End of a bobbins career for 65-year-old Furness worker (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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End of a bobbins career for 65-year-old Furness worker
5:39pm Tuesday 18th October 2011 in Nostalgia
WILL BE MISSED: Retiring bobbin mill worker David Steeley has worked in the mills since he was 15 years old
A FURNESS man who has dedicated his life to supporting the cotton trade and celebrating its legacy has retired.
David Steeley, 65, of Greenodd, has stepped down from his job as a machine operator at Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Finsthwaite, near Newby Bridge, after nearly five decades of service.
Now primarily a heritage museum, Stott Park Bobbin Mill was once a working mill which opened back in 1835 to produce the wooden bobbins vital to the thriving Lancashire spinning and weaving industries.
Some 250 men and boys once worked there to produce a quarter of a million bobbins a week.
Mr Steeley began back in 1962, aged 15, at Spark Bridge Bobbin Mill where he worked on the automatic boring machine while serving a five-year apprenticeship.
He then moved on to the more difficult hand boring machine.
Back then it would have been as busy as any factory in Britain, as the staff worked to meet the demands of the trade.
And though the job has changed dramatically since then, Mr Steeley said he has always enjoyed his career.
“It has been a really good job,” he said. “I have always been happy.”
His first job ended in 1983 when Spark Bridge had to close down.
“From 1975 to 1983, the bobbins we made were aluminium,” Mr Steeley said.
“But the aluminium bobbins lasted for about three months so there wasn’t as much need for them, whereas you could only use the wooden bobbins once, so there was more demand.”
He moved straight to Stott Park where he continued where he had left off at Spark Bridge.
“It is like one big family here,” he said. “We all get on well and I’ve really enjoyed it here.”
Colleague Tracy Shaw, who will take over Mr Steeley’s role having been trained up by him, paid tribute.
“We are sad that David has gone. He has such a wealth of knowledge and information about the job and is the last link to the industry’s heritage,” she said.
“He brought the human aspect of the mills to life because he has worked in the trade all his life - it is in his blood.”
