Harry Goodwin & Sons Ltd Timber Merchants

History

We were established in 1936 by the founder Harry Goodwin. At the time he had a small lorry and a gang of timber fallers.

The business started with the buying and selling of trees standing in the woods, which were then felled and taken to customers' sawmills by Rail, Canal and Horse drawn transport.

At the outset of the Second World War business changed dramatically as the demand for wood for the war effort was insatiable and strict licensing and control of supply was in force. Companies had a supply of wood allocated to them, not on a special request basis, but rather on, "this is all you can have, get on with it basis".

It was during this time that we first started to trade in Quebec Yellow Pine and we began to learn of its capabilities and characteristics. Its main uses in those days was for Pattern Making, Wooden Railway Trucks and the pottery industry, but even in those days we realised that the two latter uses were a waste of what was a superior material, however as the saying goes, "there was a war on!"

Immediately after the War we built a Home Grown Sawmill at the current premises in Leek to supply the coal mining and Railway Wagon industries.

In about 1949 we started to import softwood timber directly from Sweden, for the packaging industry and in so doing gained a knowledge of most of the aspects of importing with all the rules and regulations associated with International Trade. In doing so other phases of our growth was established.

During 1954 the second generation of the family John Goodwin joined the business.
By this time the wartime restrictions were being lifted and the government were disposing of what was known as Strategic Stock, timber brought to this country during the War mainly from Canada and Russia. The Canadian stock contained a considerable amount of Quebec Yellow Pine, whcih was stored in various locations throughout the country, and again with the freedom of supply restored we were able to realise the potential of this valuable material.

In 1976 Mr Harry Goodwin retired briefly but as with most active people this did not last very long and within a short period of time he once again commenced work where his very valuable knowledge was put to good use. Mr Harry Goodwin finally hung up his saw in 1979 and is now enjoying a well earned retirement.

1981 was another milestone in the history of our company. Richard Goodwin joined the company, making the third generation to be associated with the family firm. It was not long after this in the mid to late 80's that the depression started to bite and Harry Goodwins, along with a lot of old established family firms began to face very serious times. It was a time for battening down the hatches and hanging on for survival, a time which saw the demise of a lot of old family companies, with the resultant loss of a vast amount of technical knowledge involving the Timber Trade. We were able to gain invaluable experience in the art of giving the customer undivided consideration and attention so as to retain his custom, a practice that is equally important today, a fact behind one of our sayings "Our customer is our best advert".

It was a time for Accountants and not Timber expertise. The company emerged from this time leaner and fitter and certainly more experienced to deal with what was to become another stage in the life of Harry Goodwin and Sons.

Mr Richard Goodwin pursued other markets and outlets and we began to see the need for Quebec Yellow Pine in the furniture industry. This progressed from small beginnings and with a great deal of hard work, we soon became one of the country's leading suppliers to the furniture trade of Quebec Yellow Pine, a position that we aim to maintain and build on for the next generations of the Goodwin family!