In each case failure to grasp nettles soon enough may have been the underlying cause. After 130 years of family involvement in Scarborough printing, it is uncomfortable to be the last major job creator left in this once strong local employment.

So our focus is on continuance. We say the price of survival is eternal vigilance. Failure to change soon enough is a killer.

Dennis’s was a household name nationally for cards and calendars. Its designs were brilliant but the will to spend enough on new ones and to equal the marketing effort of today’s major card firms led to decline in publishing profits. These have always been double the margin straight printers could make – and now in lean times the ability to turn a profit in print is rare.

Had Dennis’s changed its designs, it is possible they would have still been in business. Dennis’s chose to major on printing in its latter years, but that market became cut-throat and led to the closure.

Greaves, so different in concept. The brainchild of a lovely enthusiastic technical boffin, Douglas Greaves, aided by Frank Green, Peter Pitts, daughter Yvette (now Mrs Freddie Drabble) and others, it was a gravure specialist. That process was the best at the time for mass circulation magazines.

Watmoughs saw the market coming and acquired Greaves – very canny and forward looking. Very good for the very well paid staff too.

But the bubble burst two ways. Advertising budgets and willingness to pay print bills fell. Greaves fell into losses. So did Pindar because we were trying to pay wages at the top of the industry levels to keep staff.

Eventually Greaves was at crisis point and pay reductions took place. The firm returned to profit but its new owners Polestar were in the process of losing a whole billion pounds on what they say were market forces. The industry generally believes they cut prices so far to kill off competitors they also harmed themselves. Sufficient to say there is still over-capacity and crazy price cutting around and investors are not keen to be in the industry.

The final nail in the coffin, despite very good and heroic efforts by local staff, was that Polestar opted to take Government and EU sweeteners to help fund the new up-to-date plant at Sheffield.

This is why I believe early decisive action and investment could have saved the day. It is also why Pindar is very keen on keeping up to scratch with machines and premises and sales activity. We have spent more than £30 million in 10 years locally in order to be able to ride out the crunch and downturn with the best kit in the trade. That demonstrates, along with our community involvement, a complete commitment to the area and to those on the pay roll.

With this matching commitment and reasonableness every fibre will go into continuity, though markets and methods will change as the years go by.

Tom Pindar

High Street, Scalby