We have received the sad news that Lynne Bowers, the wife of UK access industry entrepreneur Malcolm Bowers, has died.
Lynne Bowers
She passed away at home on October 12th, at the age of 77, surrounded by her husband and their five children, Jenny, Sally, Ben, Reuben and Aimee, having struggled with Alzheimer's disease since being diagnosed in 2012.
While Lynne worked in the background, playing a critical support role to Malcolm, she was fairly well known in the UK access industry during the key entrepreneurial years of the Bowers family. She served as a director on many of the companies that the family set up and later sold on during that period.
Born and raised in Bradford, in what was then the West Riding of Yorkshire, she started out as a sewing machinist/clothing maker and met Malcolm Bowers in the late 1960s. The two were married in May 1969.
Malcolm and Lynne Bowers
Bowers worked as a salesman at the Leeds depot of the Zip Up Hire division of scaffold tower manufacturer and rental company Access Equipment, which made Zip Up aluminium towers under licence from UpRight in California. In 1975 he accepted a promotion which required the couple to relocate to Sheffield to open a new Zip Up depot. They have lived in the area ever since.
Speaking earlier this week of his wife of 57 years, Malcolm Bowers said: “Lynne played an incredibly important and supportive role in our marriage. She was a contented person who had a real steadying effect on me as well as the family. I was the rudder, and Lynne was the keel in our marriage, enabling the many ventures that we have been involved in over the years."
In 2012 Lynne showed the early signs of Alzheimer's disease, which progressed slowly over 14 years. In 2019, her condition had deteriorated to a level that Malcolm decided to give up work in order to become a full-time carer for her. He added that the family was also fortunate in that all five children live within a 12 minute drive of the Bowers family home.
A brief overview of the Bowers business ventures over the years:
After leaving Access Equipment, Malcolm Bowers worked at Grayston Scaffolding for a while before co-founding Access Rental Ltd with Pete Pemberton. They sold the business in 1989 to Roskill, with Lavendon acquiring it a little later.
Bowers then teamed up with Access Rental colleague David Ridge, and they worked together through much of the 1990s at a company they called Myrefield of which Lynne was also a director.
In 1998 Ridge and Bowers set up Aerials For Industry, which became AFI, with David Shipman and Nick Selley buying in four years later.
In 2006 Malcolm and Ben Bowers started a new company under the Lifterz name, which they built into a 1,300 unit/ four location company with £15.2 million in revenues, before selling it to Speedy in 2019, when Bowers senior retired to look after Lynne.
More recently, the two Bowers acquired Humberside Lifting Services, which this week merged with Levels Above.
Funeral arrangements
There will be a family service on Wednesday the 4th of November followed by an open memorial service at 13:00 on Saturday the 7th of November at the Kingdom Hall in Thurlstone Sheffield S36 9PZ.
The service will be conducted by son in law Quintin Wilson, with the family stating “Everyone is welcome to attend to remember her and celebrate their wonderful memories of this very special lady, and join us afterwards for tea coffee and cake.”
For those who cannot make it, the ceremony will be broadcast on Zoom – Meeting ID 607 222 1914, Password Kingdom.
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