Dennis Norman Hutton obituary

23 March 2006




Born and educated in Finchley, North London, and the London Polytechnic, he entered the world of work in 1935. After one month with a paper company, he joined James Garnar & Sons of Bermondsey, tanners, the company he would stay with for the rest of his working life. The war intervened and from 1940, for six years, he served in the RAF in the UK, North Africa, Italy and Austria. Hutton rejoined Garnar's and started a long and fruitful career. His abilities in sales were combined with a faculty for languages. He had good Italian, French, German and some Spanish; he also studied Russian in anticipation of new markets opening up and briefly studied Arabic. These skills helped him to progress up the company to sales manager and ultimately to the role of sales director on the main board of what had then become the Garnar Group. At the same time, his responsibilities were also moving on from the UK to Europe and the Middle East and finally a brief spell covering markets in the Far East. These were not always easy years for the company but he had the satisfaction of seeing the company obtain two Queen's Awards for Export Achievement and as a frequent-flyer, he had the pleasure of a VIP flight to Beirut on a production model of Concorde before it came into service. Never a man to miss an opportunity, he subsequently sought permission from British Airways to use the name and symbol of Concorde on a brand of chamois leather. On retiring as sales director in his late 60s, for a time he managed Russell Bookcraft, part of the Garnar Group, becoming an honorary member of the Guild of Master Bookbinders and taking a keen interest in the conservation of books. He served on the Council of British Leather Federation and somehow found time to write a training manual for leather students. He gave long service to the Leather and Hide Trades Benevolent Institution and was chairman from 1980-1991. Into his 70s, Hutton continued to work as a consultant for the merged Garnar/Pittard organisation. He was active in the London Chamber of Commerce and Fellow of the Institute of Directors. In 1982, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London becoming a liveryman and a supporter of the Worshipful Company of Bowyers and the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London. In 1959, he married and set up home in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, an area where he and his wife, Audrey, lived for 35 years. Despite the demands of his job and a young family, he was elected to the local Hoddesdon and District Council becoming chairman in 1971. He sat on the governing body of the new purpose-built comprehensive school Sheredes, and was chairman for several years. He also served as chairman and subsequently president of the East Herts Scouting Association. During his time on the council, he was instrumental in setting up the twinning of Hoddesdon with Dinant in Belgium and served as secretary and then chairman of the Town Twinning Association. He loved his garden and was interested in all forms of wildlife, recording 62 birds in his garden in Hoddesdon. In his younger days, he had been a keen tennis and squash player. His pride and joy after the war was an MG in British racing green in which he enjoyed rallying with the MG car club. A good bridge player and opera lover, he was never happier than when travelling. Unassuming by nature and with a sense of humour, he was respected by customers and competitors alike. A funeral service and celebration of his long and full life was held in Devizes, Wiltshire where he and Audrey had moved in 1994. He leaves a widow, son and daughter and two grandchildren.



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