Cyril Adams
Photo from the EDP
A founding director of one of Norfolk’s
largest independent grain and agricultural merchants, Cyril Adams, died aged 81
on April 22.
In his six decades at the helm of Adams & Howling,
it won a national reputation as a leading malting barley specialist. As
managing director and later chairman, he worked with farmers and maltsters for
more than 50 years to revive malting barley’s fortunes, especially in his
beloved Norfolk
heartland.
Born in October 1939 and raised at Potter Heigham,
Cyril Walter Adams was one of four children. He went to the village school and Paston
Grammar School, North
Walsham.
In 1959 he started work with agricultural merchants
Press, Bly & Davey selling animal feeds and fertilisers to local farmers.
As he cycled around the district on his two-wheel company transport, it was
invaluable experience. He rapidly gained the trust of customers at a time of
massive upheaval in farming when traditional, long-established firms were going
out of business or being taken over.
Then working for RJ Seaman, Catfield, it was a bold
decision in November 1972 – just two months before Britain
acceded to the EEC (European Economic Community)
– to start an independent merchanting business with colleague Tony Howling.
Their first office was rented in part of Wroxham railway station.
In the mid-1970s, Adams & Howling purchased the
former Eastern Electricity Board’s Wroxham showroom, which became the firm’s
base. And a garden centre, which was started in a small corner, became a great
success. By 1978, it had expanded
three-fold and was later sold to Roy’s
of Wroxham.
By the early 1990s, malting barley had become a key
element of the business. In June 1992, it exported a then record shipment of
3,500 tonnes of Alexis spring barley to drought-stricken Denmark
from Yarmouth’s
East Quay.
Having sold the Wroxham offices, Adams & Howling
moved to Little Plumstead, converting a former stables and granary at Manor
Farm. In the firm’s silver jubilee year, the then Mid-Norfolk MP Keith Simpson
officially opened the £300,000 investment in offices and laboratory in January
1998.
The business expanded – by providing a first-class
service to farmers and by developing long-standing partnerships with maltsters
F&G Smith (Crisp Malting Group), fertiliser suppliers like ICI and J &
H Bunn, of Great Yarmouth, and Parkers Seeds, of Bramerton. In May 2004, the
seed specialist joined Adams & Howling.
A transformational malting barley initiative, the ABC
grain group of Adams & Howling, H Banham, of Hempton and Crisp Malting
Group, was launched in June 2006. It was welcomed by specialist growers keen to
capitalise on the Norfolk barley theme for Norfolk
maltsters.
Adams & Howling marked its 40th
anniversary in 2013 by handling a record grain tonnage. His sons are both
running the business which now handles around 150,000 tonnes of grains,
fertiliser and seed each year – a far cry from when their father was pedalling
around Broadland selling bags of animal feed, always with a cigarette in hand.
And typical of his steely determination, he just quit his 60-day habit in May
last year – to the amazement of his friends and colleagues.
In his six decades at the helm of Adams & Howling,
it won a national reputation as a leading malting barley specialist. As
managing director and later chairman, he worked with farmers and maltsters for
more than 50 years to revive malting barley’s fortunes, especially in his
beloved Norfolk
heartland.
On the sporting field, he made his mark as a footballer
with Potter Heigham and became a Norfolk
County FA
referee, running the line at Arsenal against West Ham reserves.
A mainstay of Ingham Cricket Club, he kept wicket and
scored several hundreds with the bat. Later, he organised the Ingham Summer
Ball, which was a successful sell-out event for years.
When Ingham and Norwich Barleycorns formally merged in
January 1999, he was elected chairman.
He served as a captain and president for North Walsham
Indoor Bowls Club, when a team won national honours – the English Indoor Bowls
Association’s Denny Cup in 1986 and 1996..
He leaves a wife, Ann, sons Matthew and Paul, and seven
grandchildren, and younger brother Donny, and a former companion to Betty Rossi
predeceased.
A private family funeral will be held, with a memorial
cricket match planned at Ingham CC on Sunday, August 29.
Michael Pollitt