to £25,000 are available through the programme; the minimum grant amount is £2,000 although this will be looked at on a case by case basis. Funding will cover 70% of eligible technical training costs related to the proposal. Training costs should not exceed 50% of the grant total and must be no more than £3,500 per individual. Plus grant investment at 40% towards eligible capital/revenue costs.


Grants for Business Investment GBI

For large industrial projects in the right post code areas larger support may be available. Grant requests below £250,000 will be appraised within the GBI team, between £250,000 and £2m will be appraised at the Regional Industrial Development Board and requests over £2m will be appraised centrally by BIS in London.