While I waited for the older members of the band to have their mid afternoon nap I sat in the hotel lobby and flicked through a brochure full of things to do in Lancashire. Being Lancashire born and bred I'd done many of these but had never been to the Hawes Ropemaker. The blurb for this place amused me....
I pictured the head of marketing (probably the jolly bloke in the red jumper) sitting at his computer thinking "what can I say about rope making that will really make people want to come and visit?" He must have gone through a creative checklist trying to figure out what was interesting about ropemaking. What he came up with was this:
"Part of the fascination of watching ropes made is the satisfaction of seeing the complete process, in which many thin strands of yarn are repeatedly twisted into a strong rope."
That's it. That's the best he can come up with to persuade you to come. Essentially he's saying that part of the fascination of rope making is seeing the whole process of ropemaking. What's the other part? I suppose it's buying an ice-cream from the gift shop.
His description of the whole process of ropemaking, basically twisting bits of string, makes me feel like I've seen it already. I think I'd head straight for the ice-cream. If they have Magnums I'm there. Maybe he should have added that after the opening times.... P.S. The gift shop has Magnums and big pencils.
