Radcliffe Probus Club welcomed our guest speaker, Frederic Hodson, whose subject was leather. Fred had brought numerous items of leather.

To find out when leather was first discovered we went back 500,000 years, when our ancestors first used the skins of animals tied around their feet.

They later discovered that by taking the brains of dead animals and smearing them on the skins, the skins became waterproof due to the grease and moisture of the brains. This was the beginning of the treatment of animal skins.

As the years went by, various treatments were used and tanning was discovered by accident. After certain treatments the skins could hold water. The Egyptians found they could make armour by tanning animal skins in a certain way, and the Israelites copied their methods.

Marco Polo used animal skins that had been treated and made into tents. Greek and Roman soldiers used leather armour.

Fred passed around various items made of leather, a gents trilby, a pair of shoes with upper leathers and leather soles only two of our members were wearing such shoes. We saw a ladies handbag made from crocodile skin, we saw material that had been treated in a special way that could be made to cover an expensive suite. So many different types of leather, too numerous to mention.

The factories that treated the animal skins were know as tanneries. There was Harveys Tanneries, Bury, Walkers Tanneries, Bolton, and at Liverpool there were numerous tanneries manufacturing in the region of 10,000 skins a week.

Fred stated that all the tanneries were no longer in operation, with most of the manufacturing having gone abroad. It is possible that our nearest shoe maker is at Northampton.

Another interesting remark was that it would take nine skins to make seats for a Rolls Bentley.

It was obvious that Fred could have carried on enthusing about his leather, but at 3.30pm, our president had to bring our meeting to an end, thanking Frederic for a very informative talk on leather.