The Perfect Tale of Derry Ambition

It’s been a funny old week, hasn’t it? Missing another St Patrick’s Day hasn’t helped my mood, nor has the on-off lousy weather. My final hope that my print delivery of Stones Corner, Turmoil would be arriving at my gate wrapped up with a great big red bow this week didn’t happen either :( Although I’m told delivery will be next Friday, so to those loyal readers, your orders will be in the post the following day. Promise :)

As hard as things can seem, I quickly put myself back in my place and get motivated when I hear tales like that of Adrian Ross, a Derry man born and bred, introduced to me by the lovely Mary White. His is a story of hard work and determination to go after his dreams, starting his career at 10 years old and working his way up to travel the world. I was so inspired by his tale; I knew I had to share it. In truth, I could write a book on this man! But a blog post will have to do…

Adrian’s ambition was set at an early age. As a youngster of 11 or 12, Adrian would run down to the lower end of Fountain Street, where there was a big back door of a garment factory called Welch Margetson (WM). He would look into the workers’ social room, where they played badminton and table tennis to entertain themselves. He remembers saying to his young friends, “I’m going to work in there, and I’m going to be the boss someday!” That was Adrian’s dream, and he did it.

Growing up in a family of 10, Adrian started to contribute financially at the tender age of 10 years old. After school, he worked at the Commercial Paper Company, separating all sorts of cords for recycling. Paid on a Friday, he’d go straight home and hand his wages over to his mother.

With a taste for work, Adrian moved on to deliver laundry with Thomsons Dye Works. This was at a time when no one could afford to instantly buy new clothes, so old clothes were dyed to last longer. From there, he worked in a shop as a delivery boy. By now, he was 14 and ended up running the whole operation, including book-keeping! He laughs when he recalls vividly that with his share of his pay, he’d buy a quarter bottle of buttermilk, a tin of ambrosia rice and a big bar of chocolate!

Finally, at 15, he was offered his first step over the threshold of the Welch Margetson factory as a ‘Box Boy’. The WM management quickly recognised Adrian possessed a great deal of potential and talent and a natural ability to work well with people. Driven and determined, he was promoted again and, by now, was earning great money for his age. One day he was called to the manager’s office and told, “We’re going to offer you a job.” He waited. “We’re willing to put you in charge of the industrial cleaners. It’ll take your wages up by 50%.” It was a fantastic offer, but Adrian could only say, “I need to go home and see what my parents say.”

His parents wisely asked him, “Is it what you want, Adrian?” It wasn’t, and he told them so. “No, I want to be a proper manager sometime down the road!” He was to thank WM for the offer and say that he appreciated it, but no. When the surprised manager heard his decision, he said, “In 16 years, son, I’ve never had anyone come into this office and tell me what they wanted! Can I ask what it is you do want?” Without hesitation, Adrian answered, “I want to be sitting behind your desk one day!” The man’s eyes nearly popped out in surprise as he quickly sent Adrian on his way.

However, a few months later, he was called back to the oak-lined office again, where he met a Mr George Dunlop and a Mr Raymond Robinson. Adrian describes them later as both brilliant, sharp and clever men. He was informed he was joining George Dunlop’s works study department and asked if he had a good suit, good shoes etc, to wear. Next, he was instructed to take six brand-new shirts from stock. He laughs when he recalls how he wore the customary leather trousers for work, and the girls would call him “leather arse!”

After a year, at 18, he was offered a job as manager of the finishing department, and it wasn’t long before he became Robin Eagleson’s (Manager of the Pyjama Room) understudy - a man highly regarded by all. Adrian was put in charge of the trouser department, where he taught himself how to manufacture a pair of pyjamas from start to finish.

Not long after, Eagleson resigned, and Adrian was offered the job. Although he didn’t know much about the production of jackets (describing himself as always a trousers man!), he was given an ultimatum, take it or leave it. He took it!

Over a short time, he ended up increasing the pyjama department from one room to two. Extremely senior managers from Marks & Spencer would visit the site regularly and it wasn’t long before they heard of Adrian’s successes and asked to meet. Adrian describes himself, “I’m a perfectionist to the nth degree. If it wasn’t right, it wasn’t going to the customer. We don’t try and fob it off; we fix it.”

Eventually, he found himself running the finishing and assembly departments, after which he was offered the role of manager of the machine room. This was one of the most important managerial jobs in the factory. He remembers vividly, the first time he walked onto the floor as the new manager; the women at their machines held their scissors and slowly clicked, clicked, clicked them down onto the machines. This wasn’t a gesture of welcome for Adrian but a simple message - they didn’t want him there!

Within hours he got all the female supervisors together. They were brutal in their honesty and told him, “We don’t like you.” Adrian didn’t have to think long before he answered, “Well, I don’t like you either! So just do your job, we’ll get on the best and if you don’t, we won’t!”

Loving the attention, Adrian surrounded by "his united band!"

He describes the supervisors “as a tremendous bunch of women; they went through their trade and knew their stuff.” As time went by, they soon recognised Adrian was extremely fair and what you saw was what you got. The whole atmosphere changed, and again, he describes the floor as “a great united band of people.”

Adrian was never interested in the workers’ backgrounds, whether Catholic or Protestant. Both worked at the factory, and throughout the early days of The Troubles, there was never a day when religious or political issues affected the site. He remembers getting the 100’s of girls together and telling them, “M&S don’t care whether you’re a Protestant or a Catholic, they’re Jewish. We have to remember, at the end of the day, they manufacture in the UK, and our competitors are out there fighting for their business. If we have trouble here, they’ll take it off us tomorrow. So, I’ll be honest, we will not tolerate any in-fighting here.”

In time he finally became the Factory Manager of Welch Margetson! After 18 years and during the height of The Troubles, he was asked if he wanted to go to England to work. He did; life was too difficult with the constant horrors of a battling country. Now married with four young children, he left to move to Dewhirst, Redcar, where within a year, he was quickly made an Associate Director and, six years later, a Divisional Director.

Eventually, “the whizz kid” as he was known at Dewhirst Redcar, returned home to Derry with his wife, Gladys. However, this was after a long career in planning and building factories in countries ranging from Vietnam, Cambodia, Mauritius, and Morocco to as far away as New Zealand. Thank you Adrian - it’s been an absolute pleasure!

Jane Buckley

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