HUDDERSFIELD
TEXTILE SOCIETY

The Society was always wool-centred. In his address to the 1955-6 AGM (which was attended by the Mayor), J H Shaw said that there was a need for wool to be publicised and promoted in the home market for carpets so that it could compete with man-made fibres. He referred to the 120,000 wool growers in the British Isles and to the need for quality:

“stick to quality at the right price for a bright future”.

The first Annual Dinner as a separate event took place in 1965. The cost of the dinner was 14s 6d (72½ p). Members were charged 10s 0d and guests were charged 17s 6d; it was agreed that ‘Past Presidents be asked to pay for their dinner’.Although the income for the dinner covered less than half the cost, meaning that a loss of around £75 was made, this was deemed satisfactory, particularly since the loss the previous year was around £88.

A notable innovation took place in 1946-7: the first recorded lecture given by a woman. However, this ‘experiment’ was not repeated for many years.

The first meeting of the 1970-1 session was held at the newly-established Polytechnic of Huddersfield.

The Second World War caused a cessation of the Society’s activities. A full programme of lectures had been agree to but, at the Committee Meeting of 21 September 1939 (less than 3 weeks after the outbreak of war) the advisability of cancelling lectures was discussed in view of the ‘prevailing conditions’. It was agreed to suspend all activities until further notice, including not renewing subscriptions.

The next meeting of the Society did not take place until 25 March 1946, 6½ years later.

​

At the 1946 AGM, vouchers were presented to students who had been awarded Textile Society medals during the war years: the vouchers were to be exchanged for medals when these became available. It was noted that some medallists were still serving and could not attend the meeting. The vouchers were forwarded to them.​

Journals tended to include many pages of advertising.The 1951-2 edition, for instance, contained 62 pages of advertisements, including those from companies in Lancashire, Cheshire, the South West, Wales and the Home Counties. Such advertisements covered most aspects of the industry, but were mainly concerned with machinery manufacturers, including a bobbin maker in Liverpool and a loom maker in Barnsley.

In 1955 the Hon Secretary received a letter requesting help in publishing a magazine article condemning the use of man-made fibres ‘from a medical point of view’. Needless to say, the request was rejected.

Potential competition from abroad was also recognised in the 1950s. Mr Birkinshaw, addressing the 1953-4 AGM, said that the industry would meet more fierce competition at many more points in the world than ever before. However, he said that we should not be pessimistic, due to the local industry’s expertise in wool, the ‘king of fibres’. He was another speaker to refer to the importance of quality and design, particularly in Huddersfield, which is ‘paramount in the world’. He referred to the ‘superb training’ provided by Huddersfield and Bradford Technical Colleges.

A highly significant event occurred in 2012:

The election of the Society’s first female President, Nicola Redmore