The son of the company’s founder, Anthony Charlton, Mr Charlton was born near Frome in Somerset and was raised close to the family sawmill in Buckland Dinham.
When he was at school he assisted in the family coal and timber merchant business during holidays and weekends, even loading Radstock coal from the Haydon Colliery to deliver to local villages and concessionary coal to the miners.
To gain further industry experience Mr Charlton had a six-month placement at Dartington Sawmills where he met his future wife, Maureen, the mother of his two children, Theresa and Karen.
Mr Charlton’s first achievement at the family firm was introducing gate production and over the years he successfully built up a national network of stockists, driving the company to become one of the largest gate manufacturers in the country.
In 1976 he became a full partner along with his three brothers, taking responsibility for sales. In 1984 when the main customer was the National Coal Board, the business suffered during the miners’ strike. It was Michael Charlton’s determination and drive that took the business into an alternative market supplying furniture manufacturers that kept the business going through a very difficult period.
Despite the ups and downs of the economy over the past 40-plus years, Mr Charlton’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the industry, his relationship with the customers built on mutual respect and trust, and his positive ‘can do’ attitude, enabled the company to maintain its position as a leading quality gate manufacturer in the market.
One of his proudest moments was to receive the Queen’s Royal Warrant on behalf of the company and he went on to meet the Queen on several occasions.
Mr Charlton continued to live his life to the full even after being diagnosed with cancer last year. He continued to be actively involved in the day-to-day business, driving the development of the re-branding of the company, and also ensuring that his extensive knowledge of the market, products and customers was passed onto his nephew, Matthew, to sustain the continuing development of the business.
