Pass the Art

Our very first draw out of the hat. We struck gold. Not only was the Yorkshire Industrial Museum a fascinating trip through a slice of not-too-distant history, we happened to fluke arriving, on their flagship day of the year; the Woolfest.

The place itself was a quirkily curated smorgasbord of stimulation. We got to be awed by the what would have been state-of-the art wool machinery on one hand, fascinated by some of the world stage history on the others. Our imaginations were firmly led back to various points in time, from The Luddites and their story of rebellion towards jobs being stripped away, to the visions of kids working in an around quite terrifying looking machines.

Jon Harvison

We got to see a superb, hour long gig by world renowned folk singer Jon Harvison. He’d been asked to curate a set that told the stories of Yorkshire mills, through the medium of folk songs. He explained he had to cast his net a bit further to include Wales, Scotland and Lancashire – but this didn’t take the edge of things one bit. Some of the songs were several hundred years old, and the setting – the 1920s period cinema, which is one of the worlds smallest working cinemas still around today.

We also had a slice of very nice home made cake from the cafe and a cup of Yorkshire Tea. Reasonably priced. All the staff were friendly and enthused by the day.

On the day itself there were scores of cottage industry style wares from various purveyors of wool related craft. The standard shop had a few nice bits – not too tacky, not hideously priced.

WoolFest

As mentioned, we’d struck gold by visiting the place on their flagship day. Hands on activities, including (pictured below) felting workshops. Experts from every imaginable corner of the world of wool were there, and what struck me was how much of a fan-base wool has. Crafters, weavers, crocheters, felters, dyers, and more all added to the mouse bouche of wooly goodness.

Worth a visit? 100%. We’d actually like to go back and visit on a non festival day – apparently, some of the machines are up-and-running.

Downsides? Parking was a bit of a ‘mare.. we had to park over the road in a business carpark. This was all above board and fine, but a bit more of a trek and crossing the busy road wasn’t fun. I guess this was the overflow car park in play, owing the the additional footfall of the day.

No tea towels (we’re a bit of a sucker for tea towels)