The Retrospective Diary of a CEO/Recruiter/Bloke

For those of you who didn’t know my early life, you may be surprised to learn that I started work milking cows and driving tractors – the man who facilitated that was the incredibly smart, forward-thinking, ingenious, and visionary pioneer John Lloyd. To me, he was ‘Uncle John’ but wasn’t my uncle but a very close friend of my mother, father and family.

I used to holiday on his farm from the age of 6 months and a couple of times most years until I was in my early teens. I went to work for him in the summer of ’75, then worked for him for 18 months in ’76. During that ‘hot summer’, I was under a tin roof every afternoon in sweltering heat and up each morning at 04.30 to milk again – the first week I ever worked consisted of 96 hours, and my pay packet totalled ￡19.20 ??

Uncle John, along with most of the UK’s dairy and cattle farmers, lost their entire herds (had to have them shot, buried and burned in a hole dug in a field) due to the foot and mouth epidemic in 1967.? Over six months, 430,000 animals across 2300 farms were slaughtered.[1]?The average number of animals that were slaughtered in each confirmed case was around 200.

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Unlike most other affected farmers, John got together with 3 of his neighbouring farmers and, after much research into where to source the finest milk-producing cows, chartered a ship and brought hundreds of animals to the UK from Canada – almost all the Friesians in the UK today share genes from those cattle brought here and are largely decedents of their Canadian Holstein Friesians. The herd was not coincidently called “pioneer.”

?What did I learn from “Uncle John”? Hard work, passion, tough love, care for those who care for you, and that you don’t need qualifications or how to spell. He had and could do both, but his words still live with me – “If you work hard and smart, you can hire someone who can spell.”

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What did he mean? To me, the lesson was to work, focus, be determined, and be prepared to do your share of the ‘lifting’, and to make sure you are thinking and leading, not simply following the crowd. He truly was a pioneer.

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Sadly, he died last year at 92 – I was bowled over at how many people attended his funeral, how many people had so many great things to say about him and the many things he had done for both individuals and the community in which he spent his entire life.

?Thank you “Uncle John”.

My first great mentor and manager in a work setting was Rex Barr, who worked for John.?

He added to my love and knowledge of cars and all things mechanical.

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I learned through him how to get on with people who did not welcome you and didn’t want to respect you even though they report to you and actually appreciate you – they remain hostile – why was this???

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He was a ‘southern boy’ – a man from Wiltshire and was in charge of a bunch of locals (actually lovely people who were great to me as the 17-year-old ‘new boy’) but hostile to?

him. They were real Welshmen living virtually 100 years behind the rest of the UK on Anglesey – real salt of the earth people who didn’t need to be told what to do by a young “interloped foreigner”. Interestingly, some of these guys were at Uncle John’s Funeral last year, long retired and forever respectful of their English boss.

?Prior to coming to Anglesey, Rex had been the farm manager at the Royal Berkshire College of Agriculture in Newbury. It was he who recommended I go there and study so I could make a career of what was my ‘fun job’ at the time.

?He taught me to have a strong work ethic (the hours in those days were very long – often 07.30 – 18.00 or 20.00 and later in the summer). I often think back to when people mention how hard they work when all we do is drive to and from the office and talk to people ??

?He taught me to drive before I was 17. He would send me off without a driving licence to pick up parts from town (15 miles away) when a machine was broken – great for a young lad. I also managed not to kill anyone or the policeman (yes, I think there was at least one on the island, maybe two).

Rex taught me to weld and fix just about anything out of anything – not to slam brakes on when a rabbit jumps in the car’s path at the risk of crashing and killing yourself and your passengers! How to be kind to brakes and clutches and how to cook toast to perfection.

?I’m very sorry to say I lost contact with Rex and his wife and boys – I tried to find him a few years ago only to see on Facebook that he had died – DON’T WAIT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THOSE POPLE WHO MEAN A LOT TO YOU UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE!!

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Some of you may have read my last article about my parents and how they inspired me. If you haven’t yet you can?here.