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North East manufacturer to refurbish Ark Royal

North East bed manufacturer Palatine Beds is celebrating after winning the contract to refurbish the mattresses from the HMS Ark Royal.

HMS Ark Royal’s career ended after a quarter of a century of service in the navy.

The ship went into service in 1985, playing a central role in the Balkans in the 1990’s and also in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

It was decommissioned in Portsmouth in November 2010, 25 years after it was built at Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle in 1978.

Palatine Beds, the North East’s oldest bed manufacturer have been manufacturing high quality contract and retail beds in Newcastle for 60 years.

Palatine Beds collected 600 mattresses from HMS Ark Royal on the 15th February 2011.

Palatine took the mattresses to their factory in Newcastle, where they will be refurbished.

Andrew Waters, Sales & Marketing Manager at Palatine Beds said: “It is a huge honour to be awarded this contract. The Ark Royal was built on Tyneside, so while it is extremely sad that such a great ship will no longer be in service, we are proud to be a part of the decommissioning process.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .