Scottish Leather Group support university
15 June 2010The long-standing relationship between the Scottish Leather Group, the largest manufacturer of bovine leather in the United Kingdom, and the University of Northampton’s British School of Leather Technology (BSLT)* has been commemorated at an event at the Leathersellers’ Centre, Park Campus, Northampton it was announced on June 15.
The BSLT has recently received a donation of upholstery leather from the Scottish Leather Group for the new furniture in the refurbished reception area of the Leathersellers’ Centre. Furniture upholstered in leather donated by the group is also in the University’s Sunley Management Centre at Park Campus. A plaque to thank Scottish Leather Group for their kind donation and support was unveiled by Jonathan Muirhead, chairman of Scottish Leather Group and Mark Wilkinson, director of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies at the University.
Jonathan Muirhead commented: ‘Scottish Leather Group is a great supporter of the University of Northampton and we look forward to our future collaborations. We have two students from the company coming to study BSc Leather Technology (Leather Science) this September at the University and many members of our staff are graduates of leather education at this higher education institution.’
Mark Wilkinson added: ‘We thank the Scottish Leather Group for their continued support, not only for their generous recent upholstery gifts but for the overall relationship they have with the University. They offer us significant support in both our physical resources and the management and delivery of our provision.’
The Scottish Leather Group has also recently donated a Thema spray machine to the finishing area of the University’s tannery, the only working tannery on-site at a UK university, as well as giving raw material supplies to staff for use in student work and research.
Their generosity is not limited to just physical gifts; Jonathan Muirhead has acted as a guide in the investment of a £400,000 (US$560,000) donation from The Leathersellers’ Company for the refurbishment and upgrading of the tannery, while Ross MacKinnon, production manager of NCT Leather (part of Scottish Leather Group), is a member of the BSLT’s Technical Liaison Group. The Scottish Leather Group also recently hosted a University alumni event – the Corium Club Reunion – in Scotland.
*The British School of Leather Technology is based within the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies, School of Science and Technology at The University of Northampton.
