Toy World is sad to report that popular toy trade stalwart John Birchwood passed away on 21st February.
John Birchwood (1940 – 2024)
John was born in Nelson, Lancashire in 1940 and educated at Manchester Grammar School. He started working in a retail store for Woolworths, before joining his father, Eric Birchwood, working for Mobo Toys. After that he moved to Chad Valley and subsequently joined Berwick Toys as sales director, eventually becoming managing director.
After the collapse of Berwick Toys and the Berwick Timpo Group in the early 1980s, some of its assets were bought from the administrators by A.B.Gee, where John worked for a short period before setting up on his own as a sales agent (Birchwood Agencies) with the help of his father, Eric. Amongst the companies John represented was Morris Vulcan (MV Toys) and after a number of years, John went to work for MV before establishing his own company, World Sports Int. UK in partnership with a Taiwanese manufacturer, which dealt predominantly in roller skates and in-line skates. In the early years of World Sports Int. (WSI), the company was the main supplier of in-line skates to mail order giants Littlewoods and GUS.
In 1994, John’s son Richard joined the business but unfortunately it was forced to close a few years later due to a series of production issues with the Taiwanese manufacturer. Richard takes up the story and explains what happened next: “In August 1998, with not a penny between us and the financial help of some of Dad’s friends from the toy industry (you know who you are and we are eternally grateful) and a friend of mine, we started J & R Sports, originally operating out of a 5,000 square foot warehouse in Aintree. In April 1999 my sister Lindsay also joined us. After a difficult first couple of years when the in-line skate business was slow, we introduced our JD Bug Scooter range in 2000 and from there the business went from strength to strength. In 2007 we relocated to a bigger warehouse in Huyton that we still run today. In 2011 we became the distribution partner for Madd Gear the UK & Ireland: this was the start of the pro scooter market and Madd Gear was a leading player. In 2012 we relocated again to our current location in Aintree.”
John continued to work until his 80th birthday, when he announced his retirement, just before the first Covid lock down. Although Richard admitted: “He continued to come into work over the next three years, never being able to stay too far away. He wanted to know how we were doing, what was happening in the trade and would avidly read Toy World to stay in touch with what was going on.”
As well as being a proud grandfather, John was also an avid Manchester United fan. However during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, John decided to join his son Richard watching Liverpool, taking him to his first European Cup final in Paris in 1981, with fellow toy doyen Ronnie Yaffe. Also a member of the local Mini Motoring Club, John would often take Mini trips around the UK and Scotland.
In memory of John, Richard and the family have started a tribute page that contains details of his funeral and also for his friends from the toy trade to share their memories of him with his family.
Our sincerest condolences to John’s children – Richard, Lindsay and Rachel – and his six grandchildren Emma, Olivia, Lily, Amelia, Zac and Ace, and all of John’s former friends and colleagues from the toy community.
