MEMBERS NEWS

As the Bradford district gears up for the UK City of Culture celebrations, Shipley based 509 Arts has been awarded a major grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to reveal stories of Bradford’s mass mill closures at the end of the 20th Century.

Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will collect stories and memories from people who worked in the mills from the 1970s onwards and map the sites where mills and textile mansions once stood. With support from Bradford Council, 509 Arts will work with Bradford Community Broadcasting and other local partners to reveal the last years of Yorkshire’s ‘wool city of the world’.

509 Arts and BCB want to hear from people across the district with memories of Bradford’s mills from the 1970s onwards. The collected memories will become part of a rich textile artwork commissioned with arts organisation Saltaire Inspired that will tour around the district.

BCB will be working with schools and communities to uncover stories of mills that have been closed and forgotten and will create special programmes for broadcast. A website packed with information and online learning materials will be available in the new year and in June 2024 Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will conclude with a major outdoor celebration at a mill site somewhere in Bradford.

Alan Dix, Artistic Director of 509 Arts, said: “There were once 350 working mills in Bradford and almost every family in the district was connected to the textile industry in some way. Mill buildings were everywhere: Barkerend, Listers, Dalton, Salts, Albany and many more were once household names. Today, most of them are gone. Some have been demolished, some are derelict, some have found new purpose and some, sadly, have burnt to the ground. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will work with mill workers who remember the last years of Bradford’s mass textile industry. Many are now in their 70s and 80s, and we will explore their stories with today’s young Bradfordians, who may not know what life was like in the late 20th Century when textile mills employed whole communities.

“The face of Bradford has changed dramatically in the past 30 years and the mills and textile mansions that were so dominant are rapidly disappearing. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will employ a small team to work across the district, recording mill workers' stories and documenting the places where mills once stood. Bradford 2025 supported our application and this project will be a great way of getting people involved in preparation for our City of Culture celebrations.” Mary Dowson, Director of Bradford Community Broadcasting, sees the project as a great opportunity for Bradford people of all backgrounds in the run up to Bradford City of Culture 2025.

“We are so pleased to be working in partnership with 509 Arts on this project. BCB’s vibrant network of contacts with community organisations, schools and local groups will mean we can dig deep into those times and the changes that were happening in Bradford. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will provide a rich seam of stories, interviews and features for broadcast across the district.”

Humayan Islam, CEO of BEAP Community Partnership based in Manningham, said: “Community elders in Bradford have stories that no-one has heard. People came from across the globe to work in Bradford in the 60s and 70s and their experiences of mill life needs to be collected before it's too late. Working with 509 Arts and BCB will bring Bradford’s recent history into focus for today’s young people and the district’s future generations.”

Do you, or someone you know, have a mill story to tell? If you want to know more or get involved with Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions, please email info@509arts.co.uk. Alternatively, you can register your interest on this form Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions has been generously supported by Bradford Metropolitan District Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.