ossy mills

[katex]

Originally Posted by Bee

Did'nt Ossy Mills open in 1991?.

According to Companies House, Bee, the incorportion date was 13/5/94. It was a mill shop before then for Moscow Mill, but not officially Oswaldtwistle Mills Ltd., as a separate/sister company, until this date.
They now stand alone in what was once quite a large textile group.

Hope that helps ..

[katex]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

.....but the transistion from automatics to Lancashire looms was not enjoyable for me.

It was in 1967 that a recession hit them, and that is when they decided to move into Jacquard weaving, mainly damask table linen. At this time they scrapped 430 looms weaving plain cloth.. maybe just after you left.

It was a good move as linen hire was growing and their product was specialised.

I remember when they installed the new Sulzers ... now they were state of the art.

Unfortunately, with ever increasing competition from Imports, the company was eventually dissolved in August 2009, selling out their Hilden side to a Manchester textile company.

The other mills like Woodnook, Three Brooks, Stonebridge and Britannia had been sold individually over the years.

[Margaret Pilkington]

They were weaving damasks when I was there, but I wasn't on those looms........I hadn't been there long enough....even though I had had 16 jacquard looms at David Whiteheads, and been involved in working on what was for Whitheads experimental stuff on the Sulzer loom(we only had one of them at Whiteheads)......maybe my age had something to do with it.......I was only just 20.

I know that while I was there they had a special commission to weave damask table linen for Buckingham Palace. The weavers chosen to do this work were two sisters, who had been at Enfield for donkeys years. I was glad not to be involved, the quality control was 100%.

I actually liked weaving, the work, the friendship, the fun, and had Whiteheads not transferred their operations to South Africa, I probably would never have gone on to be a nurse.

[katex]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

They were weaving damasks when I was there, but I wasn't on those looms.........

Yes, of course, should have said decided to concentrate on their damask weaving ... both in tickings (for mattress covers) and table linen.

Jacquard weaving is highly skilled and, probably due to your age then, they trod carefully even though you had gained experience at Whiteheads.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Quite a few weavers from Whiteheads were employed by Enfield Manufacturing......we took what we could get because the industry was, quite clearly, dying.
If I had stared out on Lancashire looms and then gone onto Automatics I think it would have been an easier transition........I wasn't keen on the twills and dobbies, they seemed very dull after weaving the colourful stuff that we had been making at Whiteheads.
Anyway, it all turned out for the best in the end.

[MargaretR]

My tackler dad moved from Whiteheads to Enfield. I am not sure of the year that happened but recall that he only had a few years at Enfield before he retired in 1971 or 2.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Margaret it must have been in 1967.......I can't remember just when in that year, but the place closed down in 1967.

[MargaretR]

I recall there was a flood at Whiteheads and he got a lot of flood damaged denim, which came in handy to make bib trousers for my little lad (born '65) which protected his knees when crawling.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I remember that only very vaguely........I know our shed wasn't involved.
We wove the tickings for slumberland mattresses......they wouldn't have been much good to make trousers out of. Would have given the boy a complex for the rest of his life.

[steeljack]

sorry for wander, but there used to be a whole "genre' of tackler jokes, think they were made up by 'feminist" weavers about how thick/stupid the tacklers were , anyone remember them