MONEY FOR NEW ROPE

The artisan skill of ropemaking is finding a new audience in Hawes and looking to the future

- Heather Dixon

It was an informal chat, followed by a tentative handshake, which provisionally sealed the deal for two lecturers to make a decision which was to change their lives.

Ruth and Peter Annison were visiting the beautiful Yorkshire Dales market town of Hawes when they stepped into the workshop of Tom Outhwaite, time-honoured owner of a traditional rope making business.

Tom was looking for someone to take over his independent business and keep the age-old craft up and running. The Annisons, who were living and working in Nottingham, were open to change.

‘We had never run a business before and we knew nothing about rope making,’ says Ruth. ‘I am a caterer by profession and Peter had specialised knowledge as a textile chemist. In 1973 he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and given just three months to live. It brought into sharp focus the fact that you have to live life to the full.’ It was the first of five cancers Peter survived until his death in 2018.

‘We loved The Dales and wanted to try something different, so when Tom told us his story we agreed to give it a go,’ says Ruth.

It was three years before they finally sold up and moved to Hawes in July 1975.

With an overlap of just four months while they, quite literally, learned ‘the ropes’ of their new life, Ruth and Peter took to the challenge with relish.

‘We both loved learning and absorbing information,’ says Ruth. ‘Peter had intellectual rigour but was also very hands-on and loved the tactile element of making rope. I was drawn to the marketing side, so we made a good working team.’