Company History

t Color-Board we are very proud of our history and the fact that we have been a family business since the 1870's. The following text explains how we have evolved to become the present company.

The Early Days
The business started in the 1870's in Islington as 'John Wain & Sons'. The company produced stove-finished slate members for fireplaces. 

The Birth of Color-Board
The business passed down to the brothers Robert, Stanley, Victor Jnr and Leslie. They began spray painting during the second world war, taking them away from their original business of finishing slate. 

In 1959 Victor Wain Jnr. split away from his brothers, opening the Waltham Abbey factory under the name Color-Board. Using his inherited marbelling and spraying skills he began finishing hardboard, a product that became extremely popular in the 1960's. To maximise productivity a curtain coating machine was installed along with a stove enamelling oven to cure the paint. The company employed lots of ladies to carefully arrange the panels around the factory so they could dry and, later, to wet the backs to keep them very flat during transport to various customers. One of Color-Board's biggest customers was the BBC who used substantial amounts of hardboard for the sets of different shows. 'Top of the Pops' and 'Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game' were just two of the programmes to benefit from Color-Board's expertise.

The Development of Color-Board
Shortly after marrying into the family Ken Kenney joined the Waltham Abbey team. Ken spent thirty years at Color-Board, from 1962 until he retired in 1992. Under Ken's management the warehouse was enlarged to accomodate up to 100 tons of hardboard stock and in the early 1970's a new production line was installed. This enabled panels to be loaded onto the conveyor and have the whole painting and drying process completed in just 13 minutes. When the boards reached the end of the line they could be stacked straight onto pallets, ready for delivery to the customer.