A WOVEN textile archive based at a historic mill near Bradford has been awarded a £40,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Archive, at the Sunny Bank Mills complex in Farsley, will use the grant to work in partnership with a nearby inclusive learning centre.

The Mills were built in 1829 and have been in the Gaunt family for six generations - and are currently owned by cousins John and William.

The Gaunts set up a not-for-profit company in 2017, to safeguard the historic textile archive at Sunny Bank Mills and the archive has gone from strength to strength since then. It is curated by Rachel Moaby.

Rachel said the grant was "absolutely transformational" for them and that they would be working with the West Leeds Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre (SILC) Powerhouse based in Farsley, on a collaboration called Weaving the Web.

“This will not only benefit the students but will also increase the knowledge of our staff and volunteers at Sunny Bank Mills. We intend to create youth ambassadors working in tandem with West Leeds SILC’s work-related learning programme to build much more inclusive web design and content, helping to promote inclusivity and accessibility at the archive.

“We feel this work is tremendously important, both for us and for West SILC, whose students have a range of learning needs including Asperger’s, Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Downs Syndrome. They will really benefit from this project – as will we."

As part of the programme photographer and lecturer Tom Jackson will be developing a record of the objects in the Archive through 360 photography. He will also be creating workshops for the SILC students and the local community, as well as building an interactive inventory of the Archive objects to be available online.

John Gaunt added: “We are delighted to be recognised by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in what will be a transformational project for the Sunny Bank Mills Archive. The grant will allow the archive to invest in equipment and skills to make it accessible online to not just the community from which it was borne, but to all corners of the wider community that want to see it."

The Sunny Bank Mills Archive consists of fabric records including over 300 guard books containing thousands of textile cuttings; 60,000 lengths of fabric; 8,000 fabric designs; 5,000 wool dyeing recipe cards; 100 leather bound ledgers and cash books; weaving looms; photographs and memorabilia and a library.

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