Mill Visit
28 January 2010
Students Jo and Liz (back row) with EHS Assistant Dean Jen Lewis-Smith and former factory workers.
Former mill workers who used to work at Britannia Mill when it was a factory had a recent tour of the premises. The site is now the home to the School of Social Care and Therapeutic Practice.
More than 25 former employees who used to work for textile and clothing firms at Britannia Mill, in Mackworth Road, had a tour of the current facilities, met staff and students and enjoyed talks from local historians charting the area's past.
They also saw how the University has modernised the building as part of a £6m project to help improve the student experience, and enhance the building and its look.
They were welcomed by staff, students and EHS Assistant Dean Jen Lewis-Smith, who gave a talk and Jen was interviewed by BBC Radio Derby.
One of the group's leaders, Alan Spencer, was also interviewed by the local media and said he had been delighted to be able to tour the building.
Creative Expressive Therapies students Jo Ellis and Liz Ball write their recollections of the day. Both helped to steward our special guests around the campus:
"On Wednesday 13 January, the University of Derby's Britannia Mill site hosted a very special event. Before the mill on this site became associated with the University, it was a thriving, high quality, textile mill employing hundreds of young people in the area.
The University invited many of the former employees of the to come and see their old workplace and how it has changed since the days they produced woollen jumpers for many shops. As student ambassadors based at Britannia Mill we were asked if we would be able to help host this event and give tours around the site.
Arriving in Room 315 we were able to preview the many photographs which had been collected from that time and it was fascinating to see the similarities and the differences between the two experiences of the building. Most noticeable was how happy all the employees in the photographs looked, despite working 8am till 6pm, six days a week with only a half hour break.
Around 30 ex-employees attended and enjoyed hearing the history of both the Britannia Mill site and the west end of Derby. A mill has been dated to this site, since pre Domesday and to think a building of the same calibre remains here to this day, despite being rebuilt a number of times, is a very humbling thought. We really enjoyed meeting so many people who have spent times in this building.
It will be very difficult to spend time on the fourth floor without picturing the women we met using dangerous machinery for hours on end! The day made us appreciate not only our chance to attend university when many of the guests left education at the age of 14; but also the historical building in which we study and we now have a greater appreciation of Derby's history, and Britannia Mill's role within this."
