German shoemakers step in to supply Ba' leather
(From The Orcadian dated April 12, 2001)

A German footwear company who have several firms set up throughout Britain have agreed to pay for the leather used to make ba's for Kirkwall's Ba' game for five years.

Brevitt Rieker have agreed to pay for the leather which is supplied by English shoe company Clayton of Chesterfield - worth approximately £2,000 over the five year period.

Roy Linklater of Kirkwall shoe shop James S. Scott and Sons, who recently struck the new deal with Brevitt Rieker, said: "I was pleasantly surprised when Brevitt Rieker said that they would pay for the leather because they aren't getting any overwhelming publicity or making profit in the deal, although I'm very glad they did agree because the council certainly haven't helped in any way with anything to do with the Ba'.

" I must admit that I've been very disappointed with the council's attitude towards every aspect of the Ba'" he added.

He continued: "Brevitt Rieker are a very, very big company and the leather that they're paying for from Clayton of Chesterfield is top quality stuff, so we're all very glad that the deal was secured."

"I was asked by the Ba' committee to inquire about a company paying for the leather because they have always found it difficult to raise funds to pay for it, so I phoned Brevitt Rieker's Northampton office direct and spoke to the managing director, Ewen Campbell, who pretty much just immediately said yes."

The leather in question is charged at an expensive rate (approximately £400 for 6.5 foot by 2.5 foot, which provides enough leather for around eight ba's) because it has to be thick to make sure the ba's are not stretched and do not burst while they are being made and during the actual game itself.

The minimum thickness of leather to make a ba' is around three and a half millimetres, although ba's are usually made with leather about four or five millimetres thick.

Ba' maker Mr George Drever, of Ingale, Kirkwall, said he was very happy with the deal struck with Brevitt Rieker and the quality of the leather supplied by Clayton of Chesterfield.

"It's good quality leather and the important thing is that it isn't too thin. We got three sheets of it that were about six feet by two and a half feet each, so that should do for making a few ba's. The whole committee are very happy with the leather," said Mr Drever.