News From Magna Holdings

A stitch in time for Keighley pupils

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Pupils from a Keighley primary school enjoyed an insider’s view of Dalton Mills and it’s heritage last week, as part of their school heritage trail.

The children from Parkwood School, and two of their teachers, received a guided tour of the mill from Magna Holdings.

Jack Croft, the caretaker at Dalton Mills put together a special film about the mill and it's history and Magna Holdings put together a quiz for the children after the tour.

Current tenants, Stephen Kennedy from Autoprint, and Michael Mitchell from Pyramid Pollution Prevention, showed the pupils around their premises and told them about their businesses so they could see the work that takes place at Dalton Mills nowadays.

Mr Hanson, one of the teachers on the trip said: “All agreed, the afternoon had been a highlight of the school heritage trail and no doubt the children will remember their visit for a long time to come. For me it was also special, as for a time in the early seventies, I lived in the coach house next to the mill and often wondered
what the mill was like inside.”

Linda Cook from Magna Holdings said: “It was a pleasure to meet the pupils at Parkwood school and we had a fun day showing them around the mill. Dalton Mills is such a significant part of Keighley’s history, and it’s fantastic that local schools are taking an interest in it’s heritage.”

Magna Holdings is also hoping to participate in next year’s school challenge, where pupils from local schools including Parkwood will build sets from films, which have been made in the local area as part of the Keighley Festival. The firm is offering the exhibition space in the Tower Mill so local schools can reproduce sets from Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South or Fairy Tale – a True Story
which were both filmed locally.

Flexible, affordable office space in Bradford, at Dalton Mills is still available from just £5 per sq ft. Workshop space and industrial or storage space is also available to rent from as little as £2 per sq ft. For more details, please see here or register your details here.

Hopeful future for charity after move to Dalton Mills

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A charity that helps a bitterly deprived part of the Ukraine has moved to Dalton Mills, following a devastating fire at their previous premises.

Take Hope Yorkshire help people in the Ukraine, particularly orphans, the elderly and the handicapped, by taking out convoys of food, clothing, wheelchairs, bedding and even firefighting equipment. The charity was established by Andrew McVeigh in 1995 and it supports a range of projects in the Vinogradiv region of the Ukraine.

Take Hope were based at a church hall in Halifax but in March a fire broke out at the premises destroying the next aid load which had taken 18 months to collect. 400 boxes of toys, clothing and equipment, which were ready to be taken to the Ukraine were destroyed in the fire and the charity needed to find new storage space.

Take Hope decided to take up space at the Clock Tower in Dalton Mills after it was offered at a very affordable price. The charity has been touched by the help and support they have received since the fire, and thanks to generous donations they have almost replaced the damaged aid load.

Andrew McVeigh said: “Since the fire, everyone has really rallied round to help us get goods together again. Dalton Mills is a great location for us to continue for the future and we hope that the move will be a long-term arrangement. We are overwhelmed with the help we have had from the local community to help us get back out to the Ukraine next week as planned.”

Take Hope support an orphanage, a soup kitchen and a therapy centre for disabled children by shipping out equipment and clothing and by offering financial aid. West Yorkshire Fire Service also donates fire-fighting equipment, which is distributed by Take Hope, because there is a desperate shortage in the region. The charity always needs clothes, bedding, toiletries and of course financial donations. They also require wheelchairs and equipment for the therapy centre, old computer equipment, bicycles, baby equipment and prams amongst other things.

To find out more about Take Hope Yorkshire, and how to help with fundraising or donations, please visit www.take-hope.org.uk.

Business thriving at Dalton Mills

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Dalton Mills is still thriving despite the fire that damaged part of the site on New Year’s Day. Although the blaze has affected a small
part of the building, the occupied parts of the site such as the Clock Tower and the surrounding workshops have been completely unaffected and the mill is still receiving business enquiries and operating as normal.

The fire has been a blow as the Grade II listed building is a crucial part of Airedale’s architectural heritage. However, the blaze could have been much worse, the majority of the mill was unaffected, and we are working with Bradford Council at the moment to assess the full extent of the damage to the section that did catch fire.

The fire has seriously damaged one of the short wings of the mill, which joined two of the larger blocks together. The council’s building control and conservation officers are still carrying out a comprehensive assessment and they have asked us to prepare a ‘method statement’ to describe how we intend to make safe the fire-damaged section of the complex. We know a small section that is dangerous will definitely have to be demolished, but we are keen to conserve as much of the original building as possible.

At Magna, we will be doing everything within our power to save as much of this section as we can and we are working closely with Bradford Council to try to keep the mill in tact, as much as is practicable.

On a positive note, the section of the mill that was affected is relatively small, approximately 4% of the entire site, and it was empty and uninhabited. The fire did not affect any of our tenants in the Clock Tower or the surrounding workshops and we are making every effort to ensure that current investigations cause the minimum amount of disruption.

This was mainly due to the Keighley firefighters who did an excellent job in keeping the blaze contained and under control. We would like to thank them for their efforts – without their quick response the damage could have been so much worse.

Despite the fire, we continue to take new letting enquiries and are very hopeful of new businesses taking space at Dalton Mills.

To ensure public safety, any parts of the mill that might be dangerous have been secured and cordoned off. The public footpath along School Lane will be closed until such time when we can be sure that the remaining structure is safe.

The cause of the fire is still unknown although it is under investigation by the police and fire service officers.

Before Christmas, we were in negotiations with potential buyers for Dalton Mills after an auction at the beginning of December. Obviously, the blaze has been a minor setback, but despite this, negotiations are still continuing.