Daughter of Willerby founder sees the fruits of her father’s labour

Leading holiday home manufacturer Willerby has taken a trip down memory lane by reuniting with the daughter of the man who founded the business almost 80 years ago. 

Willerby invited Jean Morris, the only child of the company’s founder, Walter Allan, to take a tour of a modern Willerby holiday home to see the fruits of her late father’s labour.

Jean, 92, was joined by her son Simon and daughter-in-law Deborah for a VIP tour at picturesque, family-owned Hendra Holiday Park in Cornwall, with the family also being presented with a special Willerby Owners Club welcome pack in recognition of their connection to the business. 

The family said Walter Allan would be delighted to see how Willerby has grown over the years and thrilled by how much caravans have evolved over the past eight decades.

Jean said: “When my father started the business, the first caravans were two berth, tiny and really light. They were made from metal tubes with a canvas cover and later they were built from painted hardboard.

“There’s just no comparison between the original Willerby caravans and the holiday homes built today. I think my father would be absolutely thrilled to see how far they’ve come.

“He started the business hand-building caravans from a small shed. I don’t think he could ever have imagined what it is today. He would be delighted.” 

Willerby organised the VIP meeting after Jean read a media article about the company’s achievements and called the head office out of the blue to say her father would be proud to see how far the business he founded had come.

During the reunion Jean was able to shed light on her father’s extraordinary life as well as details of Willerby’s early days, which have been lost in the mists of time.

Describing her father as “clever, immensely hard-working and personable”, Jean revealed that Walter was born and spent his early years in Russia, where his family had settled generations earlier, having moved from Scotland. At the age of 18, he came to the UK as a refugee fleeing the Russian Revolution.

Despite being profoundly deaf after contracting scarlet fever as a child, Walter followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, becoming a successful entrepreneur who founded a series of businesses throughout his life. 

After living and working in London, Walter moved to the Hull area in the early 1940s with his wife, Marjorie, and a young Jean, opening a saw mill and timber business in nearby Beverley. During the war years, Walter served as a Special Constable, rescuing people from bombing raids on the city of Hull, and also launched a beekeeping enterprise, which became the biggest in the country at the time. 

It was in 1946 that Walter transferred his business know-how and creative thinking from making beehives to building caravans, driven by the emergence of caravan holidays in the post-war period. 

After launching the business as a one-man band, Walter took the business to new heights, taking on a site in Willerby (thereby giving the business its name), building up a dedicated workforce and selling caravans across the UK and parts of Europe.

Walter remained at the helm of Willerby for more than 20 years before selling the business shortly before his death in 1970 due to declining health. 

Reminiscing on some of her fondest memories of the business, Jean recalled working for her father in the early days of the business, during which he developed the technique of attaching two units together to make a longer caravan, while adhering to transport restrictions. This innovation lives on today in the assembly and transportation of holiday lodges and residential park homes.

Jean’s work with the business even took her to France, where she lived for a time while selling Willerby caravans to the US Air Force Base at Toul-Rosières, near Nancy, for use as service family accommodation. While in France, Jean also remembers meeting members of a touring circus troupe who were living in a Willerby caravan. 

A consistent theme of Walter’s time leading Willerby was his commitment to being a kind and fair employer. Jean revealed that the Willerby paint shop was entirely staffed by Polish refugees who had fled persecution during the war, with Walter also providing employment to a group of Italian prisoners of war.

One of Walter’s final business ventures was opening a holiday park at remote Spurn Point on the East Yorkshire coast, which featured a fish and chip shop, café, souvenir shop and arcade. 

Jean said: “My father lived through the Russian Revolution and two World Wars and had a remarkable life. He worked very hard and his brain was always on the go.

“He was very personable and I can say with great confidence that his employees thought a lot of him. It’s fantastic to be able to share my memories with Willerby and know that they will keep my father’s memory alive.” 

Willerby Marketing Manager April Court met with the family during the visit to learn more about Jean’s memories, as well as share with her details about the business today. 

She said: “When Jean reached out to us, we were so touched. We’re incredibly proud of our heritage, so we were delighted to have the opportunity to open a window into our history. 

“Meeting with Jean and hearing about the earliest days of the business from someone who lived through them was very special.

“We have colleagues working with us at Willerby who have been with the business for more than 40 years, and can remember moving to our current site on Hedon Road in Hull. That was a significant milestone for us as a business, but, by speaking to Jean, we’ve been able to go back much further.

“It was a privilege to be able to reconnect Jean with such an important part of her family history and show how we’ve looked after the business which her father worked so hard to create.”

The heart-warming reunion was held at the 5-star Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay, Cornwall, just a short drive from Devon where Jean now lives.

Jon Hyatt, Managing Director of Hendra Holiday Park, said: “As an independent and family-run business in our 53rd year, we really value our history and heritage, both of which play important parts in defining our values and, indeed, our vision for years to come. 

“We’re therefore delighted to have played a part in making this special reunion possible for Willerby, Jean and her family, enabling them to discover more about their shared heritage.

“As part of the third generation of our family running the business and having grown up on site, Willerby have been a firm fixture for as long as I can remember. In fact, we currently have over 300 Willerby holiday homes on site for our letting fleet and staff accommodation.

“Willerby offers industry-leading, high-quality caravans, which has made them our chosen supplier for so many years.”