Issue 240 - East Down BT24 • BT30 • BT31 • BT33
Artefacts from Kilkeel Knitting Mills go on Display An important collection of artefacts reflecting the work of the Kilkeel Knitting Mills has gone on display at Newry and Mourne Museum.
Speakers and Chairmen at the recent conference ‘Building Sustainability: A Farm Labour Perspective’, L to R, Chris Osbourne (UFU), Ian Stevenson (Dairy Council NI), Dr Rebecca Orr, Nollaig Heffernan (Heffernan Consultancy Ltd.), Anna Truesdale (CAFRE), Tom Rawson (Evolution Farming Ltd.) and Conail Keown (CAFRE).
Dealing with labour issues on Northern Ireland dairy farms
A recent dairy conference, organised by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), in Ballynahinch, opened the debate about farm labour and workload management on Northern Ireland dairy farms. Guests on the day heard from four key speakers on the topics of labour efficiency, the psychology of people and the importance of looking after yourself as the farmer. The conference was opened by Chris Osborne UFU and the presentations began with an overview of a recent CAFRE Labour Study where CAFRE Dairy Adviser Anna Truesdale
outlined some of the key findings. The average dairy farmer in the study was working 66 hours per week! At the conference, over 80% of attendees thought they did ‘too much work on the farm’ and a number of those in attendance hadn’t had a single day away from the farm in the last three months. Anna urged participants
to review their own farms and identify the most time-hungry tasks. She presented a few time saving ideas that other farmers have used successfully including use of heat and health monitors, cubicle bedders and milk taxi’s as well as reviewing the efficiency of infrastructure, for example adding laneways within the overall layout of the farm.
She suggested farmers take ‘a cows-eye view’ in terms of analysing cow flow through sheds as well as proposing a ‘quick-fix’ – that all gates on the farm should swing and as many jobs as possible should be made able to be done by just one person.
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The collection includes a knitting machine and examples of knitwear produced by the factory in the later decades of the 20th century. Kilkeel Knitting Mills was established by Edith and Kurt Sekules in 1950. Before World War II the Sekules family had been part of the Jewish community in Vienna, settling in Northern Ireland in 1947 after spending the Second World War in detention camps in Russia. During the 1950s and 1960s the business continued to expand, developing an international customer base. The factory began by making Argyle socks but went on to knit tartan hose worn by pipe bands and from 1957, cashmere and Aran sweaters. In the 1980s, Edith and Kurt’s son Walter became more involved in the
business. Artefacts donated to the Museum by Walter Sekules at the time of the factory’s closure include a knitting machine used when the factory opened in 1950, which was still in use in 2022, a wages book from the 1950s and various socks and sweaters. Of particular significance is a cardigan worn by Edith Sekules at her Golden Wedding anniversary celebrations in 1986. This was one of five designs by Irish designer Paul Costelloe, produced by Kilkeel Knitting Mills. As personal designer to Diana, the late Princess of Wales, a cardigan from the range made at Kilkeel was worn by Diana in the same year. Newry and Mourne Museum remains free of charge. For information on opening hours, upcoming events, exhibitions and other services please telephone 0330 137 4422.