Published on : Friday, December 13, 2013
Neville Cormack OBE, Chairman of Cormar Carpets and one of the UK carpet industry’s leading figures, has died.
A pioneer of tufted carpets in Britain, Neville was Managing Director and then Chairman of Greenwood & Coope Limited, better known as Cormar Carpets, based in Bury. The business started in 1956 when the first tufting machines came to Britain and under Neville’s leadership, Cormar became one of the UK’s most successful carpet manufacturers.
Neville joined Greenwood and Coope in 1949, the company founded by his father in 1924. Originally the company supplied bindings and felts to the shoe and slipper trade in the Rossendale Valley. Then in 1956 he founded Cormar Carpets and tufting began at Nunn Hills Mill, Stacksteads, with the first machines producing 54” wide tufted carpet. During his lifetime Cormar has thrived and expanded to the two mills operating today in Lancashire – Brookhouse Mill, Greenmount and Holme Mill in Ramsbottom, where 23 machines produce over nine million sq metres of carpet a year.
Elected chairman of the Tufted Carpet Manufacturer’s Association in 1969, Neville was a prominent and highly respected member of the UK carpet industry and led Cormar Carpets for 57 years. As a leading local businessman he was the Founder, Chairman and Director of the Rossendale Enterprise Trust and Chairman of the Rossendale Industrial Society. In 1987 he was awarded the OBE for his services to industry.
Neville passed away peacefully at his home in Rossendale, on Sunday December 8th. He leaves his wife Betty, three children – Helen, John and David – and five grandchildren.
Tags: carpet manufacturers, Cormar Carpets, Cormar carpetsNeville Cormack OBE, Greenwood, managing director, UK carpet industry
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