FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Chapter 4 Laying the Foundations

The greatest sadness for me was that Frank Conway would never get to see the next chapter in the history of the company that he had founded thirty-eight years before.

Neil and Keith Leaver. It was a good contract, and the kind of work that Neil and Keith were doing was a good match with us. Here was another example of what we should be doing ourselves, not putting out to someone else. We needed the skills inside the business. So, I brought the work into F.M. Conway, first as a new company with Neil as one of the Directors, and then as a new Division, Building & Maintenance, under the main company umbrella. I was beginning to see where we were heading, and it was a very big picture. We were in a good position: annual turnover was now over £16 million, the company had great people in it with lots of energy, and we had the profitability and the cash to support us. What we needed now was the space to expand into. It was time to get back into recycling. It was time for some serious growth. And it was just then – as we were about to enter the New Millennium, as we were about to make our big move – that Dad died, on 18 th January 1999. Mum had died eighteen months earlier, on 20 th September 1997. It was a bad time for all of us. Dad had started the business, and he had seen his family build on what he had done, which was great. The greatest sadness for me was that Frank Conway would never get to see the next chapter in the history of the company that he had founded thirty-eight years before. Because, although he and I had had our differences, I know he would have been really proud – and more than a little pleased – at what we were about to do next.

Frank and Noreen.

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