This comment came in response to a Tonbridge Daily snippet on the town's tanneries. It conjures up the magic of a childhood memory for something as simple as a duster collected on a school trip. A real piece of nostalgia!!!!!
'I think there was a Tannery or Abattoire in the Botany, (behind Bon Marche) and also, in or near Vale Road was The Baa Baa Co. (not sure of the spelling!)I visited there with my school class (Cage Green about 1954)They made products from sheep's fleece and wool. We were taught how to card, spin, and weave the wool, and even had an afternoon walking round a field of sheep collecting tufts of wool caught on the barbed wire fence, would Health and Safety allow that today!!! After the visit the company gave each of us a multi-coloured fleece duster on a stick. I thought it was really beautiful and couldn't get home fast enough to give it to my mum, at that time it was a luxury item we couldn't afford, or would even think of buying being totally un-necessary, but it had pride of place in our cleaning cupboard for many years.'
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