The Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association were kindly invited to a tour of the British Wool Depot/Head Office in Bradford as well as Haworth Scouring Mill on Tuesday 7th January. 16 members jumped at the chance and enjoyed a brilliant day led by Laura Johnson, Producer Marketing Executive at British Wool. The day consisted of a interesting talk from Laura on the work of British Wool (and several good questions from our members) followed by viewing of the days Wool Auction and a tour from Head Grader Ian Brooksbank of the main depot. The Wensleydale bins were well inspected by members!! Ian also very kindly took members through judging of a fleece and what he is looking for when judging fleeces.
Following a great lunch provided by British Wool, Kelsey from the Selling team showed the members what British Wool are doing to promote their products including their Licensee scheme as well as talking about their offices in China and Japan, alongside promotional videos showing the necessity of shearing and the value of British Wool.
The afternoon consisted of walking through Haworth Scouring Mill which was a huge eye-opener for all members, the scale and size of the system taking average wool from its raw state to Scoured and dried in just 16 minutes (a bit longer for Wensleydale fleeces however!). In the Carding side of the mill, members saw every level of the process to produce beautiful 10kg bales of carded sliver ready for its next destination.
Thank you to all at British Wool and Haworth for accommodating us and answering so many questions from passionate and interested members.
(Click to enlarge photographs!)
