Tealwood Group reaches 50 year milestone

Print Solutions IndPrint

Tealwood Group is marking its 50th anniversary this year; an important milestone in any company’s history.

Since the company was founded in 1966, Tealwood – a family owned and run business – has steadily carved out a reputation for being engravers and printers, renowned for taking on jobs others are not able to do.

The founding partners, Alan Teal and John Silwood, were both lifelong engravers by trade and with just two engraving machines established Tealwood in a small workshop in Horndean. A piece of advice Alan Teal received from his foreman as an apprentice became Tealwood’s long-standing motto. ‘Always have a look at the enquiry and never turn anything away. If it can be done, we can do it’.

Initially starting out specialising in engraving mould tools, labels and tally plates, Tealwood soon moved to a larger premises in New Lane, Havant. Here it expanded its engraving department and added screen printing to its repertoire after realising that it should offer an alternative to engraving. A period of rapid expansion saw the company move location twice in six years and by 1976 it had settled into a workshop in Seagull Lane, Emsworth.

Current managing director Anthony Teal, son of Alan Teal, joined the company in 1981 just before the retirement of John Silwood in 1983. Anthony originally handled the accounts but soon found his passion lay in screen printing.

With father and son at the helm, Tealwood acquired Screenprint ’87 in 1994 to further augment its screen printing services. Alan retired in 2000 leaving Anthony as the sole director. Under his guidance Tealwood continued to grow, with the acquisition of Badgers, a specialist corporate badge making company, in 2003.

Moving with the times Tealwood purchased two CNC engraving machines, a vacuum forming machine and two digital printers.

By 2014 it had outgrown its Emsworth premises and moved to its current unit in Waterlooville, increasing tfloorspace by 200%.

Tealwood offer a wide range of services including screenprinting, CNC engraving, rotary printing, pad printing, UV digital flatbed printing, digital vinyl printing and sign cutting as well as laser cutting and engraving but it is keen to let people know that this isn’t the limit of what they can do, as Anthony explained: ‘Our mission statement has always been ‘Any Shape, Any Colour’. We have built our reputation on being able to tackle any job, of any size and over the years have fulfilled many major contracts for a wide range of notable industries, such as plaques for national drinks brands that can be seen in pubs countrywide. Our true strength lies in our versatility and willingness to work to the customer needs. Whether it be an individual or large corporation, we will do everything in our power to make their project a reality.

‘I wouldd like to personally thank all of our loyal staff, customers and everyone that has helped us out over the last five decades making us the company we are today.’