A husband-and-wife duo have celebrated 50 years since setting up their award-winning Newtown-based superyacht and luxury boats supplies business.

Bill and Brenda Brown founded Makefast in 1974 to create innovative safety solutions for the marine industry.

After moving to mid Wales from Hampshire with 12 staff in 1989, the business has grown to almost 100 workers across several sites in the Newtown area.

Their products are sold all over the world, and they have recently opened on American soil in response to increasing demand in the USA.

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Brenda said: "We think this is the most beautiful area to live in, why would we go anywhere else?

"The development board, Powys Council and the Welsh Government have all been extremely supportive to us. We’ve got no complaints about Wales."

The pair are passionate about nurturing the next generation of local engineering talent and have plans for an apprenticeship training school during their milestone year.

"Our aim is to be the best place to work in Wales," Bill said. "That’s a tall order but we’re working on it".

County Times: Jake Meredith, 18, and from the outskirts of Knighton, has been a Makefast apprentice for 18 months.Jake Meredith, 18, and from the outskirts of Knighton, has been a Makefast apprentice for 18 months. (Image: Anwen Parry/County Times)

The Powys success story has in recent years moved into a state-of-the-art facility in Abermule and invested in new equipment and projects to move the business forward.

Speaking from their Mochdre Industrial Estate base in Newtown, Bill added: "We’ve always been prepared to invest as much as we can in new equipment. We’ve never been frightened of investing and we continue to invest."

The couple's son, Chris, who is also Makesfast Group's finance director, said the business wouldn't be where it is today without their employees.

County Times: Production operator Robyn Brown, 21, from Berriew, has been working at Makefast for nearly two years.Production operator Robyn Brown, 21, from Berriew, has been working at Makefast for nearly two years. (Image: Anwen Parry/County Times)
"It is a family business but it’s not just the Brown family because we have husbands and wives here, sons and daughters.

"We try to have a family ethos. We want people to want to work here and feel part of the process."

He added: "A big focus in the coming year is to try and increase the number and improve our apprenticeship training in all areas of the business.

"It also helps us because we get the benefit of well-trained engineers for our business which is not always easy to find especially in the local area."

"We have competition in a lot of areas but in a lot of cases our products are better than the competitors which is where we want to stay.

"We need to continue to innovate. The future is to stay and grow."