A famous Sheffield company with a history almost as old the East Front at Wentworth Woodhouse has granted one of the stately home’s wishes.
The preservation trust restoring the mansion near Rotherham recently launched a 50-item Wishlist.
Supporters can gift or donate to items costing from a few pounds up to tens of thousands, and can even help pay the gas and electricity bills.
When Greasbrough resident Patricia Gardiner picked up a Wishlist brochure on a visit to the house and spotted a request for gardening tools, she knew exactly who to ask…
She handed it to husband John, who is warehouse manager at one of Sheffield’s best-known companies, Spear & Jackson.
John showed his bosses, who immediately sprang into action.
Now £1,604-worth of top-notch Spear & Jackson trowels, spades, forks and garden loppers have been delivered.
“Our gardening volunteers are delighted. Thanks to Spear & Jackson, they now have quality tools for the job,” said Head Gardener Scott Jamieson.
The Wentworth Woodhouse Wishlist features items ranging from mops and buckets to a £100,000 water main pipe, plus restoration of a host of the mansion’s historic features, such as a huge crystal chandelier in the Van Dyck state room which needs £6,000 of repairs.
“We couldn’t be prouder to be supplying our locally-made garden tools to help keep the gardens tidy at Wentworth Woodhouse. Everyone in South Yorkshire should feel proud of the house. We urge other companies, especially local ones, to follow suit and support this great place,” said Spear and Jackson’s Marketing Manager Karen Abbott.
The company launched as Spear & Love steelmakers in Sheffield in 1760, just a decade after Wentworth’s beautiful Palladian East Front was created, and became Spear & Jackson in 1830.
“Maybe this is not the first time we have delivered to Wentworth Woodhouse,” added Karen Abbott. “We would like to think orders for our steel products and gardening tools could well have been placed by the staff in Georgian times.”
Sarah McLeod, CEO of Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, welcomed Spear & Jackson’s donation: “This is our first wish granted. We are extremely grateful and proud, too, that it is from a company with a great South Yorkshire heritage,” she said.
“We would love to hear from other companies who can turn our wishes into reality.”
To find out about making a Wentworth Woodhouse Wishlist donation, contact Shane.Spence@wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk or call 01226 351161.
