Fran's Friday Five
This week I have been liking...
Pashley Delibike
I’m a fan of the Pashley Delibike and if you’ve attended the Pashley Picnic over the last few years you’ll have seen me performing my Lanterne Rouge duties on the shop Delibike. I’ve also just completed a pre-delivery inspection on a Delibike a Staffordshire village butcher will be collecting tomorrow. They are going to use it to deliver meat to their customers in the locked-down village.
Labour and Wait
My go-to shop for homewares is Labour and Wait. They sell a range of timeless, functional products for everyday use. They search out specialist makers from around the world, many of whom manufacture their goods in the traditional way and to their original designs.
From hardware to clothing they offer a selection of quality, timeless, functional products. These everyday classics will not date and will improve with age.
Norman Walsh PB Ultra
I’m a huge advocate for buying British products and one of favourite footwear brands is Norman Walsh. In 1945 Norman Walsh started an apprenticeship at Bolton-based J.W Foster & Sons. 9 Years later, Norman was selected to make the shoes worn by Roger Bannister when he became the first man ever to run a mile in less than four minutes.
In 1961, Norman Walsh parted with the Foster brothers, and founded a brand under his own name, Norman Walsh Footwear. Throughout the 60s, Norman Walsh continued to manufacture specialist sports shoes all hand made to his individual customer’s needs.
In the late 60s Norman created the first ever mountain running shoe, the Pennine Adder, which gained the attention of British fell-running athlete, Pete Bland. Norman and Pete later teamed up to create the first-ever fell-running-specific shoe, the Walsh PB.
In 2016 Walsh released the ‘Craftsman Project’ using traditional and influential materials as a testimonial to British craftsmanship.
Over the past decade, Walsh has been involved in a number of collaborations with brands and designers such as, Paul Smith, Margaret Howell, Fred Perry and Universal Works and he still makes the PB fell running shoes in Bolton.
The School of Life
The School of Life is a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours.
To help people lead more fulfilled lives they focus their attention on six key themes: Self-Knowledge, Relationships, Work, Calm, Sociability, Leisure & Culture and have created books, interactive classes, workshops, courses and events.
Blues in Time by Pentangle
A bit before my time but it’s pretty bloomin’ good…
