Royal seal boost for factory
contract to supply mattresses renewed
Published:
A FACTORY employing blind and disabled people that almost closed when its funding was pulled is hoping for a brighter future with the Queen among its customers.
The Glencraft factory has had its contract to supply mattresses to the Royal Family renewed for another three years.
Board members made the announcement when unveiling ambitious new business plans at its premises in Wellington Road, Aberdeen, yesterday.
It is hoped that the three-year Royal Warrant of Appointment will restore faith in the organisation, currently being revamped after Aberdeen City Council withdrew its £470,000 annual subsidy during February’s massive budget cuts.
The factory, which opened in 1972, was saved from closure when the council agreed to buy the premises and lease it back to the firm earlier this month.
Glencraft chairman Ed Gillespie described the renewal of the royal contract at the end of a turbulent year as “Aberdeen’s Christmas story”.
He added: “This seal of approval makes me confident that we can make Glencraft work on its own terms.”
Under the plans revealed yesterday, the four-acre factory premises, much of which is unused, will be turned into a social enterprise park where several companies can work side by side.
Social enterprise businesses working on the premises will have to pay Glencraft for use of the site and its facilities.
Interim general manager Anthony Pratt said he planned to double the firm’s annual sales over the next year by placing a greater emphasis on marketing and launching an online shop.
He said: “Glencraft now needs to become self sustaining, but more improvements in trading need to be made before this can happen.
“If our products are good enough for the Queen, then they should be good enough for anybody.”
The factory has supplied furniture to the Royal Family for decades, much of it to Balmoral Castle.
It employs 50 staff, 31 of whom are disabled or visually impaired, and it was feared that if the project closed many would never have worked again.
Visually impaired Andrew Laing, 51, a site co-ordinator at the factory, from Links View in Aberdeen, said: “My fellow workers are delighted about the new plans as we were very concerned about what form our future employment could take.”
Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg, who attended yesterday’s announcement, said: “This workforce has proved that it can work just as hard as anyone else, without people doing favours for them or patronising them.”
Council leader Kate Dean, who also attended the meeting, said: “I have seen massive changes at Glencraft over the past year. It has been a complete rollercoaster ride for them.”
