So you thought the Woodentops was that cheery, well-polished telly family which brought delight to so many children in the 1950s?

Correct. Only in 1998 they consist of three Greaves brothers of Whitby whose Woodentops carpentry and joinery venture is going with the grain of increasing demand for more fitted kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. So much so that they're pitching to become the Evening Press Business Venture of the Year

The kids are still being delighted because Woodentops makes the playboard base that forms the track for a toy railway engine produced by Swedish-based toy manufacturers, Brio, but the bulk of their work at the Larpool Industrial Estate is modernising and beautifying the homes of adults.

Jonnie Greaves, the youngest brother at 37, honed his business talents at his father's two shops in Flowergate, Whitby - Blenkeys toy shop and a tobacconist's.

Then dad, Clifford Greaves, sold up on retirement and as Jonnie's elder brother, Chris, 39, had just been made redundant from a joinery firm, they decided to strike out together as partners.

They were soon joined by their eldest brother, Rod, 45, and helper Taylor Scaife and the business surged forward to the point where they have just completed a big investment in a computerised machining centre to design and produce bedroom and bathroom door fascias and units to order.

Together with the installation of a new self-contained, fully air-conditioned spray facility, the business now has assets of more than £80,000 and a growing order book "which suggests we may take on two more people within the next year," says Jonnie.

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