The memories of former Lister's Mill workers are to be featured in a book and DVD produced by Urban Splash, the company behind the £100 million restoration of the historic building.

The move follows a reunion of former employees in July at the Manningham mill.

Mill Workers Reunited was organised by Urban Splash to give former workers chance to see the restoration.

Many met up for the first time since leaving the building. They were filmed reminiscing and some brought in photographs and items such as clock-in cards, copies of the Lister's Mill magazine and weaving equipment.

Urban Splash's managing director Simon Gawthorpe said: "Everything brought in for the reunion is on loan, we're copying things like photographs. We were even lent a pink teapot, part of the mill's collection of china featuring a picture of Lister's. We've also been trying to get hold of monologues and poems that were read to workers."

Doreen Wilson started at Lister's Mill aged 15, in 1949. At the reunion she met up with Bill Edmundson who worked there for 12 years, before and after the Second World War. Both were in the mill's concert party.

"It was very active, we had singers, dancers and comics," said Doreen. "We did pantos and plays like JB Priestley's When We Are Married.

"We used to rehearse after work, and learn lines between shifts, then we'd put shows on for a week. I thoroughly enjoyed those days."

Doreen was thrilled to meet old friends at the reunion. She said: "It was wonderful seeing old faces, I hadn't seen some since we left. It was very moving. It's a beautiful building, I'm delighted new life is being breathed into it."

Bill, of Wilsden, was a comic and a pantomime dame in the concert party. "Doreen and I entertained workers at lunchtime," he said. "I started when I was 14, working in an office. I got called up in 1940 then after the war I worked in the weaving department."

"It was out of this world to go back and see what's going on now, I met some people I hadn't seen for 50 years. It's been heartbreaking seeing the mill stand empty for years."

  • Former workers who have memories, photographs or memorabilia they would like to be included in the book can call (01274) 499366.
e-mail: emma.clayton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk
THE FALL AND RISE OF LISTER'S MILL
  • After the first mill was destroyed by fire in 1871 Samuel Lister constructed a new building between 1873 and 1874, designed by architects Andrews & Pepper.
  • It was the world's largest silk and velvet factory, supplying the Royal family and employing some 11,000 men, women and children.
  • In the 1930s owners Lister & Co faced stiff competition from Japanese silk imports, but in the 1970s the north and south mills still employed more than 4,500 people.
  • Business was hit in the 1980s recession and by the end of that decade fewer than 1,000 people worked there.
  • Over the 1990s several restoration plans emerged then faded away until 2003 when Urban Splash signed a deal to regenerate the south mill.
  • The scheme, already well under way, will provide 500 to 600 new homes and space for business and community use.
  • The first phase, the Silk Warehouse and courtyard, were completed this summer and planning approval has been granted for the second phase - the Velvet Mill' project - which includes duplex apartments and one to three-bedroom properties.