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MORETON C CULLIMORE
Page 56
Page 57
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MD Roger Cullimore and his son Moreton F Cullimore look uncomfortable in their offices: they clearly prefer roaming the firm's 1,250 acres and four quarries or visiting customers to presiding over paperwork, Roger, now 68, has no computer to hand and Moreton's desk is in the ageing wooden hut opposite with the rest of the admin team — Moreton,28, is scheduled to take the reins next July:The heir, says Roger, must be given a chance to stamp his authority on the company, and it is clear that Moreton has plenty of ambition.There is still a focus on bread-andbutter work, with new quarries being prepared for opening, but the MD-in-waiting talks more of diversity.
A recycling plant machine has been bought to make use of a long-held recycling licence; the firm is also investing in a new low-loader trailer for STGO2 loads, which will be hired out when not needed on site.To haul it is a gleaming Scania R480 emblazoned with 'The Guvnor' in honour of the incumbent MD.
To compete with national merchants such asTravis Perkins the company relies on its bagged aggregates shop to distribute the output of its quarries."In the late 1990s a lot of the smaller merchants were swallowed up by what is now Aggregate, Jewsons, or a part of TP." Moreton explains. "With bagging you might sell 10 products to somebody like TE but eight might be a loss leader.That's not the sort of work you want. You might as well sell the products yourself. It would be cheaper [to the customer] and you still make a healthy margin.
Active marketing
-We have to go out, advertise and market ourselves more actively. We also have trucks with Hiabs and can deliver to the nooks and crannies, which we couldn't do 10 years ago."
Ready-mix concrete company Marshalls is moving onto the site, and Cullirnore will supply Marshalls with materials and vehicles. The move allows the firm to cover just about every facet of construction and civil engineering.
But Cullimore diversifies beyond construction.TheNetherhills workshop runs 24 hours a day on a two-shift basis and as well as serving the company's fleet it works for third parties— which is handy with operators such as Wincanton and Wey Feeds based on site.
The jewel in the company's crown could be the proposed sport and leisure facilities to join the water parks and holiday homes at Ashton Keynes Moreton plans to make a major contribution to the water sports industry: "Land there has been extracted for 15 years; we are now restoring it.We have a relationship with the developers and are looking at getting into it.We have to abide by the planning consensus but we are in dialogue with developers on how we put together something on a national scale." Moreton C Cullimore founded the company in 1927 with a second-hand Model T Ford. "My grandfather Ambrose was a hay and straw merchant and my father was a tenant farmer by trade," says Roger Cullimore. "The expansion was into agricultural movement because my father had a motorised vehicle so he was asked to move cattle, and pigs as well. He moved milk from farms to Stroud railway station and it was sold that right in Kensington."
Further trucks were added and the first quarry, a three-acre site at South Cerney, appeared on the books in 1938. The following year, as the fleet grew to 15 vehicles, Roger N Cullimore was born.
As for so many firms, trading was tough in the 1930s, but Roger believes that Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement, designed to give the country enough time to prepare for war, provided regular work. -And in wartime he worked on aerodrome construction. That was really the godsend; he had six years' regular work. He'd had five or six difficult years before [the war] but he always had a cheerful disposition and a doggedness... a 'never say die' attitude," he says.
Moreton also had a love of Charles Dickens' novels, naming trucks after Dickensian characters.
After the war the company diversified, working for local factories in Stroud and buying land at Ashton Keynes for gravel and aggregates.
In the early 1960s Roger's own career took a different route, as he took up civil engineering — a skill he was to add to the business with some success. He joined the family f irm in 1961, becoming MD in 1969; his father remained chairman until his death in 1972.
Roger Cullimore's influence on the industry has extended well beyond his company: he negotiated as chairman of the Western area for the Road Haulage Association during the 1978-9 'winter of discontent' when widespread strikes dogged James Callaghan's Labour party. The lorry drivers' strike was initiated by members of the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) who demanded a 40% pay rise. The dispute lasted throughout January 1979, until Roger negotiated a 20% rise for drivers in the South-West -a deal that was subsequently accepted across the country.
Further political battles have included his campaign for capital allowances, the introduction of the aggregate levy, fair prices on fuel and buying British. The latter is reflected in the fleet, which relied on Foden and ERF right up to the end of their production runs.
Today the fleet comprises almost 50 vehicles, not including decommissioned trucks still working the quarries; the firm employs more than 100 people. CMcame away feeling as though we had barely scratched the surface of this archetypal family firm.