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Welcome!
As another year draws to a close, it is always heartening to look back and consider the highlights of the past twelve months. One that stands out for me was the magnificent sight of the Tour de France peloton winding its way across Yorkshire, cheered on by enthusiasts of all ages. How glorious the countryside looked. My great grandfather, Robert Thompson, would no doubt have been delighted to see the world come to Yorkshire as, despite attracting national renown during his career, he never felt the need to move away from the village of his birth, instead, as his reputation grew, architects and patrons from far afield sought him out here in Kilburn. His determination to stay rooted in this North Yorkshire village followed one brief period ‘abroad’ when, as a young man, he served an engineering apprenticeship in the industrial West Riding town of Cleckheaton near Bradford. He realised then that life in the ‘woolopolis’ was not for him. Many years later, towards the end of his life, Robert Thompson received a commission for church furnishings which took him right back to the heart of the Bradford wool trade. This newsletter relays the story of that commission and the neat twist of fate that has seen the return of those ‘Bradford mice’ to the workshop in which they were originally made. I rather think Great Grandfather Thompson would have enjoyed the fact that, eventually, all roads lead back to Kilburn.

From our little village on the edge of the North York Moors, we send best wishes to all our readers, wherever in the world you are, for a peaceful Christmas and a joyful New Year.   Ian Thompson Cartwright

winter_2014_11.pdf