A growing Ceredigion-based fire protection and security firm is celebrating a major milestone – it’s 50th anniversary.

Snowdonia Fire Protection began in David Greasley’s garden shed in 1974 and now has offices in Aberystwyth, Waunfawr, near Caernarfon, Kinmel Bay and Shrewsbury and employs almost 100 staff.

Some of those clients from 1974, including St David’s College, in Llandudno, are still with them but the shed soon made way for a converted garage in the village which is still its headquarters.

The business’s first vehicle was a Reliant Robin three-wheeler but it now has a fleet of over 60 cars and vans all decked out in the company’s bright red livery and customers include fast-growing Anglesey-based Huws Gray building supplies giant.

David Greasley has passed away but his wife, Gwladys, who used to do the books on the kitchen table, still lives in the family home in Waunfawr and the fire alarm business is still based in the village and is now run by David’s son, Peter, his wife, Janet, and their sons, triplets Marc, Sion and Dafydd.

The company’s list of customers makes it one of the largest full service fire and security businesses in Wales with plans for a new purpose-built headquarters in Caernarfon.

Peter said: “I joined the business in 1981 when I was 21 after working as a deck cadet in the merchant navy which took me to most of the ports in Europe as well as to the USA and Japan.

“When I started I was servicing systems and cold-calling customers but the business has changed so much and grown as well.

“Fire systems have become so much more sophisticated and of course all new build homes have to have sprinkler systems which has opened up whole new areas of work for us.”

They soon opened a second office in Kinmel Bay as they began to expand and Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury have followed while their long-standing relationship with Huws-Gray sees Snowdonia now service over 160 of their branches from Newcastle to Exeter.

Their sons have joined the business too and Janet said: “They’re triplets but are all very different and they had not thought of coming here when they left school.

“They did work here, helping out from when they were 14 though – their first job was putting stamps on envelopes.”

The company which began supplying fire extinguishers and hose reels has seen massive changes in the industry over the last half-century and their services now include fire and intruder alarms, fire extinguishers, fire risk assessments, emergency lighting, CCTV, sprinklers, door access and nursecall systems.

Peter added: “We are still growing and still actively recruiting and any success is down to hard work and good customer service.

“Our core values have always been honesty, integrity and quality of service and products and legislation has made a big difference as well and we have to keep up with those changes.

“Since 2019 new houses in Wales have to have sprinkler systems – we now have ten people in our sprinkler division - and we spend thousands a year on ensuring we have all the right accreditations.

“It’s also a 24/7 operation and we have at least four or five engineers on call every night.

“We are fortunate to have a very good workforce and that’s crucial in supplying a top quality service and many of those with us have been here for a long time.

“We also have very loyal and long-standing customers and we are grateful to them for their support which has helped us grow.

“We’re very committed to the areas in which we work, we buy our vehicles locally, we operate an apprenticeship scheme and we sponsor several local sports clubs and support local charities.”