Gran g-loves her trip down memory lane (From Wiltshire Times)

Gran g-loves her trip down memory lane

7:20pm Saturday 4th February 2012 in Corsham By Will Frampton

A 92-year-old former glove factory worker got a chance to re-visit the workplace of her youth last week at the new Dents factory in Warminster.

Chippenham great-grandmother Peggy Collier, who was born in Box, worked in the Wiltshire glove-making industry for more than half a century.

She started work at a factory in Neston at the age of 16, from where she would often travel to the old Dents site for training on specific equipment, including the brosser machine for fine stitching.

When the Neston factory closed down, Mrs Collier moved to a factory in Corsham, which was later taken over by Dents. She worked from home while bringing up her son, Phillip.

Some of the old Singer sewing machines in the Dents factory are close to a century old themselves, and sparked a few memories for the former stitcher.

“It was a really lovely place to work. There were rows and rows of machines at Neston and I can still hear them buzzing from all those years ago,” she said.

“We had to use different machines to make the different kinds of gloves, ladies gloves, fur backs where we stitched the fur onto pre-made gloves, chamois leather, and driving gloves.

“I am very grateful to Dents for letting me come along and see this. It hasn’t changed much since the old days. This visit has been one of the highlights of my year.

“It was so long ago and I love being able to sit behind the machines, they are beautiful. I would like to get back to work if I could.”

Mrs Collier married her late husband Percy, a long-distance driver, in 1941. She has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Dents is an internationally-renowned maker of gloves and accessories. Its new factory and offices in Furnax Lane were officially opened by Princess Anne last month.

The glove factory in Corsham occupied an old school house during the 1930s, but later became a gas mask factory during the war. The building is now St Patrick’s Catholic Church.