Pom pom Sheep at Hollings Mill, Bradford

The pompom sheep made by Robin Hood Primary School has gone to stay permanently at Hollings Mill in Bradford.  It is placed in the Reception area where visitors to the mill will be able to see it.

 I am so pleased that Mark Hill has agreed to display the sheep as so much of the wool was donated by his mill for the project and also for the pompom owls which are on permanent display at Lotherton Hall in the Education Rooms in the Bird Garden.

When delivering the sheep Mark showed me the working side to the mill. That day they were preparing wool to be sent to Denmark.  I saw many of the processes the wool goes through, such as washing, drying, relaxing, winding into balls and packing.  It was fascinating to see!

I was lucky enough to see their sock machine in action.  The mill is home to “The Bradford Sock Company” and I could see how the socks are made.  It is not just wool, but silk and alpaca that are used too and Mark’s knowledge of the yarns is truly incredible.

I so enjoyed my visit and know the pompom sheep will have a great home there.   

Visit to Hollings Mill, Bradford

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Hollings Mill in Bradford.
The Mill's owners Edward Hill @ Co. kindly donated much of the wool for the Pom-Pom Sheep project.

Mark Hill showed me around the mill.  It has been a working mill since 1830 and is four floors high.
Mark talked me through the various stages in producing a ball of wool and I saw all the fascinating machinery, much of it had been there for many years.  One of the machines had the maker's stamp and year it was made which was 1930.

There was machinery which unwound wool from cones into hanks to make it suitable for dying and machinery that turned the hanks into balls of wool and I learned there are different ways to wind a ball of wool. I saw where the wool was "relaxed" which is like a sauna for wool!  This makes the wool soft. Another machine created fancy designs which had metallic threads woven into it, whilst Mark showed me a catalogue of all the different effects that can be made, dating back decades.

 

 



Wool can be manufactured here to individual requirements for customers all over the world and it's right here in Yorkshire!

 

 

So thankyou Edward Hill @ Co for donating some fabulous wool.  This is the sheep we made here at Robin Hood Primary School.