Leading from the front issuu

chapter five
Carpets keep
on rolling
When Harry and Doris Temple moved to New
Zealand from England and settled in Napier,
for Pat it was the start of a very successful
working relationship and for the families, a beautiful
friendship. Harry was a carpet layer (and a former
grenadier), while Doris was an upholsterer and together
they formed Temple Upholstery. Harry and Doris had the
knowledge and skills with carpet and Robert Magill Ltd
had the customers.
On Pat and Harry’s first install one fine summer’s
morning, Pat and Harry departed the store with a
huge roll of carpet strapped to the roof of the shop’s
small delivery van and drove out to an address in the
country; the home of one very excited customer, keen
to welcome this ‘product of the future’ throughout the
bedrooms and living spaces. The word of mouth recommendation
that resulted couldn’t have been better,
for what was the start of thousands of successful carpet
installations throughout the region.
Temple Upholstery also installed the carpet in Napier’s
flash new Civic Building in August, 1968. Harry’s
son Robbie recalls this as a massive job involving the
largest supply of carpet, all 4200 yards of a 27” Axminster,
that Robert Magill Ltd had been involved with to
date.
According to The Daily Telegraph on August 3 that
year; “The 780 yards of carpet on the top floor of the
cafeteria-reception room will comprise the largest area
covered by one piece of carpet in the whole of Hawke’s
Bay.” The sewing of the seams was done with hand machines
on site and Robbie operated one of them. Like
father like son, Robbie and Pat also enjoyed a long and
happy working relationship.
In the meantime Pat’s commitment to community
work was gathering pace. He basically became a parttime
boss, focusing his energies on the growing needs
that he could see some people in Napier were experiencing.
He knew that Napier could do better, that it
could be a kinder and fairer city and it became his life’s
purpose to do everything he could to help achieve this.
Luckily back at the shop, he had a good team that kept
the business ticking over when his mind and presence
were elsewhere.
During the ‘70s and well into the ‘80s, carpet rolled
swiftly out the shop door. These were great days to
be in business in New Zealand, with a lot of growth
in the economy. It was pretty much a captive market
here with a closed economy, protectionist policies, and
quality wool plentiful and appreciated. Globally the
world was still gaining strength following World War
II and as Western nations worked together to keep relations
steady and resolute, the mood was stable and
most thrived during the resulting era of welcomed
peace and prosperity.
Carpets keep on rolling 45