A memorial bench will be unveiled in Southport this week in tribute to a local couple who founded one of the town’s most thriving businesses as well as making a huge contribution to improving the local community.
The Bernard and Joan O’Malley Memorial Bench will be placed outside St Cuthbert’s Church in Churchtown Village today (Monday, 10th March 10th 2025).
It will be officially unveiled to the O’Malley family at the St Patrick’s Evening event at Churchtown Conservative Club on Saturday (15th March 2025).
It has been purchased after a successful fundraising effort by George Hitchmough, Dave White, and Jamie Barton.
The balance of the money will be donated to Queenscourt Hospice and the Walton Centre, who will receive just over £1,000 each.
President of Churchtown Conservative Club George Hitchmough said:
“Bernard and Joan O’Malley were active supporters of Churchtown Village and its organisations, as well as other local groups in the greater Southport area.
“Our fundraising campaign to purchase a memorial bench in their honour received significant support from various community groups including Churchtown Conservative Club, Hesketh Arms Bowling Club, Old Links Golf Club, Crossens Bowling Club, and contributors from events such as the Tommy Fleetwood Question and Answer session, Presidents Golf Day Raffle, and Race Night. Additionally, many individuals made personal contributions.”
Many tributes were paid after Bernard and Joan O’Malley died within days of each other in October last year aged 88-years-old following 65 years of married life.
Mr and Mrs O’Malley founded what is now Nationwide Produce PLC, which has its headquarters on Lord Street in Southport town centre.
The couple and their family have grown Nationwide Produce PLC 50 years ago into one of the largest, longest established, and most diverse produce companies in the UK with a £186m turnover operating across four countries and employing 300 staff.
They have long been hugely supportive of a wide range of community projects in the Southport area and beyond.
In a statement at the time, Tim O’Malley said: “My mum, Joan O’Malley, and my dad, Bernard, were both 88 years old and had been married 65 years. In all that time they’d hardly spent a night apart.
“Nationwide Produce PLC began life in September 1975 as Bernard O’Malley & Co.
“The ‘Co’ was my mum. My dad did all the trading, my mum did the books.
“The office was a small room in a small three bedroom house in Southport with four young kids running around – three of them now in the business. Myself, Patrick and Anthony.
“My dad never stopped talking about the business. First thing he would say whenever I saw him was ‘how’s the job?’.
“He loved the fruit and veg trade and was enormously proud of the business he created alongside my mum.
“I’ll miss him, I’ll miss his boundless enthusiasm for the business but above all, I’ll miss his advice, his pearls of wisdom.”
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