A special award ceremony was recently held at the historic Leathersellers Hall in London to present awards to all final year students from the British School of Leather Technology, UCN.  

Mrs Ann Tate, Rector of University College Northampton, told the assembly that no one would think of starting a leather course in Britain today but the University was grateful to have the history of leather education and training.  It distinguished Northampton from being “just another Higher Education Institute” in middle England, Mrs Tate said, giving it an expertise which was truly global. Mrs Tate said she was determined that teaching leather and the associated design, environmental, and management courses should remain areas where the University at Northampton retained its world leadership.

Jonathan Muirhead, who is both an old student and Chairman of Scottish Tanning Industries, reminded the students that the industry had recovered from the worry of the 1970s surge in synthetic materials to become very strong worldwide.  Leather still held a large market share in the materials market, Mr Muirhead asserted, but tanners needed to keep quality high. “Apart from shoes, leather is not always the obvious choice.  Our real competitors are plastics, synthetics and other fibres,” he observed.

The Leatherseller prize was awarded to Rama ganesh Singaravadivelan from Chennai in South India.  He will now join Wilsons Leather, working out of Italy.

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