The Leverett Angora Rabbit Farm

From the collection of

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia

The East Anglian Film Archive, the UK's first regional film archive, offers a unique record of the East of England's social and cultural history. As part of the University of East Anglia, we continue to lead moving image heritage research and inspire audience participation through community projects and events. Our collections represent a broad range of amateur and professional creativity, from 1896 to the present day.

The Leverett Angora Rabbit Farm (About Anglia)

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia
Ubbeston
4 Apr 1986
Sound

Sheila Leverett demonstrates Angora rabbit shearing and wool fibre spinning techniques.

The Leverett family from Ubbeston, Suffolk, have over 200 British Angora rabbits. Sheila Leverett demonstrates how she cuts the rabbits' soft fur for valuable wool - the whole shearing process only takes about 10 minutes per rabbit. Known for their soft fur, Angoras come in 13 natural colours.

Sheila uses a traditional 250-year-old spinning wheel from the Shetland Islands to prepare the cut fur into usable wool. Angora fur is a more difficult fibre to spin, as it does not contain the oil and grease of sheep fleece. It takes about 16 hours to spin enough fibre for one ladies' jumper. However, all the effort is worth it, as demand is high for pure Angora jumpers, which are said to be eight times warmer than sheep fleece and perfect for anyone with arthritis.

Reporter Surrey Beddows interviewed Sheila Leverett for this video, made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television's early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

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From the Tudor court to the Georgian dandy, Britain has long cultivated a passion for fashion, but the late 20th century saw things step up a gear. New generations of talent emerged, whose idiosyncratic style democratised fashion for a younger crowd and helped sell ‘Cool Britannia’ to the world - long before that term was coined. In the 1960s, progress was catalysed by the ‘Swinging London’ of Biba and Mary Quant, followed by the Punk movement a decade later. Designers drew inspiration not just from contemporary subcultures but also from established craft traditions across the UK – in some cases helping to revive cottage industries at risk of dying out. The dawn of the 1980s saw the rise of avant-garde pioneers (Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood), reimagined Savile Row tailoring (Tommy Nutter) and the upscale yet quintessentially British chic of Jean Muir and Bruce Oldfield – a favourite of Diana, Princess of Wales, who gifted British fashion a truly global platform.

38 videos in this collection

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1987

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1985

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Tower Hamlets
2002

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1984

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1984

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1986

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1985

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1984

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