Templeton a family firm

At one time a creative colourist in Templeton's, Robert Biggin went on to become the archivist with Stoddard Carpets based in Kilmarnock.

Robert Biggin in Stoddard's Archive

Robert Biggin

"It was considered to be a family type of firm because you could get a dentist, you could get a doctor, we had a resident nursing sister in the factory. So, if anything happened, you could get first aid and possibly even a little bit more. At least you knew you were going to be looked after. There was a good welfare department and, in addition to that, up in Burnside we had tennis courts, bowling green and a hockey pitch. And also Templeton's in the 1920s, they had built semi-detached houses for shop floor workers but they also built about half a dozen large red sandstone mansion-type houses for senior managers. It was very much a welfare orientated management at that time. Obviously things changed. Everything got probably more commercialised. It just became possibly more efficient but less family orientated, I would say."