Totton U3A Out and About

We had a glorious sunny day for this visit to the silk mill. Eleven of us got together in three cars and enjoyed a pleasant journey there and back.The Silk Mill is not huge though it is in a very pleasant setting beside the river which had ducks on it and trout in it.
It has three floors, the first set of stairs being fitted with a stair lift, {very thoughtful}. The 2nd floor incorporated the tea room and some hands on looms and craft tables and the Top floor was actually the beginning of the tour.

The silk is brought in from China and elsewhere, in hanks which are then spun etc on various machines to bring it to a workable state for many uses. The colours of the different materials are incredible and also the many varieties of silk produced at this mill.

The ground floor is the real workplace with the looms clacking away so loudly that the operators wear ear defenders and for some breathing masks too. The engineer who looks after the machines was monitoring a machine nearest to where we finished up.

He very kindly showed us many types of silk samples, such as Shot Silk and some that were for hair ribbon made as a wide strip of material which could be brought down to a suitable width for the purpose of tying hair.All fascinating stuff. He had several pieces tha t he had designed himself patternwise. Tetly have their own pattern and colours as do many others.

Barbara modelled a Stole for us, very nicely too, and Audrey tried her luck at some of the

working exhibits.

We all walked up the road and found The white Hart Hotel where we had excellent service for a snack lunch. Considering we had eleven of us walk in unexpectedly half an hour before the end of lunchtime service, the two girls coped brilliantly and we were all served in a short time with hot and cold food in the restaurant, which we all recommend to anyone who decides to go to whitchurch in the future.