FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Chapter 1 Early Days

And so, in 1961, he made the bold decision that was to shape not only his own life, but also the lives of all the rest of the family.

was only one way to be sure of achieving this. And so, in 1961, he made the bold decision that was to shape not only his own life, but also the lives of all the rest of the family. Without telling Norah what he had in mind, Dad went out one day, sold the family car, and came home with a pick-up truck, and some shovels. At the grand old age of forty, he was doing what he must have dreamed of doing for years: he was starting his own company. And that’s how F.M. Conway Ltd. was born.

Dad setting off to work in the first Conway van.

Mum was appalled, of course. Why was he taking such a risk at their stage of life? They had three young children, and a sizeable mortgage. Where was the money for all of that going to come from? She couldn’t sleep for weeks. But Dad was determined, and within a couple of months he had landed the new company’s first large job. Significantly for the future of the company, the job was not with a private developer, but with the Local Authority. Some new houses had been built just outside the village of Banstead along two adjoining roads: Kenneth Road and Chalmers Road. The roads were little more than gravel tracks – no kerbs, no drains, nothing. The Council wanted Dad to do a complete job on them: put in the drains and the soakaways, put down the kerbs and pavements, lay the roads, and lay the drives to each of the houses. It wasn’t a big job by today’s standards, but it was a massive job for a new company with no cash in the bank.

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