FROM little acorns oak trees grow and that's certainly true of a business established in Yelverton in 1995 — from its beginnings in a bedroom it is now celebrating an international award for its work on chemically treating military aircraft parts in the US and the UK.

Greentree, which was up against thousands of other companies in competing for the international engineering awards, won a silver prize in conjunction with BAE (British Aerospace).

The company has come up with a new approach on paint finishing systems which will save the manufacturer £30,000 per aircraft, equating to more than £80-million over a ten-year period.

The award was presented to Tessa Abraham, who is the daughter of Greentree founder Bernard Green, in Washington DC last week. Tessa, a former pupil of Tavistock College, is the joint MD of Greentree along with James Locke.

Tessa told the Times that the award was a tribute to her dad and James' father Chris Locke for their foresight 19 years ago.

They foresaw the potential in this market. Bernard initiated the format of the new company via contacts with the UK American Embassy and a US company called Shercon in California.

'When Dad was made redundant from his job in a Plymouth electrical company he did not know what to do with himself,' said Tessa. 'He had a background in marketing and manufacturing and being quite well read he knew that powder coating and metal finishing was quite a good business to get into and was growing rapidly in the UK.'

Soon after Greentree was born, operating from Tessa's old bedroom in Yelverton. The company continued to grow and units were taken on Yelverton Business Park and in Cheltenham, later moving to Tewkesbury for logistical reasons.

Greentree, which has clients such as Rolls Royce, Airbus and JCB, secured a deal with BAE on its project with one of the world's largest defence contractors Lockheed Martin, to chemically treat aircraft parts.

'There has been a complete overhaul of the process that was used,' added Tessa. 'We have come up with this patented product and with our methodology and working with engineers, reducing staffing but improving quality and productivity, we will be able to make savings of more than £80-million through production.

'It's unbelievable that from my old bedroom we are now on the international stage.'

Bernard Green said he was 'over the moon' by the silver award and congratulated Tessa and James and the whole team.