IT'S a fair bet that everyone in Bentham is either related to or friends with someone who works, or is retired, from Angus Fire.

The company has been in Bentham for almost a century, firstly occupying an old mill in the town in 1904 then moving 90 years ago to its current base in Station Road. It is easily the town's biggest employer, with no less than 270 people on its books.

But Angus had been in existence as a family firm for a century before it came to the North Craven market town.

Alexander Angus left Scotland way back in 1584 to escape religious persecution and he settled in Newcastle, where he engaged in the family craft of leatherwork.

In 1788 his descendant Joseph Angus founded the company, producing leather goods, and 100 years later, in 1888, it was registered as a public company, called George Angus and Co Ltd.

"At first they made leather drive belts for machinery and as a sideline diversified into making brass riveted fire hoses, and the fire side of the business took off," explained Kevin Davison, Angus Fire's personnel administration manager.

"They started making fabric reinforced rubber hoses. In the old days the fabrics were natural fibres such as flax, which is why we are here. It is a good climate for natural fibres. Now we use synthetic fibres," added Mr Davison.

Today, Angus is part of the huge multinational William's group, which also owns Kidde International. It concentrates on fire protection and security, and Angus products are used all around the globe.

Hoses made in Bentham are world leaders in their field, used by industry and fire brigades. But it is not just firefighting for which they are used, said Mr Davison.

The company makes specialist hoses for irrigation and for relining water mains. It is also helping California prepare for its next big earthquake by supplying hose which will be used for maintaining water supplies across fault lines when regular mains are fractured by earth movements.

Hoses from Angus Fire are also helping to deal with land mines. They go from Bentham to ordnance factories who pack them with explosives so they can be fired across a mine field to clear a vehicle's-width safe track through.

Foam for putting out fires has been made in Bentham since 1970 too, as well as all manner of fire fighting equipment from nozzles to foam mixers. Angus Fire's fluoroprotein foams are widely recognised as world leaders, used throughout the chemical and petrochemical industries.

For all its growth - Angus also has plants in America, Australia and South Africa - the company has a family feel.

Eric Guy has worked at Bentham for 43 years, the third of four generations to be employed in the town by Angus's.

Today his son and brother are also employees, and Mr Guy, who was born in Bentham and lived for 30 years in Ingleton, is a textile technician, having started as a weaver.

He has a wealth of knowledge about the company, even down to where the resident ghost - said to be a bowler-hatted foreman of the past - is reputed to haunt.

"It's changed a lot. When I first came here, straight out of national service, it was one weaver to two looms, now it is one weaver to nine looms and they are nearly three times as fast. Today we make a lot more specialist hoses than we used to," he recalled.

"We used to make brake and clutch linings, and they say that the sails for Nelson's flagship were made here."

In recent times Angus products have been on the front line in world news, being used widely during the Gulf War.

They have also helped put out various aircraft fires, including the one which occurred when a plane crash landed on the M1 near the East Midlands Airport.

Meanwhile, products from Kidde International were used by Richard Noble in the Thrust SSC land speed record, and provided the fire protection in Richard Branson's round the world balloon.

It's main customers are industrial, oil companies, off shore concerns, airports and fire brigades, with 80 to 90 per cent of business being export. Non-fire hoses account for around 30 per cent of Angus's business.

Angus Fire has also retained its commitment to Bentham.

The company owns the town's playing fields which are held in perpetuity for leisure use, and contributes to local charities and organisations.

As far as the future goes, Angus Fire's research and development team are constantly striving to improve their products, and are currently investigating making fire hoses reflective so they can be used in smoke filled environments to find the way back out.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.