Bedworth supplies world with ribbons and regalia

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 11

Bedworth supplies world with ribbons and regalia

(By

PHILIP MARSH)

American troops in Vietnam must have acquitted themselves with exceptional gallantry last year, because in the 12 months between January and December they received enough medals for conduct, service and valour to use up nearly 100,000 yards of medal ribbon.

How did I come by such an obscure fact? I was told so by the director of a company trading in the little town of Bedworth, in the English midlands. On the face of things it would be difficult to establish a link between the sleepy little Warwickshire town and the American war effort in Indo-China. But there is a link, and not just with American military glory. Bedworth has a small stake in the martial achievements of at least a dozen countries, including our own. The secret lies in the small edge-of-town factory run by the firm of Toye, the world’s largest and oldest maker of military and civil regalia. -A dozen armies “We manufacture decorations of various kinds for at least a dozen armies,” explained a director, Mr David Kenning. The American order for 100,000 yards of assorted medal ribbon may sound exceptionally large, but compared with the company’s total output of regalia of all kinds, it was a routine item. For more than 150 years the firm has supplied ceremonial regalia and rank markings for the Royal Navy, the British Army, and Royal Air Force, the Merchant Navy and the civil airlines of nearly every country on the globe. It has also made state robes, elaborate embroidery for diplomatic uniforms, ecclesiastical banners, alter coverings and a whole host of decorations right down to blazer badges. Thousands of clubs and societies are regular customers, and among other things, the firm prints pennants for football club supporters. “Here in Bedworth we specialise in highly ornatp embroidery,” Mr Kehning told me. “But our factory in Birmingham makes medals, badges, gold and silver cups, statuettes, trophies and so on. Ceremonial robes Needless to say, the firm has a Royal appointment, but, with characteristic reticence, it doesn’t like to talk too much about the work it does for the Crown. But there is no Royal occasion which the firm doesn’t help to adorn—be it with glitter- - ing banners or mere printed pennants. Other items with a Royal flavour include ceremonial robes, insignia for the orders of knighthood, the Garter banner of Prince Charles, and

embroidered furnishings for the Royal Palaces. “You name it, and if it’s in the regalia line then we make it,” a senior employee declared with pride. Benches and forms were laden with magnificent woven cloths of every glorious < colour and shade under the sun. Here a dozen gauntlets in delicate green and silver, there an opulent made-to-measure collar in rich purple and gold for the lord mayor of some large city. At every embroidery frame a girl worked in silent concentration, sometimes tracing out an intricate pattern on a square of milk-white sheepskin, sometimes putting the finishing touches to an ornate blue and gold emblem for some obscure order in Africa. Always the concentration was complete. “Working with material as costly ’as this, you just have to concentrate,” an employee told me. “The gold wire alone can cost up to £3 an ounce, so a small mistake with a needle can be very expensive.” Begun in 1685 The firm’s origins stretch back to 1685 when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes led to' the bitter persecution of Protestants in France. Many victims of this early pogrom fled across the channel to the comparative safety of Protestant England. Among them was a French weaver of repute by the name of Guillaume Henry Toye, who settled in London and began trading in silks, velvets and gold and silver laces. The eventual result was a factory making gold and silver thread, cords, laces and braids, and naval and military accoutrements. Over the years the firm amalgamated with a number of others in the same field, and ultimately became the largest maker of ceremonial regalia in the world. Its handiwork adorned Wellington’s troops at Waterloo and Nelson’s officers at Trafalgar. The Russians saw the glint of Toye regalia in the Crimea. The colourful hat bands, ribbons, braids and badges of today’s British Army had their beginnings in Bedworth. Police hatbands Every month new orders for military finery arrive embroidered pennants for the Libyan Army, gold laced accoutrements and medals for Nigeria, 18,000 badges for" the now non-existant Biafran Navy, regimental colours for the Malawi Rifles, or new colours for the newly formed Royal Regiment of Wales. Other martial customers include the Royal Navy, the Canadian Navy and the Norwegian Navy. The firm is currently producing thousands of yards of hatband ribbon for Britain’s police. Civil decorations too are much in evidence. Some 40 per cent of the regalia output goes to masonic organisations and clubs all over the world. The flrm makes official pennants for most of the first division football clubs and badges for diverse Rotary and Round Table institutions. A few years ago they were asked to estimate the cost of producing replicas of German air force decorations to be used in the film "The Battle, of Britain.” Unhappily, the order never materialised.

“I think the most amusing order I can remember came

from Malaya,” David Kenning told me. “It was for a four-inch ribbon to accompany a deco-

ration of The Order Of Th White ' Elephant. It wa genuine, and we did get paid,’ he added with a smile.