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 Potter power sweeps broom industry to boom
    October 30 2002 at 06:39PM Get IOL on your
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London - Brush maker Brian Eddon is experiencing a broom boom - thanks to Potter power.

Eddon, one of the last British manufacturers of besoms - the traditional bound twig broom beloved of cartoon witches - attributes the surging demand for his product to the popularity of JK Rowling's kid wizard, Harry Potter.

"Children have seen them in the (Potter) film and ask their parents to buy them one," he said.

Demand has become so great that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has given Eddon, 34, a grant to help him improve his business.

His workshop near Pickering in north-east England is near the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which doubled as the track for the Hogwart's express train that carries Harry to wizard school in the hit film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which goes on release next month.
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Eddon, who made his first broom at the age of 13, is carrying on a traditional craft practised by his family for generations.

They made brooms for workers at steel mills to brush slag off the molten metal. - Sapa-AP

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