00:00 So I'm with Bill here, the owner of Hales sawmills in Markingdrayton. How long
00:06 you've been with the owner now? July 1982. Wow, superb. And today is your 96th
00:17 birthday? It is, yes. Superb. What's the secret of... Keep working.
00:24 That's the only thing I can think of. Really? That's amazing.
00:30 Keep at it. Keep this working and the rest of you will.
00:36 Fantastic. Tell me about the history of Hales and how you got here today.
00:41 Well, I was working at Chippenham Sawmill and doing quite well. I boosted that up from
00:51 nothing to a massive... They went away, bought an estate down in Chippenham, in Woodson.
00:59 I bought the house off them and went to live there because they wanted me to be there and
01:04 I wouldn't go in a tied coffin. And then they said I could have the business, buy the business
01:12 later on. But so I decided to leave and set up... And I knew that Hales Estate wanted
01:20 somebody to take over the sawmill. Colonel Congreve was running it but he wanted to retire.
01:28 And there was two lads in the sawmill and they said if I would take them on at the same
01:33 rates they were on at the estate, I could have it. And buy the machinery and that. So
01:40 that's what I did. I left Chippenham Sawmill and went to Hales. And we started there and
01:48 Richard asked me to go across to the office and he said I want to ask you to join the
01:58 gang of people on the estate and what work have you got. And I said nothing. I haven't
02:07 got any work. But I said by the end of the week I will. And he threw the pad at me and
02:14 a pen and said write this down. He'd give me a week's worth. And it all started from
02:19 that. Went buying machinery and driving the lorry. Yeah, it's just gone from that. One
02:31 last step at a time. And then the grandson wanted to come in and I said well we'd spent
02:39 enough money at Hales with buildings, tarmac, concrete. We'd do it for ourselves next time
02:45 because you can't roll it up and take it with you. It's not like a bloody carpet. And so
02:52 we found this 8 acre and we came here and everybody said you're an idiot buying that.
02:59 It's a swamp. And we got MacPhillip is there. And they got a firm in that does front ways
03:08 on it. And they took the top soil off and then a metre of sub soil and put concrete,
03:16 cemented and lined and rolled it and then put it back. And it's here currently. So it's
03:24 moved rubbish ground. The top quality ones people saw we'd done and you could run on
03:31 it with an Arctic. And then we did phase 2 which is this really now. And then phase 3
03:41 was Vanguard Wayshoes. I stand back now with A1. I'm running a passenger. But I get pleasure
03:51 out of seeing it. Enjoy your 96th birthday. Well done. Thank you.
03:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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