Building a Mill

We hear from a lot of farmers that there’s no value in fleeces, and that they are often burnt or buried rather than sent to auction. For such a sustainable by-product, which historically was one of the most valuable resources we had we see this as a fantastic opportunity to restore some of the heritage textiles processing facilities to the area. We see huge potential to work with local farmers and the local supply chain for Northern Irish wool to be able to build a mill and wool processing facility which will allow us to make our own yarns and felts. We’ve been researching this since 2022 and are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel and it’s becoming a reality! We’re still collecting information on what fleeces are out there and our survey is here if you happen to know any NI sheep farmers!

With huge thanks to funding from Future Screens NI, Creative UK and Invest NI we have been able to explore the potential to make this a viable addition to our social enterprise and we are hoping it will provide training and employment opportunities within the Ards Peninsula, and a valuable resource which can educate people about the processes involved in textiles production and the heritage aspects of processing wool into treasured fabrics. Of course there is no point in us doing this if it poses a problem to the environment, so we are making sure that environmental impact is considered in every single part of the process, from harvesting rain water, to renewable energy sources to power equipment and waste water treatment - we are considering everything because we want to be one of the most environmentally friendly manufacturing sites in Northern Ireland!