Industry Sudbury

Anglia Television: Report on Walters & Sons silk weaving factory in Sudbury which explains how the silk is made and how the machines create various patterns. Interview with the factory's Managing Director David Walters.

Shot of the silk weaving machinery followed by a close up of the women working in the Walters & Sons factory in Sudbury. Close up of yellow and orange silk. Shot of a woman using the silk machine to weave some orange silk. Close up of the machine making striped patterns on the silk. Close up of orange silk with white dots being put onto it by the machine. Reporter David Henshaw interviews David Walters, Managing Director of the silk factory, who says that the factory started a long time ago. It started in 1720 and at that time the company was based in London. In the 19th Century they began to move some of the processes down to East Anglia. When asked why they decided to move to East Anglia, David Walters replies that a lot of the preparatory processes began to use water power and there were a lot of mills by the water in the countryside. Close up of silks with various patterns on them. David Walters explains the process of achieving these complicated designs which he states are woven into the silk rather than embroidered afterwards. It is done by having a punched paper card which is programmed with the design on it which then controls the cloth as its being woven in. Close up of David Henshaw as he comments that with the onset of man-made fibres he would have thought that there would be a decline in the need for silk which is expensive. David Walters replies that they do weave some man-made fibres and can mix silk with man-made fibres. Even though it’s expensive he has recently noticed a surge in the demand for silk. He claims that the difference between silk and man-made fibres is now smaller than it was five years ago. Close up of the silk weaving machines.

Featured Buildings

Walters & Sons, silk factory

Keywords

Industry; Factories; Factory; Factory Workers; Silk; Silk Factory; Textiles; Weaving; Weaving Machines;

Background Information

See http://www.stephenwalters.co.uk/madeinengland.html