His tag line was 'Have you seen my Cat?' with a picture of a moggy.
I seem to remember that he wanted to retire, but had great trouble selling the business. A fair amount of his stock went to Proops Brothers but when they fell out they traded independently. I bought nearly a ton of off cuts of special steels in large sections from one of the brothers, he was storing them in an underground car park under a block of council flats in North London, which is a long way from New Mills!
I remember the tag line now - thanks for reminding me. I thought I may have copies of the Cat somewhere but I must have binned them.
Kenneth Rowland Whiston did retire and his old staff ran the business for a few years. I'm not sure if he sold the business to the employees or if he gave it to them.
When I say 'his staff ran the business' I really mean they ran it into the ground. Without Ken's knowledge and enthusiasm it unfortunately didn't last very long.
I once went to his house in New Mills and had a guided tour of his very well equipped workshop. All his machines were three phase and were run off one inverter which connected to each machine via a multitude of toggle, rotary and foot switches, pots and relays.
I believe he was a member of Stockport Model Engineering Society.
Ken died in 1997 aged 83.
RIP.