Colin Wood was born in Linthwaite, Holmfirth, Yorkshire in 1907. His grandfather and great uncle had founded their own Green Lane Mill in the early 1880s and Colin was apprenticed as a carding engineer to the local Washpit Woollen Mill at the age of 13.
He completed his apprenticeship eight years later and in 1931, he was the new manager of carding at the Oamaru Woollen Mills in New Zealand. In 1939 he moved to Wellington with his wife and children, forming Wellwood Ltd with a partner in 1946. Colin bought his partner out in 1953 and changed the company name to Woollen Industries Ltd which was later to become Woolyarns Ltd. Eldest son Peter was apprentice engineer and joined his father full-time in 1959. |