Bulmer & Lumb recently responded to a request from the Society of Dyers & Colourists (SDC) to assist them in supplying archive materials for an educational exhibition based at the former mill in Farsley located between Leeds & Bradford.
Built in 1828, Sunny Bank Mills finally ceased production in 2008 but was restored & redeveloped into modern business units by the Gaunt family who had been involved in its management for six generations. As well as a thriving business community, the millnow supports a fascinating archive into textile production in the West Yorkshire area, which can be accessed by members of the public. The archive gives visitors a unique look at 180 years of cloth production at the site, housing more than 6,000 lengths of fabric, 8,000 original designs and 5,000 wool dyeing recipe cards as well as documents from the heyday of the mill’s production.
Like Sunny Bank Mills, Bulmer & Lumb have a long and distinguished history in the Bradford textile scene, and Bulmer and Lumb continue to be a world leader in the dyeing and processing of both natural and synthetic fibres. Sunny Bank Mills were looking for materials to help illustrate the processes that the fibres go through during the course of colouration. We were delighted to provide a range of samples of wool, showing the fibres going through both the top dyeing & yarn dyeing process, both of which are carried out at our mill in Bradford.
The archive is open to the public on the first Wednesday of every month, for more information contact Sunny Bank Mills.
