Mr C J Breakell

2:18pm Friday 9th May 2008

AN OUTDOOR sporting enthusiast, who enjoyed a long and successful career in the North West textile and cotton industry, has died aged 96.

Charles Joseph Breakell was born in Preston and later moved to Bolton, before settling in Bowness for the last 41 years of his life.

Mr Breakell left school at the age of 14 and went to work in the cotton mill.

For the first two years of his working life he attended technical college part time and was an apprentice for three years, learning a range of skills needed in the mill trade, such as weaving, office skills and sales.

In 1932 he was the top student in the country.

Mr Breakell then progressed to sales and travelled to Manchester every day to sell cloth and collect orders.

During the war, he designed terylene tubes to improve the performance of submarine batteries, wove canvas awnings for the Navy and made parachute material of fine cotton, utility fabrics and hospital blankets.

It was around this time that Mr Breakell married Alice Bailey on September 2, 1939.

After the war, he began weaving fine brocades and creating his own fabrics for Van Heusen, a leading shirt manufacturer.

Mr Breakell enjoyed a successful career, starting as a salesman and working his way from designing fabrics and improving the manufacturing process to becoming a managing director in the largest organisation in Lancashire.

Outside of work, Mr Breakell was passionate about the great outdoors and took part in a variety of pursuits, including climbing, cycling, gardening, walking, sailing, skiing and trout fishing.

He was also a founder member of many organisations, such as the Preston Climbers Club, the Lake District Horticultural Society, the Lake District Ski Club, the Bowness Probus Club and the Lake District Anglers Association.

Alan Prichard, of the Bowness Probus Club, said: "We shall remember him with gratitude and with a smile; he was a fine Christian gentleman who lived up to his ideals quietly and unobtrusively, and all the more impressive for that. It was characteristic of him how much his family meant to him, and he to them. We shall miss him greatly."

Mr Breakell's daughter, Susan Pender, described her father as a "modest man" who was "full of life and full of charm".

"He was exceptionally proud of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were a true source of joy to him," she added.

The funeral and celebration of Mr Breakell's life took place at Our Lady of Windermere and St Herbert's Church on April 15.

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