On Thursday, September 23rd, 2004, White Knight, the South East’s largest independent dry cleaning and laundry company, hosted over 100 guests at a centenary celebration at its commercial laundry site in Eastbourne.
White Knight’s management team, staff and shareholders welcomed The Worshipful The Mayor of Eastbourne, long standing customers, suppliers and new customer prospects at its Hammonds Drive, Eastbourne site. Among the attendees were Peter and Alan Tomlins, grandchildren of Mr. Herbert Tomlins, the original founder of the company and their wives.
Guests were greeted on arrival by two “White Knight-branded” Knights in shining armour on horseback and enjoyed champagne with canapés. Welcome speeches were made by Robert Adams, White Knight’s Director of Franchising; Colin Dawe, Managing Director and The Worshipful The Mayor of Eastbourne.
Following this, guests were invited in small groups to take a guided tour of the 43,000 square foot commercial laundry, the largest laundry site on the south coast. White Knight’s operations managers explained the four stages of the laundry process – Sorting and Classification, Washing and Drying, Finishing and finally Packing and Dispatch - where more than 30,000 pieces of laundry are processed each day. Before and after the laundry tours, guests tried archery and learned about armour, weaponry and laundry processes in medieval times.
After a splendid buffet lunch in the marquee, Yvonne and Maggie Tomlins cut the centenary cake and the Grand Prize Draw was made. To close the celebrations, Peter Tomlins, Chairman of White Knight and grandchild of Herbert Tomlins, White Knight’s original founder, thanked everyone for coming.
Through the acquisition of laundries and the purchase of books from laundries that were closing down, White Knight has served businesses and households in the South East of England since 1904. The business-to-business arm of White Knight servicing hotels, restaurants and health clubs, amongst others, is based out of its Eastbourne and London sites, where short-term linen hire is also available. Its door-to-door home collection and delivery service, based out of Woking, operates via its expanding franchise network in Berkshire, South West London, Surrey and Sussex. White Knight is headquartered in Reading.