REFLECTIONS ON A CAREER

PICURED ABOVE: Peter (right) with Rupert Price, attending his final trade show at BTME in January 

On behalf of TurfPro I would like to wish Peter a happy final retirement.

I have personally known Peter, since I began my role as editor of Pitchcare in 2003. I have many fond memories of the press trips I, and other trade journalists  went on with him. My greatest though, was a visit to the States to see the Textron factory and attend the Atlanta trade show in 2006.

It was always good to catch up with Peter at the annual trade shows. He will be sorely missed but I am sure he is going to enjoy spending plenty of time at his iconic beach hut, watching the tides go by. All the best for the future  - TurfPro editor, Laurence Gale.

PETER DRIVER writes . . .

Well, that's it. Yesterday was my final day as a working man. Some of it's been a rollercoaster ride, while other parts (the majority) have been an absolute pleasure.

Believe me, if you read on, you're in it for the long haul!  

I started work, in my eyes anyway, as a 14-year-old with my first paper round and with my dad’s words ringing in my ears "you’re earning now, you need to give it your full commitment" and I did. Rain or shine, it was up at 6:30, a 3-mile bike ride to the newsagents, 2 miles on the round and then another 3 miles home, all before school. Seven days a week, except for holidays. This work ethic was inherited from two wonderful parents and has carried me through my working life.

At 16, I got a Friday night/Saturday morning job on the Greengrocer's counter at Tesco's before progressing to the Butchery department. I can still cut a side of pork into its constituent parts, including preparing a gammon, boiling it, rolling it in breadcrumbs in readiness for slicing for the deli counter. A handy skill to have and one I've never used since!

After taking A-levels at College, I decided I wanted to be a Computer Programmer and joined the Gallup organisation. This was an international market research company, based in Regent Street in London with offices in the USA and Scandinavia and at the time was famous for its Gallup Polls, especially at election times when we predicted the result (not always successfully).

It took me a couple of years to fully appreciate that I wasn't cut out for this. A friend had recently joined an organisation called Lloyds of London Press. LLP was the publishing and intelligence gathering arm of Lloyds, the international insurance market. They were moving out of London to Colchester where I lived, because of the unrest in Fleet Street, which was having a detrimental effect on the publishing of the world's oldest newspaper, Lloyd's List. This was ideal for me; I'd recently married my wife and I'd have more free time as I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and travel to London.

LLP was a great place to be in the mid-1970s; although from an old institution, we were a young and vibrant company gathering and disseminating maritime information for the marine underwriters in London. We had a vibrant social life with the company, establishing a sports and social club, organising annual dinners and children's Christmas parties, raising money for charity and playing sport against other divisions within the Lloyds community. I spent 13 very happy years at LLP, but now in my mid-30s I decided that I had to leave as it was still very much Deadman’s shoes in terms of promotion and I felt I'd reached a ceiling, which I couldn't break through. It was time to vote with my feet and look for something new.

This came in the form of a move to Hayes Design, where I was to be Studio and Production Manager looking after a team of graphic designers and making sure that what we produced was delivered on time. You quickly learn that all that is promised doesn't necessarily materialise and this was the case here. The move was a quantum leap for me and I was totally out of my comfort zone. I'd been involved with the printing process at LLP and handling advertising for the publication that I edited, but this was a whole new level. I was really struggling, wishing I'd never left LLP, but it was time to knuckle down and learn as quickly as I could. The first year was horrendous. My anxiety levels were through the roof: I'd be in tears driving home and getting to the office at 4 am in the morning, so that I could sort things out. Gradually things started to change, I got control of the job and also got my first, fully-expensed company car complete with Del Boy brick mobile telephone. Things were looking up and I'd been promised a directorship by the owner. This actually happened; I was made up as I attended my first board meeting. 

This was short-lived however, when at my second board meeting I was informed that the company was going into liquidation! We were closely allied to the building sector, producing brochures, signage, show house interiors and advertising for housing developers, In the early 90s we suffered a severe economic slump and coupled with some serious mismanagement by the owner (it later came to light that he was using the company to support his lavish lifestyle), the company went into receivership. The owner, in a final act of cowardice, refused to notify the staff and I, along with another director, had to tell the team that it was over. I was the last person to be retained by the Receiver as I had to get as much work completed and delivered for the benefit of the creditors and then had to attend the Creditors' meeting. Probably the most humbling experience of my working life, sitting in front of a group of people who I considered valued suppliers, who had trusted me and were being told that they would only receive a very small percentage of what they were owed. 
A couple of weeks later I received a letter from the Receivers to say that I was never registered at Companies House as a director of the business, so it was never my responsibility to attend the Creditors' meeting. You live and learn.

There followed four months of unemployment, which we survived with help of a very good friend, who worked on site for various building companies and where I seriously grafted for a weekly cash-in-hand payment. I sent off numerous CVs in an attempt to get employment, but was met with constant rejection. I saw a job advertised at a Creative Agency, about 30 miles away and sent off one last CV. I got an interview, got on well with the two owners, but they were going through a round of redundancies, so couldn't promise me anything. The very next day their incumbent Production Manager handed in his notice and I was recalled for a further interview and offered the job. 

Command Publicity was my new employer. We were a regional creative and advertising agency working for a range of B2B and B2C clients. Two responsible owners, a good client base, a great team, a lovely place to work and a good remuneration package. One of our clients was the Lancaster Motor Group, the owner of a range of prestigious car dealerships including Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini plus Volvo and Rover. One day a Lancaster director had a conversation with our MD where he asked if we also did Public Relations as part of our service offering and not wishing to turn down an opportunity, our MD said yes. In my early 40s, I'm packed off to night school, two evenings a week to learn the basics. This turned out to be a significant event for the remainder of my working life.

I totally embraced the PR discipline and we grew from a single client (Lancaster) to have eight stand-alone PR clients and a team of three including me, servicing these accounts. One of our marketing clients was an American-based turf maintenance equipment manufacturer, Jacobsen, with a UK office in Kettering. There was a very good rapport between our MD and their team and they became an important account. Then out-of-the-blue, their parent company Textron, purchased Ransomes, an ailing UK manufacturer who produced similar products in Ipswich. The decision was taken that Ransomes incumbent advertising agency would take control of the combined companies marketing activities and we were out of the picture. Not a nice place to be, especially after all the effort we’d put in, but we were promised that if the account ever came up for re-pitch, we would be included. Very professionally, we boxed up all the relevant material and handed it over to the incumbent agency.

Financially, Command was always up and down, but we continued to produce some excellent creative work, which our clients appreciated. We were never highly profitable, but we had honest and hardworking owners and a very good team. About 18-months after we ‘lost’ the Ransomes Jacobsen (RJ) account, we received a call to say that the account was up for re-pitch and we would be one of the agencies pitching.

We spent some very long days (and nights) preparing the pitch, lots of creative design work and practicing the presentation. The day came, we presented and we won. We felt vindicated for all the previous hard work we’d put in. It was a great feeling for all the team. We got to know the new expanded team at Ipswich and everything was going well … until we got the call saying that Textron were appointing a new MD at Ipswich and he wanted to see the presentation, again!

Press trip to Atlanta 2006 

Anyway, we returned to Ipswich, wowed the new man and that began a brilliant 25-year career in the turfcare industry. As PR manager for the RJ account, I was responsible for all the written material that appeared in the media, writing presentations for senior personnel, arranging press launches and much more including exhibition graphics, press conferences and media packs. I travelled to the USA and across Europe with the sales team and forged some enduring friendships with my colleagues at RJ and indeed, many of our customers.

2007 witnessed another upset. Command went into Receivership while I was on a PR assignment for RJ in Scotland. You may ask yourself if I’m the common denominator here, but the writing had been on the wall for a while after the retirement of the older co-owner, who acted as a restraining influence on the younger director. So, once again, I was unemployed. Well, at least for a whole 24-hours! The marketing director at RJ heard the news and within the hour the managing director was on the phone guaranteeing me a job … although there was a Textron moratorium on hiring at the time. He obviously made a very good case and I was offered the job and took a millisecond to accept.

My next communication contained the contract and a list of around 2,000 vehicle derivatives that I could select from as my company car. I couldn’t believe my good fortune, but on reflection it wasn’t fortune; it was my work ethic, the sheer bloody hard work, diligently undertaken to do the best for my client and it was obviously greatly appreciated. I purchased my computer from the Receiver, which contained all my working files and took it to Ipswich to be loaded on their system. Within a week I was sitting at my desk in the Marketing dept, as though nothing had happened.

Peter enjoying a day out at Lord's with fellow members of the press 

The next nine years were the happiest, most fruitful of my career. I was one of those lucky people who really enjoyed going to work. This was probably because my job was so varied; I didn’t know what was going to come across my desk in any given day. It was vital and exciting. The atmosphere in the office was brilliant and it was a delight to drive into the factory complex at Ipswich, with it’s 170-year history of producing mowing equipment.

I travelled the world: numerous visits to the USA, all across Europe, to South Africa, out to the Far East including Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. I was responsible for all aspects of our UK exhibitions including stand design and build, stand management during the event, organising press conferences and media interviews. I was also instrumental in the visits to our factory of George Osbourne, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, and David Cameron, when he was Prime Minister. You’re given about 36-hours-notice for these visits and there’s a lot to be organised, but it all adds to the excitement. I also hosted former Ipswich, England and Newcastle manager, Bobby Robson, when he visited the factory. He was suffering from cancer at the time and I was present when he took a phone call from his oncologist during our tour. Thankfully it was good news.

Probably my most surreal experience was a 30-minute chat with Nigel Mansell and Gary Player at Mansell’s golf club near Exeter, when a local radio team failed to turn up to interview them. My then MD and myself just sat there and listened to some wonderful stories from these two sporting legends.
On another occasion I took a journalist to interview Nigel Mansell at his golf club, Woodbury Park, where we were his exclusive suppliers of course maintenance equipment. The visit went extremely well and he took us on a tour of his private museum, located beneath the on-site hotel. He showed us his first go-karting medal and all the other accolades he had won during his illustrious career, including replicas of his Grand Prix trophies. He also had on display a 3-wheeled Ferrari, one of only three ever made. The interesting part of the visit came at the end of the interview, when he asked the journalist to switch of his voice recorder and the proceeded to tell us how Bernie Ecclestone ruled the F1 circus. Quite literally with a rod of iron, sometimes. 

In late 2015, I decided it was time to retire. I notified the company that I would be retiring on 31 August 2016, about 9 months ahead of my 65th birthday. Part of the reason was that my wife had just been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Not too serious at the time, but I had had the good fortune to travel the world and now was the opportunity to travel as a couple. I had a great retirement send-off and within the week we were heading to South Africa to tour the Garden Route and take in a safari.

Earlier in 2016, a colleague and very good friend, Rupert Price, who was the International Sales Director, left RJ. Not long after I retired, he contacted me to say that he was setting up his own business, importing a US-manufactured compact tractor and would I help. He persuaded me that I could do it on a part-time basis, while still enjoying my ‘retirement’. We launched the business at a major exhibition in January 2017 and the rest is history. As I finally retire, in just 8 years, he has turned this into a very successful multi-million £ business and silenced all the nay-sayers who said he was doomed to failure. In the early years in particular, we worked our socks off, taking every opportunity to get publicity and the product in front of prospective customers around the UK. 

This is probably my proudest achievement; helping Rupert achieve this and watch his business grow to become the largest international dealer in the Ventrac distributor network. 

This is closely followed by my involvement in the introduction of Ransomes Jacobsen’s Future Turf Managers’ Initiative (FTMI), a training and development programme for aspiring golf course and sportsturf managers. My former RJ colleague Nick Brown came up with the idea, supported by Gina Putnam and I was the wordsmith who had to knock the proposal into shape to get it approved by our MD, David Withers. It was then presented to the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA), who now administer the programme.

I recently visited Schloss Roxburghe, a golfing resort in the Scottish Borders on a PR assignment for Price Turfcare and it was a great thrill to meet up with Estates and Golf Course Manager, Ross Ovens, who was a fresh-faced delegate on one of the first FTMI programmes back in 2013.

Once I began working with Price Turfcare, the grapevine in the turf industry went into overdrive, other former colleagues heard that I was still around and I was approached by several of them to see if I could help them out. I agreed to work with some of them and my wife and I had to set up a small business partnership, which I named Espace Vert Public Relations. For some reason I thought the French version of Green Space was a more alluring name!

Over the past 8 years I’ve worked in a consultancy role with DVOŘÁK - slope mowers s.r.o., the Czech manufacturer of the world’s first remote-controlled slope mower, the US-based turf equipment manufacturers Smithco Inc and Turfco Manufacturing Inc., more locally Fentons of Bourne, a Lincolnshire grass machinery dealership and a couple of non-turf B2C local companies. I was also approached by two large players in the turfcare sector, but had to turn them down, because I was supposed to be retired and travelling the world with my wife, which I hasten to add, we have done on a regular basis.

So today marks the first day of my official retirement. I’ve had a wonderful career; it’s not all been plain sailing, there have been bumps along the way, but it’s how you deal with those hiccups that count. I’m so grateful to my parents for instilling in me an excellent work ethic and I’m proud to say that I have worked diligently for everyone who has employed me. Back in 1969 as a fresh-faced (probably spotty-faced) 17-year-old all I wanted to be was a computer programmer. Things didn’t turn out that way, but after 59 years of work, we haven’t done too bad.

I applaud you if you have arrived at the end of this missive; it might just be the ramblings of old man, but I think I can be happy in the knowledge that I’ve made my contribution to the turfcare industry and to society in general.

Stay well, everyone.