NEXT week four generations of family business Wyedean Weaving will gather to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the military accoutrement manufacturer.
Invited guests will visit Haworth-based Wyedean Weaving to see the business finalise intricate embroidery of the Irish Guards regimental Colour (flag) alongside the regiment’s King’s Colour, which has been selected to be carried at the King’s Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour) on June 15.
Last year Wyedean Weaving was awarded the contract to manufacture the British Armed Forces’ new regimental flags ahead of King Charles III’s Coronation. The seven-year £5million contract, to replace all British Armed Forces’ Standards and Colours (military flags) with the King’s insignia and the Tudor Crown, has helped to fuel the company’s recent investment in a £300,000 refurbishment to future proof its 150-year-old Grade II listed mill building in Haworth.
On Monday, April 8 four generations of the Wright family will be celebrating Wyedean’s Diamond Jubilee alongside guests and guest of honour, the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson CBE. The event includes a special recognition presentation to Norma Wright, Wyedean’s 99-year-old chairwoman.
Says Managing Director Robin Wright: “Sixty years ago my parents set up shop here in Haworth with a fledgling business. Since then, Wyedean has employed over 1,000 people with many local family members working here over two and three generations.
“Sixty years on, we are Haworth’s oldest employer and also one of its largest, and we wanted to host a celebratory event to say thank you to our team and our customers and to showcase our recent refurbishment alongside the ceremonial regalia for His Majesty’s Forces and His horses that we create every single day. We are also offering a unique opportunity to see our team’s hand embroidery work on the regimental Colours and Standards ahead of the King’s Birthday Parade in June.”
Wyedean was founded as a manufacturer of braid and military uniform accoutrement in 1964 by David Wright who ran the business with his father Frank Wright, a former textile machine designer awarded an MBE in recognition of his invention of a new yarn spinning technique called centrifugal spinning.
Wyedean’s Bridgehouse Mill was among the first water powered textile mills on the River Worth and was pivotal in Haworth’s role in the industrialisation of the textile industry. Wyedean remains chaired by David’s wife Norma, with her son and Managing Director Robin, his wife and Sales Director Debra and daughters Business Development Director Rosie and Systems Director Susannah Walbank.
Adds Robin: “Our Diamond Jubilee is a very proud moment for all our family, our team and our village, whose rich heritage is a fitting backdrop to the historic and ground breaking manufacturing that happens behind our mill’s walls every day of the week.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the road we have travelled and of the exciting future ahead as we continue to bring our Yorkshire expertise to the creation of royal and military regalia which forms part of our nation’s most ancient ceremonies and traditions.”
* Standards and Colours, representing different regiments of the Armed Forces, were originally introduced in the 1700s as battle flags to help soldiers determine where their regiment was on the battlefield. They are renewed every 10-12 years.
Following the death of the Queen, all military regalia requires updating with King Charles III’s insignia and the Tudor Crown. The King’s Colour represents the regiment’s loyalty towards the sovereign and is typically a union flag trimmed with gold fabric with the regiment’s insignia in the centre.
It takes three of Wyedean’s skilled crafts people one year to create four Colours, with thousands of hours of craftmanship, from appliqué ornamental needlework to hand embroidery. A Regimental Standard or Colour depicts the colour of the regiment’s uniform facings, trimmed with gold threaded tassels and displaying the King’s insignia.
Flags are handmade by Wyedean’s specialist embroiders using silks, silver and gilt threads and are used on a regiment’s most important occasions.
* Wyedean specialises in the manufacture of military uniforms and ceremonial accoutrements from fabrics for medals to military badges and medals. With 25 in-house staff today who still weave, braid and hand craft, Wyedean has widened its manufacturing net to manage a global supply chain.
Annual output: Two million ‘badges’; 175,000 metres of Canadian Mounted Police trouser stripe ribbon; 1.5million ceremonial uniform regalia and insignia items; 500,000m of ceremonial uniform braiding; 80,000m of medal ribbon; 57 different campaign medal ribbons using approximately 100 shades of silk; 500,000 insignia badges in textile and metal for various uniform services.
Customers include the British Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces, the Metropolitan Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian Armed Forces.
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