FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

Everything about the honeymoon was great – except the weather, which was terrible. And then one day, half way through the honeymoon, I got a call from Dad. He was looking after the office while I was away. ‘I just got a call from a Jack Turvey,’ he said. I didn’t know the name. I asked him who this Jack Turvey was. ‘He’s from the Borough of Merton,’ he said. ‘Have you priced some work there?’ I told him I had. ‘Well, you’ve won it,’ he said. ‘The contract meeting is in a couple of days.’ I was so excited I could hardly speak. Even though I was on my honeymoon, I was ready to rush back. But the bad weather put a stop to those ideas. I would have to let Dad handle the contract meeting. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, but it was my first big contract, and I really wanted to be there. The meeting went well enough, and the contract got signed. But somewhere between the Council car park and the Council offices, Dad lost the keys to his car. He had a Mercedes, a green one of course, and there was no way of getting into that car again without help from the Mercedes factory. Jack Turvey, however, turned out to be a really nice guy. He took pity on Dad and drove him all the way back to Ancaster Road in his own car. Contract, we ran into a problem with the bank. Up until now, the Maintenance Contract had been with Penge Urban District Council. But now the Urban District Councils were being merged together. The newly-created Borough of Bromley liked our price, and they liked the quality of our work, but we couldn’t raise the money we needed for W e now had Term Contracts with Sutton, and Merton. Things were really looking up again. But when in 1981, we had an opportunity to bid for the Bromley Term

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