Yorkshire Blankets in Ilkley on Yorkshire Day #carryforthtradition #createandinspire #resilience #woolencraft #inspiring

Fy enw i yw Victoria ac rydw i'r cyfarfodwr o Yorkshire Blankets. Ac rydw i'n ffrind, myfyrwyr Vicky ac rydw i wedi ymuno â'r busnes am ochr blynyddoedd. Y peth pwysicaf i ni yw ein bod ni'n gwneud rhywbeth rydyn ni'n ei fwynhau, felly nid yw'n siarad, rydyn ni'n ei fwynhau'r producau, rydyn ni'n ei fwynhau cwrdd â phobl. Felly, yn y llynedd diweddol y flwyddyn diwethaf, roeddwn, yn anhygoel, wedi'i ddiagnos gyda'r canser ystafell ystafell 4. Yn amlwg, ychydig, ychydig, ychydig. Rydw i'n eithaf cyffredin. Roeddwn i'n mynd, yn ôl, roeddwn i'n y gym, ac roeddwn i wedi rhannu fy ngosod ychydig blynyddoedd. Ond rydyn ni'n penderfynu, beth allwn ni ei wneud i helpu A, rydw i'n mynd i'r credur ychydig, a'r credud ychydig, a'r cyffredin sy'n ei gymryd yn amlwg, ac rydw i'n penderfynu, beth allwn ni ei wneud i helpu A, ac roeddwn i'n ei chymryd i'r credur ychydig, a'r cyffredin sy'n ei gymryd yn amlwg, fel y byddwn i'n ei wneud i helpu A, oherwydd, roeddwn i'n edrych ar gael a byddai'n gweithio yn dda iawn. So Fran came up with the idea, why don't we do something that we know about, and we've some blankets for both the hospice, so Bouncy Hospice have been invaluable to me, they've given me counselling in the beginning, which was just a big cry fest really, but turned my thoughts round to, instead of moping about my diagnosis, to make every day count, and that's how I move forward. I literally, we've been on so many holidays and had so much fun, so I live each day to the full. So I wanted to give back to the hospice, so we've had the orange hospice colours woven, we had to choose the yarn, so instead of getting redundant yarn, obviously we had to choose full price yarn to get the lovely orange colour, but we're so proud of them. The design I designed with the two stripes at the bottom, I am a huge seaside girl, and I thought they gave off holiday vibes, as well as being in the colour of the hospice. A lot of people might lose their hair, I'm quite fortunate that the chemo I receive, I've still got my hair, but they help people with wigs and all sorts of things, so it was nice to give back to them. So again, we've got the lilac one for both the hospice and for stomach cancer awareness, and that's how they were born, and hopefully they're going to continue raising funds for such vital causes, to keep them available, keep them open, and keep them doing the good that they do. Because obviously cancer is a huge shock to everyone, it can affect you working, I'm quite well at the moment, so obviously I'm working back here at the market, but I'm only doing the odd days. Fran is having to man the company on her own through the weekend, wool shows that we do, but yeah, every now and again when I'm feeling well enough, I'm wheeled out, which is lovely to feel normal again. Wool is amazing because it's a natural fibre that a lot of people don't use anymore, it's kind of gone out of fashion, but it is amazing. So it keeps you warm in winter, it traps all the air and the warm water onto your skin, so it keeps you nice and warm, but it also is breathable, so it keeps you nice and cool in summer as well. In 2013, when we stumbled upon, a friend of ours had a mill and they had some redundant blankets for sale, all seconds, so I ordered a few and I thought, oh, I'll do a Christmas craft fair. So I ordered, I think it was about 40, did a Christmas craft fair and sold out, to the point that we had to restock, we had nothing left and I thought, hmm, there might be something in this. So my barring was because we hadn't made anything. So there it was, scratching our heads, thought what can we make, I thought I can hand sew a little lavender heart, my mum said I'm sure we can manage to make some cushions out of them by hand and that's how the company started. It was just something, an idea for a Christmas craft fair that spun into this lovely company that we've got today. My idea was to retire when I'm 60, so hopefully I'm still around by the time I'm 60, I've got another two years to go and then I will definitely be passing everything over to the lovely Frances.