Edgar’s the star as royal couple visit bag factory
CHARITY RANGE LAUNCHED – AS PET PUG MAKES AN IMPRESSION
A PUG called Edgar stole the show during a royal tour of the Cambridge Satchel Company factory in Syston.
The five-month-old honorary member of the staff earned a stroke from the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, when he was presented by his owner, Josephine la Vey.
Josephine, head of sampling and prototypes, also shared a joke with the Prince when she reminded him that they had met at a Prince’s Trust event at Buckingham Palace in 2003.
Back then he had told her: “You’re the first goth we have had at the palace.”
Factory general manager Mark Fitzpatrick said: “Edgar is pretty much one of the family here now.
“He’s in every day and paid a living wage in gravy bones.”
Charles and Camilla were there to hear about the business Julie Dean started on her kitchen table in 2008 to pay her daughter’s school fees.
With an initial £600 investment she spent the first 18 months making bags with her mother Freda
Thomas – who was also there to welcome the royals.
Today the business has 52 staff in Syston, as well as its 40-strong head office in Cambridge, 20 staff in a London office and about 60 people working in shops in Covent Garden, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Bicester village.
The Duke and Duchess helped launch a new range of bags supporting the Prince’s Foundation.
A fifth of the retail price will go to the charity, which promotes the Prince’s passions in areas such as the arts, heritage, regeneration, health, wellbeing and crafts.
The new line – initially of about 600 bags – will launch at the end of the month.
Julie Dean said: “This visit is like getting the royal seal of approval, and the excitement and pride here was palpable.
“To have my mum here and present her to the Duchess and Prince was an even bigger boost.
Charles and Camilla found time to talk to a number of workers on the shop floor, including Anna Hunuzaus.
She said: “Prince Charles wanted to know which country I was from, after he heard my accent and asked me if we made all the parts here and I told him I did.
“He was very delighted with my home country, which is Romania and told me he likes it a lot.”
The Duchess cut a cake in the shape of a Cambridge Satchel.
Charles said: “Some genius must have made that. I’m sure everybody can have a piece.”
The Prince was presented with garden tools in a leather bag and a leather Highland cow key charm, while Camilla was given a small traveller bag in Harris Tweed, a doctor’s bag and a bee key charm.
THE last rattan weaving workshop in Europe was another stop on the royal itinerary.
Prince Charles visited Soane, in Thurmaston, where he tried his hand at weaving and met some of the 13 skilled craftsmen and women who work there.
Chairs, lampshades, tables and other products handmade in Thurmaston are sold in showrooms in London, New York and San Francisco.
Soane founder Lulu Lytle said: “We inherited the designs from the old rattan workshops and they include designs for furniture that could be found on Thomas Cook steamers and on the Titanic.
“It was the English in the colonies who discovered rattan and it exploded in Britain in the 1880s and the furniture was made by hand in Leicester.”
The prince watched Marcus Chapman staple a frame for a mirror.
Marcus said: “He just asked me about the job and produced things and whether I enjoyed it. He also asked whether I’d ever stapled my finger.”
Amy Nelson, who was weaving lampshades, said: “He’s such a lovely guy. It’s like talking to your granddad – very cosy.
“I feel a bit starstruck to see him here in real life. You’re used to seeing him on TV but here he is.”
On his way out the prince had a chance to have a sit in a rattan chair while he signed the guest book before being driven off.
Lulu said: “It was completely thrilling.
“He has an amazing support for craftsmanship and has been instrumental in saving so many skills.”