when i left school, you could get a job in a few days — steelworks, millers shoe factory, barter, that'sstarted off and you were called barrow boys and you used to go around taking all the wastage off the cutters. and i learnt how to cut linings and progressed onto cutting sandals and then on to cutting dress shoes and then onto cutting boots. it was all another step upwards all the time. millers at that time, they were getting work from harrods and top—quality designer shops and things. it's been shut for about 30—odd years now, 35 year now. it's a bit sad, really, because it was a big employer of cockermouth at that time. it was 1,800 people when i started at that time in 1970. yeah, sad. but it's like anything else — things shut down, don't they? in the early �*80s, we saw a lot of demand and we looked around england and found cumbria, where there was a lot of shoe makers, buildings were already set up here, infrastructure and suppliers. we felt this would be a good location for us within europe and we started production in august of 1982. one of the unique features we've been able to