Ada Croft
1901-1989 · founder
Drew the first kite on the back of a laundry bill, sold it off the jetty for half a crown, and spent the rest of her life insisting it was a business, not a hobby. Presided over the bench until her last fortnight.
Reginald Halyard
1919-2001 · silk and spars
Arrived in 1952 with barrage-balloon silk and stayed sixty years. Invented the works' splice, the works' tea schedule, and the works' argument about which is more important.
Mira Halyard-Croft
1948- · second generation
Opened the repair bench to all comers in 1989 and wrote the standing rule on the bench itself, in ink that has never faded because it is rewritten every spring.
The fourth generation
today · the sewing floor
Three cousins, two sergeants of the sewing floor and an apprentice who is nevertheless the fastest paper-cutter the works has recorded. The wall chart is now kept in their handwriting.
The name
Halyard is the rope that hoists a sail; Croft is the family. The ampersand was added in 1953 because the signwriter charged by the letter and it looked better than "and". The works has outlived three signwriters and the sign has never needed repainting, only the family's patience.