Probus Trip to The Silk Museum and Adlington Hall

Some 30 or so people set off on Wednesday 5th July in high spirits, as it was a glorious sunny morning, heading for Macclesfield where we were to visit Paradise Mill and the Silk Museum which tell the story of Macclesfield's world renowned silk industry.

Paradise Mill dating from 1860 is a time warp taking you back to the 1930's and even earlier and only closed in 1981. The main floor of the mill still has working looms, which were operated by our informative and humorous guide. The noise was deafening so what a floor of 40 or so working looms must have sounded like can scarcely be imagined. The tour included detail of how the silkworm produces raw silk, which is then cleaned, twisted/strengthened and finally spun into the fine and strong thread suitable for weaving.

Finally a visit to the museum to see fine cloths and also parachutes made during the Second World War.

Lunch was taken by most of us at Wetherspoons just round the corner probably a first for many! , after which we drove 5 miles north of Macclesfield to Adlington Hall, home of the Legh family for over 700 years.

The hall is a fascinating mix of architectural styles including Tudor, Georgian and Restoration. Our guide, Debbie, gave us an excellent tour of the house describing its development with some interesting snippets of information about the family history.

After tea and biscuits in the function room we enjoyed a walk around the gardens in glorious sunshine. Having rescued two of our party who were having difficulty escaping from the yew maze, we made our way home to Audlem.

Our thanks are due to John and Jan for having organised such an enjoyable day out.