WAR EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 June 1942, Page 2

WAR EFFORT

SYDNEY BOY WEAVER’S PART. PROUD FAMILY TRADITION. SYDNEY, June 3. Descendant of a centuries-old Yorkshire family of spinners and weavers, 17-year-old Harry Wood, of Guildford, Sydney, reverted to the skilled trade of his ancestors as a practical way of aiding the war effort. Harry left school three years ago, and following family tradition, went to work in a local woollen mill. Nine months ago he erected a substantial shed in the backyard of his home. He told only his family of his ambitions and his father, who is employed at a local mill, and his grandfather, now retired, encouraged him, advised him and helped him financially to install a £4OO loom. Harry operates the loom 12 hours a day and turns out 490 yards of cloth a week. He makes a light-weight woollen material for women’s light summer coats. “Members of our family have been craftsmen for hundreds of years?’ he said, “and weaving was the best way I could think of to help the war effort. By supplying cloth for the Australian market I am helping to release other men and machines for the production of vital war supplies.”