‘I don’t think he could have ever imagined what it would look like all these years later, but I know he’d be delighted!’
Jean Morris, daughter of Willerby founder Walter Allan, at the firm’s headquarters with, from left, son Simon, Willerby chief operating officer Nicola Budge, production director Aaron Cambridge, chief commercial officer Darren Black, production manager Mark Cook, and Jean’s son and daughter-in-law, Andy and Patricia.(Image: Shaun Flannery Photography.)
The daughter of a pioneering Hull man has made a nostalgic trip North to see how her father’s one-man operation has grown to become one of the biggest holiday home manufacturers.
The Willerby name is now synonymous with caravans yet when Walter Allan first started the company he was a one-man band operating from a small shed. Now, decades later, Jean Morris – his only child who is now 92 – has travelled to Hull to the Willerby headquarters to mark the firm’s 80th anniversary, to marvel at the firm’s impressive facilities and the astonishing growth of the company.
Jean journeyed from her home in Devon with her sons, Simon and Andy, and daughter-in-law Patricia for the memorable visit, to reunite with her father’s legacy on a VIP tour of the company’ manufacturing facilities.
She said: “I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to come back to Hull and see the current Willerby site. I’m completely amazed by it. The thing which surprises me the most is the size and scale of the operation. My father started this business as a one-man band from a small shed and it’s grown to such an impressive scale.
“I don’t think he could have ever imagined what it would look like all these years later, but I know he’d be delighted!”
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Jean’s father founding the business. After moving to the Hull area from London in the early 1940s with his wife, Margery, and a young Jean, Walter opened a saw mill and timber business in nearby Beverley.
In 1946 he switched his business acumen and creative thinking into building caravans, triggered by the growth of caravan holidays in the post-war period. And as a resident of Willerby on the outskirts of Hull, he took the location to give the new business its name.
Following her father’s death in 1970, and since moving away from Yorkshire, Jean had lost touch with Willerby and was unaware of how much the business had grown. After reading a media article about the company’s achievements last year, Jean called Willerby’s head office to say her father would be proud to see how far the business he founded had come.
The Willerby team jumped at the chance to reunite with Jean and last year invited her to take a tour of a modern Willerby holiday home at a luxury holiday park in Cornwall, close to where she lives.
Following that reunion, Willerby invited Jean and her family to visit Hull, to tour Willerby’s facilities and launch its 80th anniversary celebrations.
During the VIP tour, Jean and her family visited the manufacturing area, to see the entire process of how a holiday home comes together.
They met Willerby’s team members, including some of the company’s longest-serving colleagues who have been with the business for over 40 years. The family also visited Willerby’s Showground and looked around the latest edition of Willerby’s flagship model, the Vogue.
Jean added: “My father really cared about his workforce and he was well-liked and respected by all his employees, so he’d be thrilled to hear so much positive feedback from colleagues who work for the business now. Ensuring his employees were treated well was close to my father’s heart, so he’d be delighted to know that ethos is still firmly at the heart of the business today.
“He was also very innovative, creative and came up with numerous new products and ideas during the early days of Willerby, so it’s fantastic to see how the company is continuing to innovate and develop new industry-leading products.”
Production director Aaron Cambridge said: “It was a privilege to meet Jean and her family and show them around our facilities, especially as we’re beginning a very special year marking 80 years since her father founded the business. I’ve spent my entire career in this industry and it has given me a brilliant working life, so I owe a lot to Walter for the part he played in not only founding Willerby, but being at the very forefront of starting the holiday home industry as a whole.”