FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

He was a gentleman, and dressed like one. Even when cutting and laying pavements, he’d be dressed in his customary black suit and tie.

again (although she did come the next year, and that was definitely the last time). But it’s important to say something more about Patsy. Although he had a problem with alcohol, he was a tremendous worker, and he was much admired and liked by everyone who worked with him. He was a gentleman, and dressed like one. Even when cutting and laying pavements, he’d be dressed in his customary black suit and tie. Now, that’s something you don’t see any more! S o, the 1980s ended on a high note. But there was a disappointment, or rather a temporary setback, waiting just around the corner. One of the great excitements of the last few years, for me personally, had been the opening of my eyes to the potential for the business of using recycled materials. Everything about it made sense. The success of what we had been doing at Downs Road led me to set up a proper crushing operation at a new yard we took on in 1989 in Factory Lane, Croydon. At Downs Road, we had been recycling aggregates for our jobs in Sutton; at Factory Lane, we would be recycling for all our jobs. We were getting good at it, segregating the stuff into a black product and a white product, and we were learning how to sell it. What we were doing was real cutting edge stuff. But our clients wouldn’t accept it. If it wasn’t pink, which was the colour of limestone coming out of the West Country as Type 1, they wouldn’t touch it. So, after only a couple of years, in 1991, I had to shut down our operation in Factory Lane and give up on recycling. That was the business reality of the time – but I wasn’t going to forget about recycling. That was where the future lay.

For maybe twenty years, the Conway Christmas Dinner Dance was held at The Portland Rooms in South Norwood. It was almost always a pretty outrageous event.

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