Congratulations, Nick!

**unixken** · 2nd August 13, 04:22 AM

I just saw this latest upload to YouTube... Congrats on the good fortune this brings to you and D.C. Dalgliesh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_7_gLsdJk4

**Jock Scot** · 2nd August 13, 04:30 AM

It's good to see some upbeat and gentle news these days and will boost Selkirk's morale no end. Bravo!

**Father Bill** · 2nd August 13, 05:19 AM

Congratulations, Nick. Proud of you and of what you're doing!

**sydnie7** · 2nd August 13, 08:12 AM

Congratulations on the "baby bounce" as the news program(me) put it!

On the flip side, I hope those silk weaving demands do not sideline wool tartan production -- are they run on the same machines? My cynical side sees kilties waiting longer for their custom runs while scarf orders are filled. . . but that's just the way my American mind works.

**unixken** · 2nd August 13, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by sydnie7

On the flip side, I hope those silk weaving demands do not sideline wool tartan production -- are they run on the same machines? My cynical side sees kilties waiting longer for their custom runs while scarf orders are filled. . . but that's just the way my American mind works.

Being an American (and a cynic

) myself, I had that same thought. This was reinforced by the fact that my custom-weave kilt that had been projected to ship this past Monday, hadn't. When I queried for a new expected ship date, I was told that the mill was closed down for the week, for holiday, and I'd have to wait until next Monday when the mill reopened, to find out. :crap:

So after spotting this video online, I wondered, tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek, if my loom had been commandeered to help satisfy demand for a scarf.

My jones continues...

LOL!

**Jock Scot** · 3rd August 13, 01:27 AM

Its quite usual in industrial Britian for factories to shut for two weeks(factory fortnight) at this time of year, to give a chance for essential maintentence, on looms, boilers, blast furnaces, kilns etc.. that would be working in many cases 24/7 for the rest of the year. I am not sure when this tradition started, but it must be almost as old as the industrial revolution.

**ThistleDown** · 4th August 13, 02:49 PM

Congratulations, Nick. Nice to have good-news stories from the small manufacturing sector.

**Nick Fiddes** · 5th August 13, 06:05 AM

Thanks guys. I can put your mind at rest about it delaying wool weaving, as we've actually coaxed back from retirement a silk specialist to catch up with the demand, and we'll be training up another as soon as we can.

And yes, the annual 'trades' holidays (two weeks) which have just finished are a Scottish tradition, that makes a lot of sense in such an interdependent industry. It's not just our mill that closes, but the whole local industry of spinners and dyers etc.

Anyway, the 'Kate Middleton' effect certainly does us no harm. Getting the mill back on its feet again and fit for the future has (of course) been a much bigger challenge than we anticipated. But after a couple of years of quite difficult changes, we feel we've definitely turned the corner and it's all starting to work better than for a long time. By the end of the year (we hope) you'll start to see some exciting new developments too, which I can't really talk about yet. So any publicity like this has to be a good thing!