Gloving history donated - thanks to Kevin and Sandra Millard

FORMER employees of an old Yeovil gloving company have given artefacts to South Somerset District Council's Community Heritage Access Centre.

Kevin and Sandra Millard, of Yeovil,  worked at the former W. J. and W. G. Ricketts Ltd gloving factory in Addlewell Lane in the 1960s and 1970s.

They have kindly donated several items from their time at their former workplace.

Kevin kindly donated his framed apprentice indenture which details the terms of his four year apprenticeship; his measuring size stick; one-handed tweezers and a newspaper clipping showing him in Ricketts’ factory, during a nationwide tour organised by the Leather Institute to show how glove cutting was done. Sandra also donated her pointing scissors for cutting the cotton ends on the pointing.

Ricketts Glove factory also has a personal interest for Kevin and Sandra. Kevin started at Addlewell Lane aged 15 and in his first year learnt all there was to know about what made the skins; from the raw materials to the complete glove.

PHOTO - TOP: Kevin and Sandra Millard holding the donated framed apprentice indenture which details the terms of Mr Millard’s four year apprenticeship with W. J. & E. G. Ricketts, a former glove company in Yeovil.

He began his apprenticeship on August 25, 1966, until August 25, 1970. His total time with Ricketts as a glove cutter was from 1965 to 1977. From 1977, he worked for another well-known Yeovil company, Normalair.

Sandra worked for Ricketts from 1968 to 1979 and specialised in the pointing of gloves. Kevin and Sandra met one another at Ricketts, or more specifically at the ‘Clocking in/out’ machine!

Heritage information assistant, Joseph Lewis, said: "We are very grateful to Kevin and Sandra for donating these fascinating objects.

"Kevin and Sandra were also able to tell us much more about the existing gloving tools in our collection; for example the different types of shears or why a size stick was made in a particular way.

"We are so pleased to be able to speak to the people who used the tools to gain some insights into the history they hold.”

Cllr Sylvia Seal, the council's leisure and culture spokesman, added: "One of the key aims at the Community Heritage Access Centre or museum collections as a whole, is the sharing of different types of knowledge of local history.

"Sharing history increases what we know and this can also provide additional information for tours and research visits, which enhances the objects’ appeal and makes them more ‘accessible’ to a wider audience."

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