History

Our Company began life on 10^th December 1931 from a mill in Marton Street in Skipton and for the following 46 years manufactured Single and Double Jersey Knitwear. In 1972, under the auspices of Slater Walker, the Company was taken over by Bodycote International Plc into a group comprising William Denby, Dyers and Finishers, Valdown Knitting Company, Supercraft and the weaving companies of the Taylor & Hartley Group.

During the recession in early 1970's, caused by the higher oil costs arising from the 7 day war in Israel, the knitting trade was badly affected and our Company incurred heavy financial losses which led to the closure of its manufacturing base in 1977. At that time I was the Joint Managing Director of William Denby based in Baildon, so it fell to me to sell the assets of the Company and then to remit the sale proceeds to Head Office. At William Denby's we too were feeling the adverse affects of higher oil prices, and, as a result of intense competition from Scott & Rhodes, Wardles and the B.D.A. Group of Dyers, needed to reduce our dependence on the London merchants, Beckman, Armatex, Stimler and Leslie Wise. Consequently, under the Marton Mills banner, agencies were set up in West Germany, Benelux, Ireland and Sweden to sell a small range of fabrics, but in reasonable volume, in markets which were not in competition with our UK customers, leading to Marton Mills becoming one of William Denby's largest customers, achieved with the aid of low dyeing and finishing costs.

In 1980, our Chairman, Joe Dwek, decided to divest the Bodycote Group of its textile companies and we were given a year to reduce the Company in size to a level where my family could afford to purchase the business and so we became one of Margaret Thatcher's early M.B.O.'s in April 1981.

Our next major development occurred in 1984. For some time we had been concerned about the alarming reduction in commission weaving capacity in England and felt that we should set up our own production plant at Tong Park. Initially, our Bank Manager was highly sceptical that we planned to go against the national trend, but eventually came around to the opinion that this course of action was right for our Company, so, with his blessing, Gordon Schofield, our new Weaving Manager and myself set off to North West France to purchase four second hand Sulzer Weaving Machines from a worsted mill. A further eight second hand Sulzer machines and a Hattersley Warping Frame were soon purchased to give us a viable weaving operation. During the past 23 years, all these old machines have been replaced by new Sulzer Projectile, G6200 and G6300 Weaving Machines, a VTA Warping Machine, a Hergeth Sample Warping Machine, a Vega Reaching-in Machine and Cone Winding equipment to enable us to weave up to four pieces of cloth on each machine each day to the highest standard, but I still remember those pioneering days with great affection.

In 1996, our lease at Tong Park expired and we were faced with the challenge of finding a new and much larger home. Over four months Adrian Wilson, our Production Director and I looked at several mills, but either location or size were inappropriate. We have always operated on a 24 house day, 7 days a week, so it is essential that we are not too close to residential housing. Eventually, we learnt that Pool Mill, which with its extensive car parks, covers 1.3 acres, was to be sold and we were able to buy the freehold prior to it being put onto the market. Currently, on the ground floor of No. 9 building, we weave some 18,000 metres of cloth each week; the finished cloth warehouse, burling and mending and offices are on the first floor and on the top floor yarns are stored.

The ground floor of No. 10 building is sublet to a distribution Company with whom we have had a very good working relationship for several years, and we are currently installing a goods lift to the first floor of this building, which will enable us to store all of our yarns on site. Once this has been commissioned, we shall have 34,000 square feet of space, which should be adequate for our operation for many years to come. Another exciting development is the plan to purchase next year a new Karl Mayer Sample Warping Machine, which will enable us to produce smaller warps from cones in multiples of 7 metres up to 280 metres, dependent upon yarn count. In recent years, our range of fabrics has become ever wider, so that average warp sizes have reduced to only 550 metres.

The new Warping Machine will carry a heavy depreciation and financing cost, but will enable us to reduce warping time by half and eliminate much splitting down and re-winding.

Modern weaving equipment has done much to help us compete with our competitors in India, China and other low cost economies in the Far East, where labour costs are little more than 2 dollars a day, but our greatest asset by far is our skilled workforce, more than half of which are under 35 years of age. Under the guidance of Francis Dodson, Sales Director, Gordon Schofield, Production Director, Rob Muirhead, Weaving Director, Lee Hewitt, Quality Controller and Ben Fearnley training to follow me in finance, our Company can look forward to a bright future with confidence.