Rockdale Mattress Factory

RMF plays a special role in an upcoming milestone

On Christmas day, our only daughter Suzie and her husband Jeremy arranged for us parents to come early to help with the set up for our family lunch at their place. Well, this was just a ploy to get us together beforehand to give us the best Xmas present ever – the announcement that they are having a baby!

So, my husband Peter and I are to become grandparents in July and wonder how we’ll find this new phase in life. This was soon followed by a discussion about the Hatherly family cot. This was made by Peter’s grandfather in 1926 for the birth of his first daughter – Peter’s mum Lorna and her sisters.

Peter, his siblings and extended family all used it and now we have it back again for the latest addition. Suzie was the 19th baby to use the cot and Spriglet (our nickname for our unborn grandson) will be the 30th. He will also have the honour of being the first of four consecutive generations to occupy this family heirloom.

When we acquired the cot in 1988, we had an innerspring mattress made to measure but understandably, it has disappeared in the intervening years. Once again, I set about the task of having an innerspring mattress made to measure. I recalled I had the cot mattress made somewhere around the Rockdale area so contacted Rockdale Mattress Factory this time around.

Natasha was amazingly helpful and we even organised a set of pure cotton sheets to fit. Before Covid-19 disrupted all our lives I managed to collect the mattress and sheets from the factory and thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the evolution of modern mattresses with Nick Ristevski, the owner. I love meeting people who are experts in their field and Nick is one of those.

It’s also good to do business with a family company that has such a long-standing history of fine craftsmanship.

Our 94-year-old family heirloom has a 30-year-old plaque made with all the occupants’ names engraved on it and now – a new hypoallergenic, supportive well-ventilated innerspring cot mattress made from all-natural materials! And we have one very happy daughter and son-in-law.

Ahhhh, the cycles of life ... Thank you RMF!

Janelle Hatherly