My father, Roy George, who has died age 92, worked for more than 45 years for Celluware Ltd in Consett, County Durham, a business manufacturing table mats and wooden trays that had been founded by his parents in the 1930s. He was also known as “Mr Pimpernel”, after the Pimpernel place mats and coasters that were made by Celluware Ltd.
Roy and his twin sister, Jean, were born at the Elsie Inglis Memorial maternity hospital, in Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, the first twins to survive at the hospital. His parents were Will George, a travelling representative who sold correspondence courses to farmers, and his wife, Ruby (nee Ball).
Initially the family lived in Wardie, Edinburgh, but when the Depression arrived they moved to live with Roy’s grandparents in Ickenham, Middlesex, and in 1933 his father and mother established their small company, Celluware. After four years they moved north to the newly-built Team Valley trading estate in Gateshead, where they rented a factory.
With the second world war looming, Roy and Jean were sent to the Quaker boarding school at Great Ayton, north Yorkshire, and although Roy’s parents were not of that faith, the Quaker philosophy influenced him throughout his life.
In 1945, aged 18, he began his national service with the Royal Navy, spending VJ Day in Mumbai. Returning in 1947, he joined the family business as a sales representative, touring Britain, chasing orders for Pimpernel table mats, coasters and wood ware gifts, and regularly attending trade shows in Hamburg, Leipzig and Frankfurt. He became a director of Celluware in 1952 and then joint managing director, establishing an offshoot business, Celluware Print, which provided the main company with designs, often from original artwork commissioned from artists.
He met Enid Carmichael, a teacher, at the Low Fell tennis club in Gateshead, and they married in 1953. I was born the year after and my sister, Susan, in 1956.
In 1961 the family business bought premises in Consett after a fire at the Team Valley factory, and the company continued to expand. Both Will and Roy were appointed MBE for services to British exports – in 1964 and 1971 respectively – and in 1984 Roy was advanced to CBE as the company continued to trade in Canada, Australia and the US.
Roy and Jean sold the business in 1992 when they retired and Roy, naively, thought that the table mats would continue to be made in the north-east of England. He was saddened when manufacture was taken to Thailand and China, where it remains today.
My father loved playing and watching sport, especially cricket, and was a member of the MCC for more than 40 years. He lived adventurously, was warm hearted and loved by family and many friends scattered around the world.
My parents divorced in 1973 and Roy then married Caroline Croker. He is survived by Caroline, his daughters, Susan and me, and two granddaughters, Lili-Ziyue and Zhenzhen.
