THE Lord Mayor of Bradford was given an insight into a traditional industry during a visit to a wool factory.

Councillor Mike Gibbons was given a guided tour of The British Marketing Board’s site at Wool House Sidings Close in Canal Road.

He was also given a taste of one of the site’s 18 electronic wool auctions held each year.

The Lady Mayoress Elizabeth Sharp and Roger Bowers, the deputy lieutenant of West Yorkshire, also joined yesterday’s visit.

Ian Hartley, the chief executive officer at the Wool Marketing Board, said the visit went very well.

“They were very interested in what we do. We are a traditional industry.

“The Mayor and Lady Mayoress were surprised about the number of types of wool we have.

“We also went into the North of England Depot to explain the process of grading the wool and had a discussion with the Mayor on our marketing activities that we do.

“They went to one of our electronic auctions. Everyone in our auctions has a screen and it is effectively an online auction.

“Business is going very well for us at the moment. We handle about 30 million kilos of wool per year across the country with five-and-a-half million of that at this depot.”