Surface World November 2019 Surface World November 2019 | Page 22
INDUSTRY NEWS
Brian Falder 1931-2019
Brian Falder, who died on
the 19 of September this
year, was a man whose
entire lifetime of 88 years
was interwoven inextricably
with the paint industry. An
industry that he loved, and
one where his company
HMG Paints did and
continues to do things in his
inimitable style.
Brian was born in 1931, and whilst he was
the only child of his parents, Herbert and
Ellen, he was not the only “new baby” for the
Falder family. Just 7 months before, H Marcel
Guest Ltd (HMG) had been started by
Herbert Falder and the eponymous Mr
Guest. Life was not easy for new start paint
companies, and by the time of Brian’s birth
his father had taken over the struggling and
fledgling company in its entirety.
Paint was part of Brian’s life from the outset.
His first toy was a home-made train, the
boiler of which was a 1-gallon HMG paint
tin, and as a little boy during the war he filled
and crimped glue tubes by hand in the family
home.
Just after the war, aged 14, he had to leave
school to work on the factory floor as many
of the HMG team were still in the armed
forces. He always remembered that part of
his life, having to make every scrap of raw
material count, and never forgetting the
value to the company of those who in his
words “actually make the paint.”
His family life was shaped by paint. He met
his future wife, Beryl, at a dance and during
their very first conversation she told him she
worked for Sterling Varnish in Trafford Park.
Never one to beat about the bush, Brian said
“A girl in the paint industry? … I had better
marry you!” It might have been impetuous
but it certainly worked! Just before he died,
Brian and Beryl celebrated 65 years of happy
marriage together.
His friendships too were powered by paint. In
the 1950s Brian and James Johnstone
studied together at night school. They
became the firmest of friends and for a full
lifetime loved and
respected each
other’s company
and each other’s
businesses.
Symbolically it was
a management
team from
Johnstones led by
David Mottershead,
and the HMG
factory in North
Wales, that
crystallised that
friendship in the
form of the success
that is Little Greene
Paint Company.
20
NOVEMBER 2019
He passionately believed that a successful
paint company can and should be a force for
good. Despite the modest size of HMG many
of Brian’s actions took in the bigger picture.
An iron rule at the company was (and is) that
everyone goes home at 5.00pm. He strongly
believed that work and life must be in
balance. For over 20 years he funded
personally a non-contributory pension
scheme for his team, so that when they
retired HMG employees had “a bit extra”. He
planted the first new trees in Collyhurst for
over 100 years in the 1960s, believing that
even this rather neglected part of Manchester
“could look like the Lake District if we all do
our bit”.
His two sons were never compelled, but
always encouraged, to join the paint
business, and it was a source of immense
pride to him that both chose to build their
careers within the company. Both John and
Stephen now have over 40 years at the
family business under their belts and building
on their father’s values and passion for paint
it has continued to flourish.
Brian enjoyed a long and industrious
retirement with many of his favourite
pastimes and trips having their roots in paint.
He shared an apartment in Florida with Jack
Bollom of JW Bollom, he travelled the
country and the world to holiday or play golf
with paintmakers, suppliers and customers.
He always had time for people and usually
had a joke or anecdote for them from a
seemingly endless repertoire that he never
forgot.
Typically his last visit to his beloved factory
was just a few days before he died. There he
inspected a Keenok single roll mill that he
had originally bought in 1949. He was as
sharp as ever, remembering every detail with
complete clarity. The mill, he was told, was
“coming home” to HMG to be lovingly
restored and placed at the heart of the
company he had built and shaped. Once the
Keenok is fully restored and in the centre of
HMG, John & Stephen are going to have his
name engraved upon it along with the
entirely appropriate epitaph “si monumentum
requiris, circumspice”, If you seek his
monument look around you.
Brian was laid to rest on the 4th of October
2019, exactly 89 years to the day that HMG
paints was founded. A final touch that he
would certainly approved of.
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