Bartimaeus

We went off to explore Leek. The first section, after going up a path away from the end of the canal, was not too salubrious. It went past a junk yard and recycling centre, though I do heartily approve of recycling. We also passed a large plant under expansion with white coated employees walking between sites. While it looked  like a scene from Dr Who, it was in fact somewhere specialising in new treatments and vaccines, and I approve of those too. Their strap line was "smart science to improve lives".

A few walkways later we came to the outskirts of Leek and some attractive buildings. These were also for improving lives, by providing free accomodation, Alms Houses.

Despite their half timbered look they are not medieval alms houses but were built in the late 1800s, apparently designed within the 'Arts and Crafts' movement of architecture. We continued to the town centre and found that the locals had been getting into arts and crafts too in a Halloween theme. They extended beyond the post box to some bollards.

Across the road we saw a very old motor car, outside the bike shop. Shane wondered if they could use a bicycle repair kit given the size of the tyres.

Shane and I are not experts but while we were examining it a woman came over and said she'd love to have one. She was clearly much more knowledgeable than we were and described how it was driven. It was tempting to honk the horn. It seemed to be in a suitable place for the passenger rather than the driver, but then I saw that the steering wheel is central not to one side. 

I was looking at the old buildings, Shane was looking for the museum. He found a reference to a Nicholson Institute. We found a further education college with skills and trades taught displayed around the exterior. Crafts were a strong theme with weaving, needlework and dyeing. 

These seem mainly steeped in the textile trade, with very specific skills within that industry but round the corner were some wider less specific categories.

We found the museum around the next corner. Here was the Nicholson Institute.  We had expected to come the next day when the rain was forecast, but it was open and inside we discovered that it had only just reopened after being closed for two years and was not open tomorrow.

Joshua Nicholson was a silk manufacturer and much of the museum was based on colour, pattern and silk history with displays of moths, buttons and textiles.

The silk was wrapped around a wooden button. They were very popular and  intricate designs. When making a garment the buttons can make or break the style.

There were videos of factory worker interviews and children's activities about pattern and light.

There was also a display about Polish tradition. Many Poles were prisoners of war and stayed afterwards. There was quite a large local Polish population.  

As well as being tourists, we did want to do shopping, so we headed away. We passed another craft and design reference with a house that had been saved by a group including William Morris.

We found the shop and stocked up a little and then decided not to move for the next two rainy days. I've done my own crafts and we had a walk in a gap in the rain (mostly) where we saw a kingfisher, jays (excellent views) and a kestrel. I have made a bright hat on a rainy day for a newborn baby from scraps.

Neither of us were keen to move in the damp days but we are hoping for better weather to move on tomorrow.