3 moffat buds Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 If Barca still don't want to meet the mighty Buds we could always challenge these guys mentioned in the article below from today's Times for a nice wee awayday ... Replica Catalan village stays true to its Paisley ties Coats, the textile firm, wanted its workers to feel at home when 300 moved to work at its Spanish factory The saltire still flies from the factory building and the houses are a perfect replica of those once used by textile workers in Paisley. Even the local football team wears shirts which bear the black and white stripes of St Mirren, while the Scottish flag vies for space on each player’s shirt. However, even though the Catalonian village of Borgonyà is more than a thousand miles away from the Renfrewshire town on which it was based, its 300 inhabitants have faithfully preserved its Celtic roots. Now, long after Coats, the former west of Scotland textile giant, left and sold off the houses it built for its Scottish workers in the late 19th century, Borgonyà wants to reinvent itself as a magnet for “industrial tourists”. Eric Sibina, mayor of Sant Vicenç de Torelló, which includes the purpose-built village one hour’s drive north of Barcelona, said: “We attract Spanish tourists and school groups who come and see how the textile industry grew in this part of Spain. “What we would like to do is to attract tourists who are not just interested in sun and sand holidays but want to see some of our industrial history. There is a real appetite for that. We are about an hour from the Costa Brava, so it is not too far.” In 1895 Coats bought the rights to use the water of the River Ter and built a factory to make sewing thread. Some 200 Scottish workers moved to this remote corner of Catalonia to work for the textile company. One road still bears the name Scotland Street. The Borgonyà factory took advantage of the strength of the river to produce hydraulic energy. To make the workers feel at home, Coats built exact replicas of their cottages in Paisley, where the company began. Carles García, director of the Ter Museum, which promotes educational tours to Borgonyà, said: “Some were small detached town houses with a garden at the back while others were terraced. They were very British types of homes.” There was a church, schools for both sexes, a theatre, a hairdresser, a post office, a cemetery and a nursery. Unlike model villages constructed by other companies for their workers, Coats did not intend to impose any element of social control upon its staff. Instead the idea was to make them feel at home while they lived abroad. The textile industry declined from the 1980s onwards and Coats began to sell off the terraced houses in 1999. Now they are much sought after by wealthy Spanish second home owners. The local football team Club Deportivo Borgonyà, which plays in the Catalan regional third division, was formed by Coats to give workers something to do with their free time. Its shirt was an exact copy of the black and white stripes of St Mirren, the local team in Paisley. Since 2012 the team has had a saltire and the yellow and red stripes of the Catalan flag on the back of each shirt. Joan Sadurní, club president, said: “We wanted to have some link with St Mirren for historical reasons. We have never played them but we would love to. We are all amateurs and the village only has 300 people but it would be great.” In 2013 the village was given national heritage site protection. The story comes full circle as Coats Group, founded in 1755, and which remains the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of sewing threads and supplies — and the second largest maker of zips and fasteners — has returned to Spain. In 2016 the multinational, which employs 19,000 people in 60 countries, purchased Gotex, a Barcelona-based company which designs and manufactures the fibres and yarns used in telecommunications, energy, oil and gas sectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original 59er Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Brilliant post, well done. It will have planted the idea in a few folks heads that they could make a wee sojourn up into the hills after a 'relaxing' visit to Barcelona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul torfason Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 (edited) great reading,maybe post this to club and we could invite them over as guests,brilliant story,even get a partnership going and get some of there best players over for trials,maybe find a couple of gems Edited January 27, 2018 by paul torfason add on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 moffat buds Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 7 minutes ago, The Original 59er said: Brilliant post, well done. It will have planted the idea in a few folks heads that they could make a wee sojourn up into the hills after a 'relaxing' visit to Barcelona Cheers, you can see the saltire clearly on the back of their shirts in this video. It is like watching a team of Franco Miranda lookalikes all battling their individual weight problems ! Check out their Ultras at the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 (edited) I'm up for a pre-season friendly - makes a pleasant change from the cold North East. Edit to Add: Since they are amateurs maybe we could get a Fans' team to take them on? Edited January 27, 2018 by Sonny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 42 minutes ago, 3 moffat buds said: Cheers, you can see the saltire clearly on the back of their shirts in this video. It is like watching a team of Franco Miranda lookalikes all battling their individual weight problems ! Check out their Ultras at the end And it is even raining in the video so we will really feel at home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Ricky Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Great post. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 moffat buds Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 9 minutes ago, St.Ricky said: Great post. Thanks. Thanks. Just realised that the Coats logo is on their badge too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTOF Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Going to Catalonia in Easter for a couple of days to meet my saints supporting mate who works out that way. He sent me the link this morning and apparently we're going to see Borgonya. He can drive as I'm the guest and I'll be on the bevvy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Gilhooley Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 What a brilliant story . Would love to see the Club develop some sort of relationship with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Gilhooley Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Where did you find this story ?would like to repost it on the Paisley FB site . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 moffat buds Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Just now, Callum Gilhooley said: Where did you find this story ?would love to repost it on the Paisley FB site . In The Times today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 moffat buds Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 4 minutes ago, 3 moffat buds said: In The Times today https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/replica-catalan-village-stays-true-to-its-paisley-ties-7bcl80qkb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MenstrieSaint Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Superb find , we could send a team out for a pre season friendly , cheap flight to Girona and a weekend in Lloret de Mar sounds nice . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 1 hour ago, MenstrieSaint said: Superb find , we could send a team out for a pre season friendly , cheap flight to Girona and a weekend in Lloret de Mar sounds nice . FIFY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Get it sorted Saints. Pre-season away day to trump Blackpool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTOF Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Flights booked. Wonder if they're playing at home on the Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoof Hearted Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Marcos Yardley their top striker is out on loan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kemp Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 5 hours ago, paul torfason said: great reading,maybe post this to club and we could invite them over as guests,brilliant story,even get a partnership going and get some of there best players over for trials,maybe find a couple of gems Ha, don't think they are quite Premier League level! Would be great to get a friendly set up though. Who knows, we might be able to talk Barca back in to inviting us back to town again as well. No harm in asking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MenstrieSaint Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 Its actually a good opportunity for a fans team to be set up , which maybe pays ten friendlies a year , and has an annual trip to Spain to play an annual game against them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liverpool Bud Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 (edited) I run our Staff football team this year our annual tour is to the Catalan region we fly to Barcelona then on the Saturday we travel to play CD Malgrat de Mar couldnt play Borgonya as we play in Saints stripes on twitter as @pnpstaffFooty every second year we come to Scotland and play at Dalgety bay against a Kinghorn select who normally horse us! if you play for a team and want a game in Widnes drop me a line! Edited January 28, 2018 by Liverpool Bud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pod Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 Borgonyà village was known for many years in Osona as "Los Inglesos" because the nucleus was created as an industrial colony of Fabra i Coats. It should be pointed out, however, that the Coats industrialists were Scottish (its activity was from 1890 to 1999).In Burgundy we find many houses and buildings of the Scottish type built at the time of the industrial colony. It is here that the "El Racó de Escòcia" restaurant bar has recently been opened, where we can see a remarkable presence of Scottish malt - with a wide menu that explains the characteristics of each region. In addition, there is also the possibility of buying malt bottles and occasional whiskey tastings or other events related to Scottish associations are organized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pod Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 It's even got it's own Mile End Chimney.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 16 minutes ago, Liverpool Bud said: I run our Staff football team this year our annual tour is to the Catalan region we fly to Barcelona then on the Saturday we travel to play CD Malgrat de Mar couldnt play Borgonya as we play in Saints stripes on twitter as @pnpstaffFooty every second year we come to Scotland and play at Dalgety bay against a Kinghorn select who normally horse us! if you play for a team and want a game in Widnes drop me a line! Yer strips are honking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmonbuddie Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Just booked a week in Malgrat de Mar in May, this place is now on the list of places to visit. Just need to break the news to the missus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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