SARUM U3A

OCTOBER 2012

Our Chairman, Jenny Mawer, welcomed members to our monthly Coffee Morning. She reminded us of the forthcoming visits to Oxford and the Winchester Christmas Market, for which there are still vacancies.

The Speaker was Linda Turner, of W W Turner Shoe Repairs. Members were interested to hear how this gently spoken lady with such delicate hands became a cobbler and spent her life working with leather.

Her father was a cobbler in Durrington, and she went into the family business. At first only allowed to watch and make coffee, she progressed to removing heels, stripping down and lining up shoes for repair. She couldn’t wait to work on them herself, and when she showed her father a beautifully repaired pair she was promoted. Father and daughter worked together at the same bench. She had found her metier. She loved working with leather. She could handle the tough Army boots, but her real skill lay in making ladies’ soft shoes, and excelled in the most delicate of repairs. She made handbags, medical shoes, harnesses, and developed a special buckle to improve officers’ Sam Brownes. The quality of her work, and friendly, reliable service ensured the business had many regular customers.

We were absorbed in Linda’s story of the trials and successes of a small, local family business. She left us with two tips; on how to stretch and make comfortable tight leather shoes, and no matter how hard our work, how to keep our beautiful hands.