COULD you see this happening today? A boss of one of the most successful companies in Craven, being so grateful for the diligence of his workforce and loyalty of his customers, that he treats them to a holiday on a sun-kissed island. Reporter Clive White explores how this happened in the late autumn of 1964.

JUST nine years after a decorated sailor returned home from fighting in the 1939-45 war, he had turned his £160 demob money into a £2.5 million fortune.

His name was Tom Clarke and his company, Silentnight Ltd, based in Barnoldswick, had become the biggest manufacturer of beds in Europe. And his latest design, The Bermuda bed, was his top seller.

So it was obvious to the man who had won his DSM in the Russian convoys for "devotion beyond the call of duty" that he should treat the people who had helped him turn his company into such a phenomenal success. His present was a holiday in a most apt location - the millionaire's sun-soaked paradise, Bermuda.

The lucky trippers numbered 137 and the £500 per head cost of staying at the exclusive Elbow Beach Surf Club was met by Tom Clarke himself.

The group, who flew in a Boeing 707, included Tom's wife Joan, his eldest son, 35 customers who had been winners in a "Wake-Up" Bermuda sales promotion, traders who had sold the beds and sales people and workers from every grade at the factory in Barnoldswick.

Among the lucky group was Joe Orton and his wife, Doris, of Salterforth. Joe had worked for the company for eight years and was a member of the maintenance staff. He told the Craven Herald that they usually spent their holiday in St Annes.

Also joining the once in a lifetime trip were George and Mildred Saunders, of Skipton. George worked in the purchasing department and had been at the firm nine years. It was to be Mildred's first trip abroad.

So precious was Tom Clarke to his workforce and people who sold his beds, they decided he needed insuring in case he should come a cropper on the flight.

So how much was he worth? They concluded, after weeks of negotiation with insurance experts, that to secure the future of the firm if he did not return - 600 jobs were at stake if he should perish - his value to the company was £1 million.

A staggering sum in October 1964 when they made the journey. It made him one of the most valuable cargoes airborne on the day of the flight.

Tom was in the dark about the plan until the start of the trip when, as the Craven Herald reported at the time, he said: "I was rather shaken at first but on reflection, I feel it is wise. I don't have any misgivings about the flight. I intend coming back fit and refreshed."

And of course he did.

In fact, the company went from strength to strength on the back of the success of the Bermuda divan. Sales of the bed as a result of the promotion, were boosted six or seven times compared to the same period the previous year.

Tom Clarke set up the company in a backyard in Skipton using the gratuity he received for his Royal Navy service in the 1939-45 war. He arrived home also with the Distinguished Service Medal for his work on the convoys supplying the Russian nation with arms and food. It was one of the most dangerous naval missions of the war.

Even when back home in Skipton, setting up a company was far from easy, especially as the country was suffering a shortage of goods and materials.

The only place in the Skipton area he could find timber to make his first workbench, was in Glusburn and even transporting it to his workshop was a logistical mission in itself.

He had no transport and when he attempted to board a bus with his cargo of wood, the conductor gave him his marching orders, telling him his load was too bulky. So Tom set off and walked the six miles to Skipton.

He had started in business by repairing mattresses, later moving to bigger premises in Coach Street, Skipton.

He began making beds and moved to Barnoldswick in 1949, adopting the name Silentnight, which was suggested by Joan.

By the late 1950s, the company was producing more than 4,000 divans each month and the workforce had grown from 25 to 150.

Mr Clarke, who died in 1993, aged 74, was admired by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and was awarded the OBE in 1981 for services to British industry, His wife died in 2006.