Lily turns light on fifty years of gloving

One of Westbury’s lost industries will come to light when glover, Lily Munday, turns the spotlight on more than half a century of gloving.

Lily, who got her first job aged just 15 at Boultons in Westbury Leigh, went on to work in the industry all her life, learning a wide range of skills from operating specialist machinery through to hand felling.

Westbury once had several gloving companies, as well as many outworkers producing in their own homes. The last surviving glove manufacturer in the town was Reynolds and Kent, which had workshops in the Oak Inn buildings in Warminster Road. Their factory closed in 1999 and the building was later controversially demolished to make way for the Aldi car park.

Lily, who still works at Dents in Warminster, will be putting her knowledge on show as part of the regular series of talks and events organised by the Westbury Heritage Society.

“Gloving in Westbury and Warminster” takes place on Tuesday 28th May at the Methodist church hall in Station Road, starting at 7.30pm. Lily, who is a long term member of the heritage society committee, will be sharing her knowledge of 53 years in the gloving industry, as well as showing a range of artefacts from handmade gloves through to specialist tools and even an articulated wooden hand used for display.

The Westbury heritage and visitor centre still holds many reminders of the town’s once important industry, including a gloving machine and a selection of gloves.

“This promises to be a fascinating talk about an industry that was once so important for our town. It is particularly great to hear from someone like Lily who has such first-hand knowledge of this specialist industry,” said heritage society chair Sally Hendry.