FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

M y other early memories are of people coming into the front room at Croydon Road to have a cup of tea with Mum. The front room doubled up as the company office. I remember Dan Sullivan sitting there, talking to Mum. He had what I thought of as a ‘grumpy’ voice; only later did I find out that he had cancer of the throat. He and Dad went out quite a lot together, mostly to watch the dogs. Dad had a greyhound called ‘La Pasada’; and Dan kept a racing dog of his own, too. I can’t say that I paid much attention to what was going on with the business, although I was happy to sit in the front room and listen to them all. I was too young to understand any of what they were talking about. But it did leave a strong impression with me – an impression that has lasted and grown with the years – that the family and the business were deeply rooted in each other. Even in those early years, I was beginning to understand what it meant to be part of a family business.

Catford Stadium twenty years ago – it’s now closed. Dad was a regular visitor to the Stadium. On one occasion, he and Noreen went there with Sid Leach and his wife, Katie. Sid was a fitter who doubled up as a chauffeur for my father. That evening, Sid was driving them all in Frank’s new green Jaguar. As he drove through the entrance to the Stadium, the wind blew the gate smack into the wing of the car. There was no money wasted on the dogs that evening.

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