Bill Bird Shoes, 49 Northwick Business Centre, Blockley, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 9RF, UK
Tel: 01386 700855, Fax: 01386 700855
billbird.shoes@btinternet.com www.madetomeasureshoes.co.uk

Saturday April 5th 2008. Drapers, the UK's premier trade magazine on fashion, footwear and textiles published a long letter written by Bill about some positive developments in made-to-measure footwear education at De Montfort University in Leicester.

Friday April 4th 2008. Sophie and Izzy, students from the De Montfort University footwear course have completed a weeks training with us during which they learned aspects of pattern-making, last fitting and measuring techniques. They said they thoroughly enjoyed their time and learned an enormous amount.

Thursday February 14 till Monday 18th 2008. The staff of Bill Bird Shoes travelled to Kildare, Ireland to attend the 10th annual Independent Shoemakers' Conference. This very successful event was attended by shoemakers from Cork in Ireland all the way across to Stockholm in Sweden.

Thursday January 28th 2008. 16 Students plus the staff of the Footwear Course at De Montfort University, visited the Bill Bird Shoes workshops for an afternoon of demonstrations and short tutorials on aspects of the shoemaking process.

Thursday January 17th 2008. Bill and Emily travelled to De Montfort University in Leicester to give a day of lectures on made-to-measure shoemaking to the 2nd Year students studying for the BA Footwear Design and Manufacture Degree. Bill Bird Shoes is providing a major part of the curriculum for the 2nd Year technical project.

Tuesday December 4th 2007. Bill and Kate attended the funeral of their uncle, Chas Malham. Chas was the last of a long dynasty of boot-makers and shoe-repairers that date at least from his great-great grandfather, Matthew Malham (1791). His great-grandfather, Benjamin, started Malham's Bootmakers in 1861 in Hartlepool. Chas has delighted many of our younger clients with the colourful, tiny shoes that he spent his last years making. Many of Malham's tools are still in use at Bill Bird Shoes and Kate Bird has continued the Malham family tradition of working in the making and repair industry. Chas was 85 when he died in Hartlepool, Sunday November 25th.

Monday November 12th 2007. Kevin Guildford the head of the footwear department at De Montfort University in Liecester, together with assistant Phil, visited the workshop to discuss the design of the new curriculum for the made to measure shoemaking option of the degree course in footwear design. The staff of Bill Bird Shoes will have a major part to play in the delivery of the curriculum in 2008.

Friday November 9th 2007. Bill attended the annual Textile Institute Parliamentary Lunch at the House of Lords. This was somewhat in contrast to our normal lunch around the workshop bench.

Saturday October 20th 2007. The beautifully restored Polish War Memorial, originally built in 1952 on the Northwick Business Centre, was unveiled by the Ambassador of Poland and the Chair of the Gloucestershire County Council at noon today. Bill attended the ceremony and subsequently our workshops were toured by some of the people who lived and grew up there in the 1950s. The memorial is really worth seeing when you come to visit our shop.

Tuesday October 9th. Bill attended a lunch in the Athenǽum, London, put on by the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers for their patron, HRH Duke of Gloucester. Bill's role was to present to the patron, a variety of new  developments in orthopaedic shoemaking education. This included a new made-to-measure shoemaking course at De Montfort University which Bill is involved in.

Saturday September 1st 2007. Bill Bird Shoes exhibited at the Moreton Agricultural Show. We won the 'Best trade stand under cover trophy' for the second year running. 

Friday June 16th 2007. Bill and Russell attended the degree show at De Montfort University, viewing the work of the graduating students from the footwear design department. It was inspiring to see the work coming from the younger generation.

Tuesday June 13th 2007. All the staff of Bill Bird Shoes made a trip to the leather merchants of Northampton, bringing back a wide variety of unusual and fine leathers.  This is the best way for us to get the enhanced range of materials needed to offer you even better and more innovative footwear designs.

Friday February 16th - 18th 2007. Bill Bird Shoes, together with Xavier Footwear, hosted the  9th Annual Independent Shoemaker's Conference, near Alcester, Warwickshire. The event was very successful, attended by over 60 shoemakers from all across the UK and Ireland. Apart from being an enjoyable get-together for all the shoemakers with plenty of opportunity for shop-talk, there were many inspiring displays of work, master-classes and lectures. 

Thursday February 15th 2007. Bill was presented with an illuminated scroll by the Worshipful Guild of Pattenmakers, in the Armourer's Hall, London. This was in recognition for his "outstanding work in support of the Pattenmakers' Company Orthopaedic Shoe Fund" over the last ten years. This work involved the making of orthopaedic footwear for young people for whom the appearance of the footwear was crucial.

Tuesday November 28th 2006. Bill was invited to join the Qualifications and Curriculum Funding Forum advising the sector skills agency for footwear on the need for training in the orthopaedic and made to measure footwear.

Saturday November 11th 2006. Bill was awarded a Certificate in Further Education and Training at Warwick University. Bill specialized in developing education programmes in orthopaedic footwear.

Wednesday September 6th 2006. The new upgraded software for our computerised dynamic analysis service has now been installed. This gives us even more individual information so that we can increase the accuracy and comfort of each client's footwear.

Saturday Sept 2nd 2006. We had our first trade stand at the Moreton Agricultural Show, one of the largest events of its type in the UK.  We won first prize for the best trade stand under cover.

 Bill Bird Shoes at the Moreton Show 

Saturday August 26th 2006. Our new treadmill is installed. This enables our customers to walk in an easy and steady way on the spot. This means that we can watch how their feet behave in the shoes and thoroughly test the fit.

Friday July 14th 2006.  HRH the Duke of Gloucester came to see our workshop. On a special visit as Patron of the Ancient Guild of Pattenmakers, the Duke viewed our orthopaedic work for young people with severe fitting and walking problems. The Duke spent about 40 minutes touring the workshop and met several young recipients.

The Duke meets a member of our staff. 

Friday April 7th 2006. NEW SERVICE - We can now offer computerised dynamic analysis of our client's walking cycle to increase the accuracy and comfort of their footwear. This sophisticated piece of equipment gives us insights into the individual subtleties of the foot behaviour of each client.  Recommended for orthopaedic shoes.