VERNA Group company Vernacare officially reopened their mill on Slater Street in Bolton yesterday following a revamp involving the relocation of subsidiary company Karomed Limited.

Verna Group Chairman and Chief Executive Jean Wilson, Secretary and Director Frank Coucill and Materials Manager John Parkinson were joined by Bolton Council Principal Project Officer Sara Todd at a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the work.

Karomed supplies health care products to nursing homes and private hospitals and has relocated from Cranfield Road in Lostock.

More than £500,000 was spent on refurbishment and the work was part-funded through the Bolton City Challenge Mill Strategy initiative.

The 145-year-old Slater Street mill - known as Egyptian Mill because the spinning of Egyptian cotton used to take place there - has been used by the Verna Group for more than 30 years in the production of disposable bedpans and male urine bottles.

'Before and after' photographs were on display at the opening to illustrate the transformation of one part of the mill into a loading bay and another into an office area.

Mr Coucill said: "On behalf of John Parkinson and myself I would like to offer a personal thank you to Sara Todd for the guidance and support when our request for grant aid was at the application stage and later for the speed and efficiency at which the grant was processed.

"Our thanks are offered to the City Challenge board and local authority officers for their support, the contractors for their integrated efforts, the employees who had to maintain an efficient service whilst the refurbishments were taking place around them and to those employees who have relocated from Lostock and instantly made themselves at home.

"The Verna Group board are delighted that the mill within which the core business was conceived will not only play an important part in Group activities for many years to come, but will also be preserved as a symbol of Bolton's industrial heritage."

Mr Parkinson praised the contractors -which included Bolton painting firm TI Protective Coatings - and the architects for their teamwork in bringing the project to a successful conclusion.

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