retirement and other interests, Farmer knew it was time to strike out on his own. PDS was liquidated, but its assets were bought and its customers were kept, along with crucial trusted member of staff, Audrey Spencer, who was retained for the new adventure. “I always wanted to sail my own ship and two years ago, I decided to do just that,” Farmer said. “Audrey, whose background is credit control for corporate companies, used her transferable skills to become an expert in the care industry. “She now manages the company on a day-to-day basis. She’s excelled within the care side of the business now and it’s worked really well for us. “My expertise is in manufacturing and engineering, but when the credit crunch hit, that sector was hit hard. But care is recession proof as we will always need nurses and healthcare workers.” Manufacturing, engineering and care are about as similar as black is to white, but just like Farmer and Spencer, they work seamlessly alongside each other. Farmer has adapted, retrained and refocused his mind, as the demands of the customer evolved and is now an expert in the care sector as well. He is now an industry standard trainer, who ensures that the 50-plus temporary workers on the Black and White books aren’t just trained to the minimum standard, but to his exacting standards. And that knowledge became useful on another front when personal circumstances – and a freak accident – changed Farmer’s life. He jokes about the reasons he’s currently in a wheelchair being down to his home town being Hereford and its links to the SAS – before setting anyone straight almost immediately. He said: “When I was in my mid-30s I started falling over a lot. My brother was having similar symptoms and had tests and was diagnosed with late onset muscular dystrophy, and then I was too. “I broke my leg five years ago and when the bones mended, the muscles weren’t ready for me to get back on my feet. “Things started to get better and then a year ago I shattered my femur in two places and I am still getting back on my feet slowly.
“It was ironic when I broke my leg, as the day before I did, I was doing a course on how to use hoists to move patients, then 24 hours later I was in one. “In a funny way, it’s probably helped our business, because I now have that first-hand experience of not being able to do things that we all take for granted. It gives our company a bit of expertise. “We provide care and try to understand what it must be like, but now we really know what it is like.” As the care side of the business continues to grow, Rachel Mendez arrived as Registered Manger to take charge of a new domiciliary care division. She has worked hard to collate the company’s policies and procedures and worked with the Care Quality Commission to launch the domiciliary care side of the company. Black and White now place trained staff to help people with their care needs at home, as well as providing agency staff to care homes and medical centres. Tom Evans and Lisa Babatunde, are the company’s newest members of staff with Evans joining as sales manager, bringing the full-time staff to five as the company continues to grow and prosper. But the managing director is keen to stress that growth is only acceptable as long as the ethos of putting the customer and client first – with that crucial personal touch – isn’t lost. “We never want to stop growing, but just as importantly we don’t want to be huge, as we’ll lose what we are good at doing,” Farmer added. “You don’t have to be Microsoft to be successful. It’s about doing things well and finding the right people to do it – which always sounds a bit funny when recruitment is your business. “I have a fantastic staff, but recruiting the right staff for the business is vital and it can be difficult. You are putting your trust into the people you employ. “We have invested in our staff. We ensure all our staff are trained to the best standards we can. That’s vital because our aim is always to give the best we can to our customers. “When you are dealing with real people and real lives, we need to make sure that we are doing the right thing, it really is as black and white as that” l For more information, visit www.nogrey.co.uk or call 01452 226136
May 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com | 49
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