A unique Christmas project helping people all year round thanks to Bettys and Taylors

And so word began to spread when, admiring this recycled angelic creation, nurseries, playgroups and schools became inspired to tap into this sustainable and crafty way of creating festive decorations. Hundreds of angels were created among the Starbeck community and, such was the enthusiasm, the ‘Adopt an Angel’ for Christmas scheme was born. Supported by the local ‘In Bloom’ group, the scheme raised sufficient funds to set up a school gardening club and plant angel shaped flower beds in Starbeck.

Little did Chris know the impact the angel cone would have, not just on him, but on the community as a whole, and Chris was keen to build on the success.

“I began to use that vision the child had in the factory to visualise materials we were throwing away,” says Chris who began collecting reels, along with foil and card and other recyclable materials from the factory and putting them to purpose.

“At the time Johnny Depp was in Pirates of the Caribbean and I had the nickname of rummage,” says Chris and ‘Captain Rummage’ was born and the transformation of ‘Trash into Treasure’ began.

Within a decade of joining ‘the family’ - for that is what the Bettys and Taylors group is to its workforce, progressing from packer to the export department, Chris pulled on his pirate’s costume to spread the word about recycling around local schools, groups and the community. His inventive and creative vision led to many awards including an MBE.

It was also how the Cone Exchange came to be. Originally operating from a shed at Springwater Primary School in Starbeck, such was the demand the project outgrew its humble beginnings. In 2003 the move to a building on the Bettys and Taylors site in Hookstone Chase, Harrogate, enabled the project to expand and evolve from its original purpose as a junk modelling swap store, to become part of a community network of scrap recyclers.

The re-location in 2016 to neighbouring premises - interestingly a former textile building – provided a more accessible space. Once inside this crafter’s emporium, imaginations run wild with the riot of colour, and shelves and display cases brimming with vast quantities of wool, including luxurious yarns, beautiful fabrics and buttons hand stitched by the volunteers on to card, recycled from Yorkshire Tea boxes.

Many of the items also come by way of the generosity of individuals who want to find a new home for their crafting stash and local businesses, among them interior designers, along with top end textile manufacturers who are keen that their swatch books of beautiful fabrics are put to a creative purpose. Another grateful donation is leather donated by a car upholsterer whose colourful hides are now covering notebooks created by one of the volunteers.

Metal wreath rings are the only items purchased by the project, and while the tradition is to hang them at Christmas, the large colourful floral displays intricately crafted from wallpaper swatch books, and greeting visitors as they arrive in the Cone Exchange reception, demonstrate how the rings can provide interior design inspiration all year round.

“Everything you see is diverted from rubbish or recycling,” explains Sarah Wells, community manager for Bettys and Taylors Group, who, along with Chris and Carolyn Smith, helps to coordinate the Cone Exchange and its ‘workforce’ of 25 volunteers. “Many of our customers are older who lived through the ‘make do and mend’ era. They have been brought up with it, and lots of our volunteers are in the same movement, whereas my generation there was a massive shift. I didn’t get taught to sew at school or knit, but we are seeing children who want to learn to sew at school, or their gran is teaching them to use a sewing machine, and they are wanting to make their own clothes because it is more sustainable, or make costumes for something, and that is what we are seeing – more and more younger generations that are really interested and wanting to learn more traditional crafts.

“We are really fortunate we are part of the Bettys and Taylors Group - we are the only business-owned community project that we know of in the UK - and it is very important that we are rooted in that, and what Chris started to realise is we had these junk modelling materials available as part of our business.”

Proceeds from the sale of recyclable stock purchased from the Cone Exchange are ploughed into community projects.

Sarah explains since it began they have raised more than £100,000, supporting initiatives including the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Project tree planting initiative, Harrogate-based Horticap, which provides training in horticulture, other crafts and skills for adults with learning and other disabilities, and charities chosen by their volunteers.

Educationally, the Cone Exchange supports young adults with learning difficulties and visually impaired students who often help out.

Chris, who is in the throes of writing a children’s book around recycling, runs crafting workshops for children at agricultural shows and events around the county.

This profile, along with the project’s presence at the Knitting and Stitching Show, taking place at the Harrogate Convention Centre from November 17 to 21, demonstrates what the project is all about.

“We have been to that for the last five years and that has been phenomenal for us to be involved in,” says Sarah.

“It brings a whole new set of people we have never met before. We try to build awareness of us as a project and what makes us special.”

Next year the Cone Exchange celebrates its 20th anniversary and the cone will play an integral part in the proceedings as Sarah talks of plans for a design a cone competition to commemorate this special milestone.

It’s also a reminder of how far the project has come – especially at Christmas.

“There is lots of magic. It’s about the magic,” says Chris.

www.coneexchange.org