Garside Sands, the specialist silica sand business in Heath & Reach, has welcomed descendants of one original founding families.
Garside Sands was founded in the 1890s by George Garside when sand was used to supply the brick making and building trades. In the early 1900s, Mr Garside’s nephew, Hugh Delafield, joined the business and on the death of Mr Garside, inherited the company which he ran until his death in 1957 when it passed to his wife and two sons, John and William. Garside Sands was subsequently managed by Hugh’s son John until his retirement in the mid 1970s; John sadly passed away in 1995.
During the launch of the Greensand Trust’s Sands of Time virtual museum, Garside Sands re-established contact with Shirley and Philip Delafield – John’s wife and one of his two sons.
Current members of the Garside team Clive Martin and Liz Brown welcomed Mrs Delafield and son Philip to the quarry for a trip down memory lane. Mrs Delafield recalled many fond memories from the times with her husband at the sites in Grovebury and Eastern Way and remarked on how the quarries had changed over the years.
Philip Delafield summed the afternoon up in saying, ‘Visiting the quarry after so long a time was a real privilege and it was fascinating to learn about the wide range of uses the sand has today.’
Still trading under the family name, but today part of Aggregate Industries, Garside’s high value silica sands are sold across the UK and worldwide. The sand’s specific chemical composition, colour and grain shape make the Leighton Buzzard sands ideal for applications ranging from water filtration and sports pitches to heritage stone repair.
Liz Brown commented, ‘As one of Leighton Buzzard’s founding industries, it is so important from a local heritage perspective to maintain links with the families and former employees who have helped over the years to put Garside Sands on the map – both locally and internationally.’
Image:
Shirley and Philip Delafield pictured at Garside Sands with photographs of founders George Garside and Hugh Delafield.