Bryan Richard Scholes

BRYAN Richard Scholes, a retired businessman from Thornthwaite, North Yorkshire, has died aged 95.

He was a well-known and dynamic figure in the business world of Yorkshire and much further afield. He was also a successful farmer in Nidderdale and an active member of the Scout Movement.

He was an astute businessman, yet he will be more generally remembered as a caring, kind, generous and above all, fun-loving family man, who, with timely advice, practical help and encouragement, inspired those around him, especially younger generations.

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Along with Lord Hanson, he undertook extensive work for the Huddersfield Common Good Trust, a charity which raised funds for many important projects in Huddersfield. In Nidderdale, he worked hard to raise funds for the Max Pullan Sports Club and both Dacre and Thornthwaite Village Halls. Privately, he made time for anyone needing help or advice.

He was born on July 8, 1914, in Birkby, Huddersfield, the third of five sons born to Richard and Ellen Scholes, and was educated at the Quaker school in Ackworth, near Pontefract. The Quaker way of life and worship almost certainly gave him his preference for simplicity, equality of opportunity and a dislike of all things ostentatious.

In 1935 he met Joan Reeve and they were married in Mirfield Parish Church in 1939, with a troupe of boy scouts forming a guard of honour with tent poles in place of swords.

His grandfather, William Heywood, had left the glazing firm of Helliwells, in Brighouse, where he worked and set up his own glazing firm, W H Heywood and Sons Ltd in Birkby, Huddersfield and it was Bryan's ambition to be allowed to join the company. However, William Heywood and his son, Jo, resisted and it was only with a good deal of persuasion that he was allowed to join the company as the "tea boy".

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At the outbreak of the Second World War, although keen to join up, he was not accepted on health grounds. He joined the Special Constables and later the factory in Birkby was commissioned to build Bailey Bridges for the Normandy Landings.

He did well at Heywoods and when William Heywood and later, Jo, died, he took over as managing director. Before long his ambitious nature led to an amalgamation with Helliwells of Brighouse, the company his grandfather had left all those years before, and a new company, Heywood Helliwells, was formed.

A decade or so later, he negotiated a merger with a much larger company, Williams and Williams of Chester, becoming managing director and chairman of the newly formed Heywood Williams plc, which became a renowned building materials supplier with business interests in the US, South Africa and Canada as well as Britain.

Other business interests included managing the retail glass and china business, Neaversons Ltd. of Huddersfield, on behalf of his brother Frank who was killed in the war. He continued to run it until he was able to hand over the management to his daughter Sue in the early 1960s.

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He also negotiated, very successfully, the sale of several of his grandmother's textile business interests, which included spinning, weaving, finishing and dying companies in West Yorkshire and Lancashire, to the Parkland Group of Bradford.

For many years, Mr Scholes was an active member of the Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce, becoming its chairman.

Eventually, he achieved a long-held ambition to buy a farm in the Dales, and in 1955 he purchased Carr Lodge Farm in Nidderdale. His pride and joy was the pedigree Ayrshire dairy herd that he built up in the early years. Never content to stand still, Mr Scholes augmented his farm and land by buying several more small holdings in the valley – Red Syke, Brow Top and Springfield.

His keen interest in the Scout Movement led him to offer the use of several acres of the rough land at Carr Lodge for weekend camps. Later, he gave this land to the Scouts so that they could build a permanent camp, which is still in regular use.

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He was above all a family man and he had a mission: to foster that sense of family in his four daughters and also to ensure that he and his brothers would always remain close. In 1999 Bryan and Joan celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in St Saviour's Church at Thornthwaite and last year they celebrated 70 years of marriage – an event rare enough to warrant a letter of congratulation from the Queen.

A service of thanksgiving for Mr Scholes's life was held at St. Saviour's Church on Monday. He is survived by his wife, Joan, his four daughters 10 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.