The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2018 - Issue 58

10 FARM NEWS AUG/SEP 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk FROM VIKING TO YORKSHIRE MAN Howard Scaife is one of life’s colourful driven characters. A true Yorkshireman at heart with a love and respect for the countryside. It was a chance meeting at the Great Yorkshire Show and our ensuing chat where I came to learn all about The Original Yorkshire Clothing Company Ltd and the man behind it. Both the company and the man are far more than they initially appear. HOWARD comes across as talkative pas- 75263 - The Original Yorkshire Clothing Co Ltd - QUTR.pdf 1 22/08/2018 10:07:26 C M Y CM High quality bespoke flat caps manufactured in Yorkshire from British wool fabrics. MY CY CMY K We can design a lining by incorporating your company logo, photographs, or other personalised imagery placed on your chosen background colour. Go online to check out our range of stock caps! www.toyccl.co.uk Supporting military and rural charities www.toyccl.co.uk sionate and in true Yorkshire fashion – to the point. However, there is much more behind the man. Howard’s ancestors were lat- ter-day illegal immigrants (Vikings) who liked Britain that much they stayed, themselves evolving into successful Cumbrian sheep Farmers and smallholders for 1000 years! The Scaife’s finally eventually settled in Yorkshire in the Washburn valley and Nidderdale and continued as farmers right up until the 1960’s. In WW1 a young Arthur Scaife was plucked from the dales hills never having been on a bus, car or train and sent to Mesopotamia from which the young lad never returned. In WW2 Howard’s father was injured in North Africa being I of 5,000 British & USA troops killed/injured fighting the Vichy French. Howard gets a bit emo- tional about this exploding in frustration that our politician’s did not give President Macron of France “the Agincourt salute” when he said that WE, France together with Frankfurt will destroy the economic heart of The City of London unless you comply with EU requirements. Before calming down and explaining that after the war his father had to leave the farm and his uncle ran it until he in turn had to leave in tragic circumstances. Howard is understandably passionate about the armed forces and the country- side which I will come to shortly. With the farming line for the Scaife’s finally drawing to a close, young Howard stud- ied Engineering at Keighley Tec and then, undeterred by his father’s and grandfather’s brother’s experiences, keen to do his bit for Queen and country, joined the army, specifically the REME and Army Air Corps, eventually leaving following injury in Borneo whilst serving for the 1 st 7 th Gurkha rifles (tough as Yorkshiremen but shorter! accord- ing to Howard). After the army Howard worked for sever- al years in engineering and manufacturing acquiring a wealth of knowledge and ideas. He then set up a specialist manufacturing company that made machines for the automated manufacture of suits. These were ground-breaking machines, which he exported worldwide. Howard enjoyed enormous success and rose to the top of his game then just when things were going swimmingly in 2009 two large customers went bust and brought the entire empire crashing down. Although this was a massive blow, you can’t keep a good man down es- pecially a Yorkshireman like Howard! With his wealth of knowledge and experience Howard then started doing consultancy work on garment factory development projects in Eastern Europe, mainly in Ro- mania including the beautiful Transylvania region. He also for fun and to help a small commune make some money encouraged them to grow organic Transylvanian Garlic, the idea being to export it with “appropriate Dracula style packing.” ‘ Howard is passionate about the countryside, so 10% of all online sales made will go to 3 charitable groups supporting the countryside, rural communities and businesses, The Addington Trust, The Farming Community Network and The Rare Breeds Trust ’ However, the locals instead of keeping the best bulbs to replant and develop the product line sold them off for ‘cash now’. He has also found time to be involved with other development projects helping rural communities in Transylvania Romania whilst encouraging them to play the “Gen- tleman’s sport of rugby.” I asked why rugby his reply why not? Howard told me an interesting experience he had walking 500k from Hungary to a town in the centre of Transylvania with a Romani- an colleague to raise money for injured rug- by players. As they passed through towns and villages rattling their collection tins locals asked. What are you doing and why? We explained we were walking 500 k to raise money and awareness. The locals usual reply was. If you are walking you do not need any money and you h

The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2018 - Issue 58 | Page 10