Last weekend we were away in Somerset and on the Saturday we had planned to follow a circular walk of about 6 miles around the town of Radstock. As we parked the car it started to rain and so we decided to visit the local museum which was just across the road. The museum tells the story of coal mining in Somerset. Many people who live in the UK are aware that there was a lot of coal mining in Wales and also in the north of England but very few people are aware that Somerset had coal mines as well. Whilst the museum had a lot of information of coalmining in the area it also had exhibits of every day life for the people of the area.
We turned left as we entered the main area and the first exhibits were about the shoe trade in Somerset.
In the cabinet next to the shoes was a Singer sewing machine. Singer machines really do get every where. This one was for sewing leather in the shoe making process.
The machine was made by the Singer Manufacturing company at the factory in Kilbowie, Glasgow, Scotland in 1928. There was a note identifying that these machines are still very popular with amateur leather workers in the United states.
Next there was an area set up as a shop.
It was fun to see the boxes and tins neatly arranged and to recognise the companies names from when I was a child.
Being the child I am I had to take a photo of the toilet paper. When we visited the toilet at my grandparents house they had Izal paper. I remember it was stiff and scratchy! I also remember the blue laundry whitener at the front of the shelf. Everyone seemed to use it when I was young, except my mother, who didn't like it. It is still available.
To one side there were the large biscuit tins. I can remember the Woolworth's selling biscuits from these tins. You bought the amount that you wanted. There was always a tin with broken biscuits in and these were my favourite as you got pieces from a range of biscuits.
By the door of the shop was the delivery byclyle, no piling it into the back of a van for delivery.
that was in the cottage. I was always fascinated when we visited my maternal grandfather as the range was still in use. My mother shared her stories from her teenage years of blackleading the range and also cooking bread in the ovens.
On the floor there were several home made rugs, made using strips of old fabric from worn out clothes.
On the table in front of the window there was a Singer sewing machine. I learnt to sew on an old Singer but not as old as this one. My mother gave me her Singer machine when she bought an electric machine. Several years later I gave the machine to my niece when I bought my first electric machine. I'm not sure how old the Singer was but it still worked really well and maintained excellent tension.
I took several more photos but they are very dark. There were textiles that needed to be kept out of bright light and no flash was allowed. We planned to go back as we only viewed the ground floor of the exhibition and next time I'll take my main camera which copes much better with low light. Having looked around the ground floor including going into the mock up of a mine, which was dark, smelly and noisy we decided to visit the cafe for a cup of tea and a cake. The lady who was serving was very friendly and knew the neighbourhood well.
She told us about the Chew Valley lake and asked if we were interested in bird watching. The lake is an artifical lake created by damming the River Chew. Cconstruction began in 1950 and it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1956. The lake supplies essential drinking water to Bristol and the surrounding area. Because of the drought, water has been taken out of the lake to ensure a water supply to Bristol. Because of this the lake had shrunk and the wading birds were enjoying a bigger area of shallow water.
Once we had finished our tea and cake we headed to the lake. It was raining on and off but we had a good walk and stopped to watch some birds. By the time we left the rain was heavier and we headed back to our hotel.
I have some fabrics to share and a present I recieved bu I'll write about that in my next post. I want to get some sewing time in today. As we were away last weekend I missed out on my sewing time and I have projects I want to move forward.
Take care
Lyndsey
