FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

men tarmac gangs. Masonry work (kerbs and paving) was generally done by Webster’s, a sub-contractor to the Council. At first, Dad supervised all the work himself, with help from the leaders of the gangs, Michael McLaughlin, Peter Donnelly, and a couple of others. But as the work expanded, he took on his first agent (supervisor), Tim Hyde, and he bought his first machine, a Whitlock – a bit like a JCB but not so good – still, better than doing it all by hand. The hard part was finding a good driver, and they were lucky to find Gerald Sawyer who stayed with the company for many years. M eanwhile, the business was continuing to grow. In 1969, with an annual turnover of around £175,000, the company acquired a new office at Avenue Road in Penge. The office space at Ancaster Road had always been cramped, but we

A Conway lorry in the yard at Ancaster Road. The entire yard – F.M. Conway Ltd.’s main depot – wasn’t much bigger than what you can see in the picture. This is where I had my first do-it yourself driving lessons.

kept the property as a depot for plant. It had a good yard. And to me, a young teenager, with everyone away at the new office in Avenue Road, the yard seemed the ideal place to get some driving practice in. My first driving lessons were there – with myself as instructor and pupil – in a light blue Ford Escort that was kept in the yard. I must have put several dents into that van, but Dad didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, then he turned a blind eye. Perhaps the

yard wasn’t quite as big as I had imagined it. One of the people who moved into the new offices at Avenue Road was the other Director of F.M. Conway Ltd., an accountant called

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