Chapter 8 Forming the partnership
The Crown was busy when Bob arrived but Joe had saved a chair for him at their usual table.
“Hello Bob.”
“Hi everyone. Have you ordered yet?”
“Yes. We weren’t sure you were coming. It’s six thirty. Len says the fish is good. Jane and Jack have ordered it.”
“Then that’s what I’ll have,” and Bob walked to the bar.
“I’ll have the fish please Len and a bitter. You’re busy tonight.”
“Yes. An early tour bus stopped here. Good thing we had extra food!”
Bob carried his beer to the table and sat down. “I can guess what most of you have been doing this week but I bet you can’t guess what I’ve been doing.”
“Well tell us what we’ve been doing first and we’ll guess what you’ve been doing afterwards,” prompted Jane.
“You’ve been emptying the station, taking the parts you want to keep. I’ve seen Joe with a wagon load and meant to come over but I’ve been very busy.”
“Yes, you’re right. We’ve taken the doors, the stove and scuttle, the pictures, the telephone, desk and chairs and the benches. We’ll probably use some of them in the new place. We stored them in one of the meeting rooms. As for you, you’ve been practising your driving and will take your test in two weeks. Tim told me that.”
“You’re right so far but I’ve been doing much more. Ken Smith worked with me Monday and Tuesday and we’ve decided to become partners and start a business.”
“Become partners? Whatever for?”
“We’re going to make wooden toys, of course.”
“You’re doing that already. What’s Ken going to do?”
“Well I don’t like the idea of constantly making toys. That’s what I’m doing right now and it feels like I’m working in a factory. Jenny and Leo are already selling two or three sets a week and it’s only March. They’re certain they’ll sell even more in the summer. So I have a problem. Do I return to my old way and make just enough for you, Rose, or do I make more so I can have a couple of holidays each year. I want to have holidays now, after my Portugal trip, so I planned to hire someone to help me but Ken suggested something else, that he’d make the toys and I’d sell them. He knows all kinds of ways of cutting wood and has already increased the production rate.”
“Wow! You’ll just sell the toys not make them? Will you like that?”
“I don’t know. I think I will, at least for a while. We went to Southampton Wednesday to ask an agent to register our trade name. It’ll be ‘Small End Wooden Toys.’ We also saw a lawyer about forming a partnership although we haven’t signed the papers yet.”
“I think you are moving too fast,” exclaimed Joe, “but I know Ken. He’s got tons of energy and likes to get things done. If he says what you’re planning is going to be okay then it will probably will be. He’s got a lot of experience. He worked on the shop floor for several years before becoming a supervisor, then shop-floor manager and then going into management, so he knows all about working with wood.”
“I know him too,” said Jane. “He’s a good man.”
“Well I won’t sign any papers until I have gone carefully through the forms. So, you can see, this week’s been a busy one.”
“It sure has. Don’t overdo things Bob, you’re not twenty any more!”
“Yes. I’m beginning to realise that.”
“Oh Bob, you weren’t here when I told the others the good news,” Jane said. “Small End has been given another grant from the government; four hundred thousand pounds! Isn’t that wonderful!”
“Yes, it certainly is. But why? Why did they give us money?”
“Because Small End will soon be supporting two to three thousand more people. They’ll come from London or the north over the next two or three years. The money is to be used to improve the place, the water and sewage systems, enlarge the post office and the municipal offices. Some of it is for the Community Centre, if we need it, but with the grant we’ve already got and the money we’ve made from the shows we’ve over a hundred and eighty thousand pounds. The architect says that’s more than we’ll need.”
“He doesn’t want me to demolish the station,” Joe said. “I’m glad, the tractor’s not designed to push down buildings.”
“How are they going to knock it down?”
“We’ve hired a company in Big End,” said Jane. “Their bulldozer will do it as soon as we have removed the interior walls. They’ll also take anything we don’t want to the dump. The architect doesn’t want to use any of the old windows or doors so they’ll take them too.”
“Well I’m glad we got the grant but I don’t like the idea of two or three thousand more people coming to live here,” said Bob. “That’s what I told Leo, the lumber yard manager, when he told me about this.”
“Not many people here like the idea either Bob. It’ll be a big change. About three hundred will live behind your house. All the rest will live in a new subdivision north of the railway line. We’ve been told there’ll be an industrial park north of the line as well, to be built when the next subdivision is being built.”
“Yes, Leo told me there’d be one. He likes the expansion, of course. More business for him.”
“Us’ll be called Middle End then.”
“It’s nothing to laugh about Jack,” said Bob.
As they were getting up to leave Rose gave Bob an envelope. “Here’s the money from my March sales, £33.25. I sold only one village and one farm this month so I still have plenty. I’m glad Leo and Jenny are already selling them. You deserve the money and you should use it to have plenty of holidays.”
“Thanks’ Rose. Two a year will be enough for me I think. Oh, would you order another hundred boxes and wrapping paper. No, make it five hundred, please. And Jack, could you make six hundred labels please, two hundred of each. I’ll be running out soon.”
“Yes, of course I can,” said Rose and Jack nodded. “Aye, Bob.”
“Is there anything you want from the station before it is bulldozed Bob?”
“I don’t think so Jane. I’ll walk over tomorrow and check. I suppose it’s all open now you’ve removed the doors.”
“Yes. Take anything you want. All the rest is going to be scrapped.”
“I’ll be sorry when it disappears; my Dad’s and I spent our whole working lives there.”
With that the group broke up. Jane moved over to another table to talk about the Spring show and Joe moved to the bar to chat with Len until Jane had finished. Len would let everyone know what Joe told him about Bob’s activates; he was the village’s chief source of information.
After breakfast next morning Bob pushed through the narrowing gap in the hedge that he and his father had used for so many years and crossed the parking lot to the railway station. The office was bare; no desk, chair, stove or picture remained. He didn’t go into the toilets but looked into the baggage room, where he had spent many days when he was young. The shelves had been torn down and the coal stove stood no longer in the middle of the wall opposite the door. He suddenly remembered the old railway lamp that his Dad had kept and wondered if it was still where it was hidden. He fetched some of the broken shelves and jammed them into the wall in the corner where the roof of the baggage room joined the station and climbed on top. He reached into the gap and, yes, the lamp was still there, together with a pair of old gloves. The inspector had told them to use new gloves but his Dad kept his, intending to use them in the garden. Bob carefully pulled the lamp out, put it on the floor and clambered up again to collect the gloves. They weren’t worth keeping, but the lamp certainly was. Its red glass was dirty but not damaged. ‘It’ll look nice in my window with a bulb inside,’ he thought.
He left the gloves on the window ledge and carried the lamp home. The week’s housekeeping was done by nine thirty. After hanging up the washing Bob sat at the kitchen table and cleaned the lamp as he drank his coffee. He found that a lamp bulb so
cket would fit where the wick holder had been so he drilled a small hole near the bottom of the lamp, passed the wires through it and fastened the socket in place with a couple of screws. A short piece of narrow metal pipe extended the switch to the outside. He refitted the glass and plugged it in to see how it looked. ‘That’s nice. I’ll put it in the lounge window.’
He finished the morning’s work by giving the village set its last painting, taking time to carefully outline the windows and doors of the houses and the shops and adding touches of shade to the hedge rows.
He ate a leisurely lunch in his easy chair, a cheese, tomato and lettuce sandwich, and looked through the traffic regulations. Afterwards he bathed, dressed in a clean shirt and sweater and wondered if he looked smart enough to meet Ken’s wife.
Bob was in the driving seat and on his way to Big End by two o’clock, for Peter had arrived early. “I have a route that will take you through all the stop lights, over the town’s railway crossing and across a bridge where it’s not easy to see what’s coming. If you can handle all that then the Bournemouth test will be a snap.”
There was not much traffic and Bob drove slightly under the speed limit when he was in the town,. He looked carefully at all the signs, obeyed their directions, stopped completely behind the line when any of the traffic lights were red and kept closely to the left side of the road when driving over the narrow bridge.
“You’ll certainly pass first time if you drive like today Bob.”
“Well, I drove carefully and will always try to drive that way.”
“Ah, you wait until you have been driving for a few months. You’ll be a lot less circumspect then, I bet.”
“Maybe I will but I’m usually a careful man so I think I’ll be a careful driver.”
Peter gave Bob an envelope when they reached his house.
“Here’s my invoice for your March driving lessons.”
“Ah, can I give you a cheque on Tuesday?”
“Tuesday’ll be fine. Can we start at eight o’clock so you can drive in the dark?”
“I’d forgotten all about that. Yes eight’ll be fine.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then. ‘Bye.”
At 3:40 Bob put on his mackintosh, although it did not look like it was going to rain, and walked to Ken’s home. It was an old farmhouse that lay beside the Tusset river, about a mile along the road that led from Small End to Easing. Bob looked forward to seeing the house, having been told that it had been completely renovated. Ken was working in his garage when he arrived.
“Hello Bob. Welcome. Hang your coat on the hook,” and Ken pointed to one that was fastened to the wall near the garage door.”
“Hello Ken. How was London?”
“Enjoyable. The hotel was comfortable, just off Piccadilly Circus, though the bedroom was very small. We had an expensive early dinner at the Savoy before the show and saw The Mousetrap, something we’ve always wanted to see but never have. Mary says we should take a trip like that every few months! Now, take a look at this,” and he pointed to a two foot square of thick plywood that was clamped to the end of his work bench. Complicated-looking metal shapes held two routers to the top and another router underneath the plywood.
“Can you guess how this works?”
“No but it looks like you feed the wood through the jig vertically.”
“Yes that’s right. The most important part is this,” and Ken picked up a piece of carefully shaped wood. “This is the holder for the wooden block once it’s been roughed into its hedge shape. The bottom of the block fits into this slot and is held in place by the rubber strips that run along the sides of the grove. Now these curves,” and he pointed to the edges and the bottom of the wooden holder, “move those metal arms,” and he pointed to them on the jig. “The two arms on the top move the routers in and out and the arm on the bottom moves the underneath router sideways. That movement shapes the sides and the top of the hedge. I’ll turn it on and show you how it works, though the wood I’m using is harder than the wood you use so I can’t push it through quickly. Now, watch what happens.” He picked up a length of wood that had already been cut into the thin, triangular, hedge-block shape and pushed it into a wooden holder. He switched on the routers and said, “Move to the other side so you can see what happens.”
Once Bob was in position he pushed the holder slowly through the jig. “There. Can you see how it works?” Bob watched as the hedge block moved further down, formed, almost perfectly, into the shape of a hedge. “That’s marvellous! It only needs a bit of sanding and some paint and we’ve got a hedge! Wonderful, wonderful, Ken.”
“Thanks. As I said, it’ll be quicker when we use the softer wood. And I’ve only made the holder a foot long because I wanted to try the jig. I’ll make the holder long enough to make a four-foot hedge. What I’d like to do is bring the jig to your shop tomorrow and try it with your wood. It’ll probably need a few adjustments but that shouldn’t take long.”
“I’m so glad we are working together Ken. We can make a fortune with this jig.”
“I don’t think so Bob. We’ll probably not make more than ten thousand pounds a year; that’s not a fortune.”
“It is to me Ken.”
“You’ll soon find ways to spend it: a new car, for instance, could take all of it. Now, we should go inside. Mary will be wondering what we are doing.”
“I know what you’re doing Ken,” said Mary, who was standing at the front of the garage. “Hello Bob. I’ve been hearing a lot about you this past week!”
“Hello Mrs. Smith. I didn’t see you there. Thank you for inviting me to dinner.”
“Call me Mary, Bob. I think that we will be seeing a lot of each other in the future. Ken says that you and he will be partners in toy making.”
“Yes, although I’ve made and sold toys for four years it’s only been in a small way. Rose Tyne sold them for me in her shop in Small End until this year. Now I’ve two more retailers selling them.”
“I bought a train set from Rose last Christmas for our grandson, Larry. He’s two years old. You must have made it.”
“I probably did.”
“He enjoys playing with it. Come inside now, it won’t be long before supper’s ready.”
“Take Bob in and show him around Mary. I’ve just thought of something I want to try out.”
“Don’t be long then. We’ll go in the front door Bob, it’s nicer than going through the garage entrance.”
“The hall’s wider than needed we thought,” noted Mary, as they entered. “We asked the architect if we could move the wall on the right side to enlarge the kitchen and dining room but he advised against it. The powder room is this first door on the left, in case you need it. The corridor beyond it goes to the laundry room and the door to the garage. There’s not much to see down there.”
The door to the kitchen was open so Bob looked inside. “Something smells delicious Mary.”
“I hope it tastes that way too. The dining room is behind that door. We’ll see it later. Ken’s study is here, on the left, I expect he’ll show you that. The hall ends in the lounge.”
“It’s very big. Was it always this size? You don’t usually find rooms this size in farm houses.”
“No. We enlarged it. The extension begins where the two walls jut-out. The beam that supports the upper floor rests on them.”
“I love the view through those windows—the lawn, the gardens and the river. It is beautiful.”
“We think so too,” said Ken, who had just joined them.
“Who looks after the gardens?”
“We both do. Ken digs the beds, when necessary, and the holes for the bushes and trees. I usually select the plants and do the weeding but Ken helps me when there’s a lot to do. Once the spring work has been done the rest doesn’t take very long. In fact, it doesn’t take long enough for you Ken. Apart from the pottering he does in the garage he doesn’t have enough to do. That’s right, isn’t it, dear?”
“Err,
yes, I suppose it is. At least, you are always telling me to be more active or get out more.”
“I do. You know Bob, he whistled much of the time he was working in the garage this weekend. He only does that when he’s happy!”
“Oh, enough about me Mary. Let’s have a drink before supper.”
“Not for me, I’ve things to do. You can have fifteen minutes then we’ll eat. Ken tells me that you have some business to discuss afterwards, that’s why we are eating early Bob.”
“Let’s go to my study. This way. What would you like to drink?”
“I’ll have the same as you please,” Bob replied, not knowing quite what to ask for.
“Scotch then. Do you want water with yours?”
“Yes please. Just a little.”
They sat down in two easy chairs facing the fireplace.
“This is a lovely home Ken. You must be very happy here.”
“Yes we are. We were fortunate to find it. It came on the market just before I was made redundant. When that happened we decided to move to the country. That was something we had always wanted to do but my work in the factory and James’ schooling made it difficult. He’s our son. He’s married to Julie and they have one child, Larry. We don’t see enough of them because James’ job is in Nottingham. This was the first house we saw when we started looking and we both fell in love with it and immediately made an offer.”
“I can understand why. How much land do you have?”
“About an acre. You can see most of it from the lounge.”
“Do you fish? I used to, when I was a boy, close to here, at the low spot on the other side of the bridge.”
“I’ve never tried fishing. But I expect Larry will want to try it when he gets older. I might fish with him then.”
“Try the spot Joe and I used, we caught quite a lot there. I’ll show you where it is though it’ll probably be just as good at the bottom of your garden.”
“Supper’s ready boys,” cried Mary. They looked at each other, swallowed what was left of their scotch and crossed the hall to the dining room.
Supper was soup, roast beef and an apple pie. Ken opened a Shiraz and the bottle was empty before the dessert was served.
“That was a great meal Mary. Thank you. I really enjoyed it.”
“I’m glad Bob. No, you don’t have to clear away. You do your business with Ken. Would you like coffee or tea?”
“Coffee please.”
“Me too,” said Ken.
“Then I’ll bring it to the study.”
“Thanks Mary,” and Ken led the way back to the study. “Would you like another scotch Bob?”
“No thanks.”
“Sit down then.”
“Okay” said Bob, once seated, “I’ve filled in the form from Arthur. Have you done yours?”
“Yes. I didn’t find it too difficult, did you?”
“Well, I didn’t know what our fiscal year should be and I guessed that £5,000 would be enough capital to start with. That’s about all I wasn’t sure about.”
“I left the fiscal year empty as well. Perhaps we should start it from the date our partnership begins. I put April 1st for that but that might not be the best time. We should probably have a signed agreement between the two of us before we start. I guessed the same as you about how much money we should start with and put down £5,000. Since we agreed upon a 51-49 percent split it would mean that you’d contribute £2,550 and I’d put in the rest.”
“That’s exactly what I wrote.”
“However there’s a bit more to add I think Bob. You have a number of toy sets already made. We could add their value to your incoming equity, if you like.”
“Well, yes, I’d like that. But nothing more. There’s not much wood or paint.”
“Okay, that’ll simplify things. Do you know an accountant to look after the financial side?”
“No. Do you?”
“Yes. Simon Delare does my income tax each year and he told me he also looks after several businesses. He could be our accountant if you like.”
“All right. Is he expensive?”
“I’ve no idea what he’d charge to look after a business. Probably very little to begin with.”
“I’m worried about all the money we’ll soon be spending Ken, mainly because I’ll have to have a car. There’s not enough to buy one so I think we should rent or lease. What do you think?”
“You’re right. Renting would be best, until we know how things are going.”
“All right. I’ll talk to Tim about it the next time I see him.”
Mary came in with the coffee, put it on the side table beside Ken’s chair then left, shutting the door behind her.
“Let’s drink it now while it’s hot,” said Ken. “I don’t have anything else to discuss about the form. Do you?”
“No. However I’ve read the Business Names Act. I’ve a copy for you. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with that. As far as I can see we just need to use stationary with our business name and address on it, but you should look through it in case there’s something I missed. We should ask Arthur if there’s more we should do when we see him.”
“When do you want to do that?”
“How about Wednesday? And what days do you want to work next week Ken? Monday to Wednesday?”
“I don’t know. I might want to work full-time from now. I want to work on the hedge jig tomorrow and maybe Tuesday. So Wednesday would be good for me. I’ll call him tomorrow and see if he can see us then. Anything else to discuss?”
“Can’t think of anything right now.”
“Then let’s ask Mary to join us and bring her up-to-date. We’ll have a drink to celebrate. Do you like cognac?”
“Yes I do.”
“So do we. I’ll make some more coffee to go with it and light the fire.”
Mary was very interested in what she heard and wanted to know more about how they would run the business.
“Do you know enough retailers Bob?”
“Not yet, but I can find them. Probably the librarian can help me. The Chambers of Commerce in different towns will know which retailers sell toys.”
“Will you be working in Bob’s shop while he’s out selling Ken?”
“Yes, there’s not enough room to do it here. Of course, if we make lots of money we could build a workshop in the garden.”
“I don’t want that Ken. This is our home. I don’t want it to become a factory site!”
“It’ll never become that Mary. Okay, we’ll not build it here. Perhaps we can find a barn to rent.”
“Do you think we’ll ever need something as big as a barn?” asked Bob.
“Who knows! How about another cognac?”
“No thanks. It’s time I went home.” Bob stood up. “Thanks for a lovely dinner Mary. I enjoyed it very much.”
“You don’t have to walk Bob. I’ll take you. We’ll go out the side door and collect your Mac.”
Bob was too tired to pack the village sets after waving goodbye to Ken so he sat in his easy chair. He picked up the traffic book and started to read but his thoughts wandered and he realised he was falling asleep. He looked at the clock; it was nearly ten o’clock. ‘Oh! I’ve forgotten to call the kids. Well, I don’t suppose they’ll be worried, I’ll phone next Sunday.’