SOUND ARCHIVE

Living Linen Interview LL2_R00/37

Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel

Dennison, Neville (Mr) (Primary maker)
Dennison, Neville (Mr) (interviewee)

12/05/2000
12/05/2000

Sound Recording on Reel: Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Mr Dennison's first job in the linen industry was with William Ewart. A family friend, Kenneth Smith, then Manager of Ewart's Mountain Mill, arranged for an interview with the General manager Gerald Reid and the Director of Glenbank, Mr P R D Clarendon. Mr Dennison started his 4 year apprenticeship with Ewarts Glenbank in 1957 in the midst of a linen boom. Glenbank was Ewarts bleaching, dyeing and finishing works, and also housed their R & D department. Glenbank bleached cloth and yarn. The Mountain Mill was eventually equipped with a yarn dyeing plant. The scale of Glenbank was such that Ewarts could not keep the works running at full capacity and additional commission work was sought from other firms throughout the UK. Mr Dennison completed a full training programme within Glenbank following the cloth through all processes. The dye house recipes were a closely guarded secret. This was not only to protect company secrets but made the Dyer indispensable. If he left his methods and recipes were lost. The Head Dyer Mr McComb only shared his notebooks with Neville Dennison after a serious heart attack. Mr Dennison participated in several research projects under Dr Tom E Ellison. One of the more important was the search for crease resistant properties for linen suitings. Another project was the development of Erinmore Easy Care. Erinmore was a household textile produced on a union cloth. It was crease resistant, easy iron and had a Scotch Guard finish to enhance its anti-soiling and laundering properties. The resins that were applied had a minimal effect on the handling, drape and strength of the cloth. The retention of natural linen qualities was imperative. At one stage Erinmore was the envy of the trade and in great demand throughout the world. Ewarts also manufactured the belts for belt-sanders. They not only wove the cotton backing cloth but also had a plant in Castlereagh where the abrasive surface was applied. Mr Dennison was given the opportunity to work in Ewart's American office. Ewarts American operation was huge. They had permanent offices in New York and a warehouse with floor space equivalent to Belfast City Hall. They sold apparel, household textiles and mail order. 10 or 20 containers of piece goods were shipped to New York every week, and on occasion Ewarts chartered planes to fly cloth to the USA to satisfy extra customer demand. Mr Denison became involved in selling cloth in the USA and Canada after his trip to New York. The apparel side of the business was notoriously erratic. Designs and even fabrics came in and out of fashion. If a cloth did not sell it lost its intrinsic as well as its wholesale value. Demand also varied from country to country. In Australia crease resistance was all important. In South America, however, it was important that the fabric did crease. It had to be seen to be linen. Linen suffered greatly in the 1970s and although it revived a decade later many customers had gone over to synthetics. While Ewarts survived longer than many firms, the contraction of the industry had an adverse effect on their business. Ewarts found it difficult to buy suitable yarns and experienced problems when it came to specialist dyeing. Although Ewarts did diversify into synthetics this created problems of its own when it came to processing at Glenbank. The technology simply was not available. In 1974 Mr Dennison started up his own business. The firm today supplies hospital uniforms and bedding throughout Ireland and Great Britain. Mr Dennison buys loom-state cloth (all cotton) and uses commission stitchers and finishers They also sell a lot of fire-retardant fabrics to hospitals and nursing homes

HOYFM.R2000.78

National Museums NI