SOUND ARCHIVE

Title: Living Linen Interview LL2_R02/63
Object Name: Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel
Maker: Harris, Derek (Primary maker)
Harris, Derek (interviewee)
Date Made: 10/09/2002
10/09/2002
Description: Sound Recording on Reel: Valley Dye Works, Clendinnings, Riverside Textiles. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Derek Harris' father, George Haywood, was born in Lancashire and worked in the dyeing side of the cotton trade. He left England in the 1930s when the cotton trade was in recession and came over to NI. He worked for a short period, before setting up the Valley Dyeworks in Rostrevor in an old scutching or bleach works. Mr Harris' grandfather looked after the sales side of the business. The buildings were very old and the works had been added to over the years bit by bit. Mr Harris joined the family firm in l 963 and after studying at the Belfast `Tech, went to England to continue his training. His father had arranged for him to spend a couple of months working in various firms. The Valley were commission based bleachers, dyers and finishers of open width cloth. Almost all of the cloth was cotton or polyester. Their major customers were Manchester based. There were two subsidiary firms based at the Valley: Scotex - a buying and selling operation, and Rostrevor Rainwear - which manufactured waterproof clothing including the heavy RUC overcoats. One of the Valley's biggest customers was the MoD. The Valley dyed all of their khaki uniform and tenting cloth up until the mid-1980s when the specification for this order changed from solid dye to camouflage print. At this stage Mr Harris subcontracted all of the camouflage cloth business to Samuel Lamont's Riverside Print Works in Antrim and Ulster Print Works in Newtownards. A lot of the key technical personnel were recruited from England on the basis of their cotton experience. The finishing department contained a stentor. They had a merceriser in earlier years, but the number of customers requesting this finish was so small that it was not economic to keep it long-term. The Valley could apply waterproof, flameproof and rotproof finishes. These were mostly resin finishes and were applied manually, by padding, at the stentor and then heat-set in an oven. The waterproof cloth was tested in the works by subjecting it to a Bunsman test, which simulated rainfall. The Valley was built into the side of a mountain. Their water came from the river Whitewater and a mill-race. The effluent was treated before discharge and as regulations became ever stricter, it was eventually put back into the sewers rather than the river itself All of the machinery was driven by electricity. The Valley employed roughly 50 people, most of whom came from the surrounding area. Labour relations were good. Bleaching and dyeing can be hazardous. The Valley supplied all of their workers with protective clothing: boots, goggles, gloves, jeans. Whenever Clendennings (the Lurgan printers) went bankrupt, Riverside Print and the Valley got together, bought the site and machinery in Lurgan, and merged in an equal partnership as Riverside Textiles. The Antrim and Rostrevor sites were sold and the machinery either moved to Lurgan or scrapped. There are 2 Directors at Riverside: Derek Harris and David Lamont. The Valley Dyeworks still exists as part of Riverside. Riverside today is a commission based bleaching, dyeing and printing company. They still carry out commission bleaching and dyeing under the Valley Dyeworks name. Riverside has managed to keep a number of the old Clendennings customers and process a lot of furnishing fabrics and household items such as tea-towels. Riverside currently employs 56 people and has a turnover approaching £3million. Mr Harris sees the future of the firm lying in small runs of high quality cloth.
Catalogue Number: HOYFM.R2002.118
Notes: National Museums NI

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