On Saturday we zoomed up country to meet a very nice man who has an unenviable task. He is overseeing the final closure of one of the last remaining rattan furniture manufacturers in this country. Four generations of expertise gone - whoosh. It was painful to listen to the stories of the past, the entrepreneurship, the innovation and the camaraderie of so many workers whilst knowing all the time that this is the end of it. All of that knowledge is consigned to the past. I wished that some of our politicians could have been there to witness first hand what is happening to so many valuable artisan skills in their desire to turn us into some kind of centre for administration. Without manufacturing who's going to need administrators? If we produce nothing then we have nothing to administrate - now that would balance the books for the accountants wouldn't it! You can probably tell, it all upset me a lot.
On the way home we stopped off in Woodstock for a bite to eat.
Anyway Sunday was something completely different. We were asked in August last year if we would like to do a talk and presentation for the Stickmakers Association this March - well of course we would. So yesterday was the day. We went along with our computing stuff and gave a slideshow potted history and talk about our work here as Former Glory. A few people had bought along restoration projects that they wanted to discuss and all in all we had a lovely time.
A weekend of contrasts and glorious weather.
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