DEREK Francis built up the family business over the decades, selling furniture to successive generations of customers, very often from the same families.

He attributed his customers' loyalty to the quality of the products that the company sold.

Speaking to the Malvern Gazette in 2008, when the firm celebrated its 75th anniversary, he said that he was now serving the great-grandchildren of some of its early customers.

He said: "“Our customers are very loyal and many of them continue to buy furniture from us even after moving away from the area,.

“Fashions and styles in furniture have changed a lot over the years and we keep up with trends but what hasn’t changed is the quality of the furniture we sell.”

The story of the family involvement in the furniture trade goes back to his grandfather George William Francis, who became apprenticed to a furnishing firm in the 1870s, later becoming an upholsterer at Powick Asylum.

His son, William Guy Francis, followed in his father’s footsteps and in 1912 was apprenticed to the Worcester firm W F Webb. He became an upholsterer in the burgeoning motor car business, working for another famous Malvern business, Morgan Motors.

Later, he opened a workshop on the site of the present furniture showroom and started making three-piece suites. Later he opened up a retail shop and Mr Francis recalled as a boy helping the business at weekends, delivering furniture on a hand cart.

“In order to make the business successful we had to provide hire purchase,” said Mr Francis. “Many people said it was only because my father allowed this that they were ever able to buy any furniture at all during these years.”

Derek Francis’s own skills as a businessman surfaced at the start of the Second World War when the supply of upholstery frames dried up.

“I was able to obtain some offcuts from Arthur Russell, a local undertaker, and I made wooden frames for my father, which enabled him to continue making his suites.”

After the war the business expanded steadily and in 1958 William Guy began looking for other premises. “At that time, the property which was at 275 Worcester Road came onto the market and we bought the site, including the house, for £6,000.”

The old drill hall in Cromwell Road was the next acquisition and was bought as a warehouse.

In 1979 the business purchased the former International supermarket at 128 Worcester Road and this became the carpet and bedroom furniture department.

But no business can afford to stand still and expansion and change have continued right to the present day. A warehouse on Spring Lane was acquired in the 1980s and the carpet shop was later enlarged.

But Mr Francis's interests always extended far beyond his business, as former company secretary Pam Robert recalls.

She said: "During his long and interesting life, he had many interests and passions. Motorcycling - he and his great friend the late Dave Peace built their own bike, the Francis/Peace Special.

"Derek was always active, but following a motorcycling accident, decided on a slightly less dangerous pastime, endurance long-distance horse riding., a sport entered only by the fit and he took part and excelled in events both in the UK and on the continent."

Mr Francis was also an enthusiastic traveller, visiting every continent, including Antarctica. Some highlights of his globetrotting career include horseback safaris in Kenya, Himalayan treks, a trip to the Rann of Kutch in India, and visits to Borneo, Mauritius and Alaska.

He combined his love of the natural world with a passion for photography, and became the first British photographer to take pictures of a gorilla in the wild in Rwanda.