I remember the blankets well. They were incredibly soft. We had the cream, pale green, baby blue and baby pink blankets which all had a matching satin band at the top and I think bottom ends.
The men in this film probably just returned from the horrors of WW1.........At least they had a job to go back to...Now I know why our Witney Blankets were so expensive! 💕🇬🇧
Fascinating. No masks and they often used to chew tobacco to keep their mouths moist. Emphysema and cancer of the mouth quite prevalent. A witney blanket came at a price. Nonetheless they are second to none blankets. I have a 'moderna' witney blanket and it's a prized possession.
I think you might, on further reflection, find that this is simply untrue! I have been making woollen cloth for 45 years, and have never heard such stories... What are your sources, please?
@@filkinsworks My father's tailor was a mill-boy at Hayford Mills in Stirling.in the Nineteen teens. It was by then a carpet manufactory but previously had made tweed, cotton etc products. He told my dad that the chewing of tobacco was commonplace in order to keep their mouths moist against the dehydrating effect of the fibres in the air which had no controlled emission outside of the atmosphere of the works. The windows may have helped to a degree, if they opened (I don't know) but even so it would not have made a great deal of difference I suppose to the amount of fibre caused by the various carding processes etc. It merely circulated in the building. The constant chewing of tobacco lead to carcinogenic growths in the jaws of the operators and my father's tailor had his tongue cut out as a result of his own use of the navy roll, as they called it. The various lung complaints, of which emphysema was one, is seen by the death certificates. That man eventually left the works (it was not a financially successful venture) and trained in a local house as a tailor before taking over the business himself. I remember him. He had no form of speech. He made a suit for my father before he retired in the late 1950s and I have inherited it, a blue serge suit with turn-up trousers and a braces tongue on the back - a three piece suit that I dare not try to fit into for now but fits perfectly when I accord to it's shape.
Witney horse blankets [golden with the black and red stripes] are beautiful...the cheaper ''lookey- likey'' copies are just not as good. Friday Fox does make them, using old Witney tools. Witney blankets I grew up with too... Duvets were the death knell of the blanket, sadly. Blankets slip, and are dusty, but a duvet is easy.
grew up with these blankets, In fact I still have some .
Have one ! Love it!
I remember the blankets well. They were incredibly soft. We had the cream, pale green, baby blue and baby pink blankets which all had a matching satin band at the top and I think bottom ends.
The men in this film probably just returned from the horrors of WW1.........At least they had a job to go back to...Now I know why our Witney Blankets were so expensive! 💕🇬🇧
Fascinating. No masks and they often used to chew tobacco to keep their mouths moist. Emphysema and cancer of the mouth quite prevalent. A witney blanket came at a price. Nonetheless they are second to none blankets. I have a 'moderna' witney blanket and it's a prized possession.
My Witney Horse Newmarket Blanket is prized too...it is worn now, but still very serviceable. They are more heavy duty than bed blankets.
The fluff the workers must have inhaled is scary...like wool 'snow'..
I think you might, on further reflection, find that this is simply untrue! I have been making woollen cloth for 45 years, and have never heard such stories... What are your sources, please?
@@filkinsworks My father's tailor was a mill-boy at Hayford Mills in Stirling.in the Nineteen teens. It was by then a carpet manufactory but previously had made tweed, cotton etc products. He told my dad that the chewing of tobacco was commonplace in order to keep their mouths moist against the dehydrating effect of the fibres in the air which had no controlled emission outside of the atmosphere of the works. The windows may have helped to a degree, if they opened (I don't know) but even so it would not have made a great deal of difference I suppose to the amount of fibre caused by the various carding processes etc. It merely circulated in the building. The constant chewing of tobacco lead to carcinogenic growths in the jaws of the operators and my father's tailor had his tongue cut out as a result of his own use of the navy roll, as they called it. The various lung complaints, of which emphysema was one, is seen by the death certificates. That man eventually left the works (it was not a financially successful venture) and trained in a local house as a tailor before taking over the business himself. I remember him. He had no form of speech. He made a suit for my father before he retired in the late 1950s and I have inherited it, a blue serge suit with turn-up trousers and a braces tongue on the back - a three piece suit that I dare not try to fit into for now but fits perfectly when I accord to it's shape.
@@filkinsworkswhat is the source
Witney horse blankets [golden with the black and red stripes] are beautiful...the cheaper ''lookey- likey'' copies are just not as good. Friday Fox does make them, using old Witney tools. Witney blankets I grew up with too... Duvets were the death knell of the blanket, sadly. Blankets slip, and are dusty, but a duvet is easy.