"...It was the willey-'oil lad's job to trample down the pieces of pulled up rag into these sheets which were full of blend. The rags in the shoddy trade were first torn up by the rag machine where large pieces, still recognisable pieces of cloth or knitwear, were produced. These were then put into the willeyer, a machine which broke the bits down into much smaller pieces which were very fluffy. These were blown through tubes in the 'willey'oil' and sections from different qualities of rags could be mixed in the blowing process. Hence, the name of blend which was applied to the product going into the hessian sheets. Obviously the blown product had a large amount of air in it and the trampling was simply to try and eliminate some of this, and get more blend into each sack (sheet)."
Photograph from the David Atkinson Archive. 1965
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