In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes > At its peak, Redditch supplied 90 per cent of the world market >for needles.
It might surprise you, but until fairly recently Studley (the area in which the Forge Mill Needle Museum is - Redditch is the large town "next door", so to speak) was the main producer of needles - I think the only other country with needle production was Japan. At the time, I was looking for size 28 tapestry needles, which I could not get (even in the shop at the museum) here in the UK. Someone in the US kindly sent me some, Clover brand, made..... in Studley UK! This is within the last ten to fifteen years. The thirty years, if I remember, was life as a whole - once they had finished apprenticeship if they chose to become a needle pointer, they lived for ten years, ie to age 30, choosing to earn as much money as possible for their family to live on after their death than to live a full life of poverty. >I found some interesting information in the 8 pages devoted to lace and lace >tools. Another connection between the Needle Museum and lace is the Visitor Centre for Bordesley Abbey, which is on the same site. When we visited whilst I was at college doing C&G Lace (late 1990s), and possibly still there, they had on display (covered by a lift-up cloth cover to keep the light away) a piece of Sheldon Tapestry. This stunning piece had an edging of silver lace - all dating to the 1690s. If anyone is likely to be going to the museum, it is well worth paying the extra to go into the Visitor Centre. Before marriage, when I had my flat on the south side of Birmingham, we used to go over to Studley as that was where the cattery we used was - my eldest sister had her first house in Redditch - and also to one of the old needle forges (with water wheel) which has been a pub and restaurant for years - The Washford Mill - it has changed hands and possibly breweries a number of times in the last 30 years, with consequent ups and downs, we now go occasionally and wonder what kind of menu to expect, but the building is much the same (there has been some extension; I think when they moved the restaurant downstairs (and lost the sweet trolley!), possibly about twenty years ago) timber framed and reminiscent of Tudor building. At one point, we were last to leave one evening and the (young) chef was discussing menus with the landlady across the bar. We had had a superb meal, very well presented, (though not expensive by any means). As we were paying I commented that it must be good to have a free hand to put to use what he had learned at college, to learn that he was totally self-taught, with most of his ideas coming from TV's Ready Steady Cook! I often wonder where he went from there. It is probably time to see what is on offer this year! Talking lace and TV, has anyone else spotted the occasional channel ID "4" on Channel 4 (UK) which is filled with a lace pattern? -- Jane Partridge - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
