Factory boss is remembered

Alex Mann was manager of the Ambleside knitting factory at Cobblestones, Wanlass How, for 14 years. It brought employment and prosperity to the area with 120 people working there at its peak in 1962.

The business competed in the world knitwear market, designing, manufacturing and supplying companies including Marks & Spencer. Mr Mann worked there until 1971.

He was born in Galashiels, into a family with links to the textiles, weaving and dyeing industries. His studies at Edinburgh University were interrupted by National Service with the King's Own Scottish Borderers, serving as an infantry platoon commander in Ireland and Korea.

Rather than return to Edinburgh, he decided to study textiles at Leicester College of Technology and became a trainee manager with Marathon Knitwear, who sent him to Ambleside in 1957 to be assistant manager of a knitwear business called Cobblestones in the Old Mill.

Cobblestones later moved to Wanlass How, a former family mansion at Waterhead, which was converted into a knitting factory.

Business thrived, requiring an additional finishing department in Ulverston and extra housing for knitting machines on the former tennis courts at Wanlass How.

It was during construction work that the double gravestone of a Roman officer and a scribe was uncovered, both of whom had perished by enemy hand at nearby Galava Roman fort around 303AD.

Over 50 per cent of knitwear production was for Marks & Spencer, and Ambleside workers produced two of the shops’ fastest-selling items – the popular tartan poncho and an Arran woollen for children, both designed by Mr Mann and his assistant Maurice Hardy on machines they would adapt to meet the changing fashion requirements of the industry.

Cobblestones also manufactured for Fred Perry, producing the designer cardigans worn by Wimbledon’s top women tennis players. However, foreign competition and the relatively small-scale operation made the Ambleside factory less viable and it closed in 1971, with manufacture moved to Loughborough.

Some former employees were employed in a smaller knitting factory at Low Fold and others found jobs in the growing tourist industry.

Mr Mann and his family moved to Loughborough, but returned to Ambleside in 1982 where he and his wife Jean ran the original Cobblestones knitwear shop in North Road, and in latter years Alec worked as a contracts manager for a number of national companies.

Mr Mann had a life long love of sport, especially rugby, and was a founder member and latterly an honorary life member of the Rotary Club of Ambleside. He leaves a wife, daughter and late son, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.

His funeral was held at Carver Church, Windermere, and was attended by family, friends and former knitting factory colleagues.

FAMILY, friends and former knitting factory colleagues gathered at Carver Church, Windermere, to remember Alex Mann.

He , who led one of the area’s most successful manufacturing ventures, bringing employment and prosperity to the Ambleside area in the 1960s.

Mr Mann was manager of the Ambleside knitting factory at Cobblestones, Wanlass How for 14 years ending in 1971, during which time it competed in the world knitwear market, designing, manufacturing and supplying companies including Marks & Spencer.

Alex was born in Galashiels, into a family with links to the textiles, weaving and dyeing industries

FAMILY, friends and former knitting factory colleagues gathered at Carver Church, Windermere, to remember Alex Mann.

He , who led one of the area’s most successful manufacturing ventures, bringing employment and prosperity to the Ambleside area in the 1960s.

Mr Mann was manager of the Ambleside knitting factory at Cobblestones, Wanlass How for 14 years ending in 1971, during which time it competed in the world knitwear market, designing, manufacturing and supplying companies including Marks & Spencer.

Alex was born in Galashiels, into a family with links to the textiles, weaving and dyeing industries