Interview with Brian Parker

"I set up Kentcare in 1978 with Margot, my wife. I had a number of years experience in Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance and had the opportunity to start up on our own. I had enough contacts to assemble a diligent team of high quality site staff.

One of the first contracts we handled was with the Central Electricity Generating Board, now the National Grid - for whom we have carried out a number of interesting projects over the years. One that springs to mind, from the early days, was initially landscaping, and then followed by a three-year maintenance contract at one of the largest engineering projects in Europe, the Dinorwic Pump Storage Generating plant in North Wales. The site is in an environmentally sensitive area in Snowdonia, incorporating two reservoirs one at the top and one at the bottom of a mountain. Naturally all the power cables had to be buried. But because cables overheat if kept underground for too long, they're occasionally brought up to the surface. Our job was to make sure that the cables and, more importantly the cooling plant units, were camouflaged whenever they did appear. They still had to blend in with the remainder of Snowdonia.

One of my favourite smaller jobs has been maintaining the grounds at St John's Cathedral, Portsmouth. Of course, the story goes that the Bishop's taking a walk in the garden one day and he stops by to talk to the man trimming the rosebushes and says 'Isn't is wonderful what God and mankind combined can achieve?' The man turns to the Bishop and says, 'Ah that's all very well for you to say, my lord, you should have seen it when it was just God looking after it!'

The company's ongoing maintenance contracts are with a variety of clients from Cleaning Companies to Convents to University Sports grounds. These contracts cover a variety of areas with very different requirements - sports pitches, living accommodation and the grounds surrounding the various buildings.

The term we now use “Where do you want to mow today ??” was coined by one of our staff who was commenting on both the wide area we cover and our commitment to our customers who need us to react at short notice.

I am pleased with how the business has evolved in the last few years. It is difficult at times to take a back-seat in something which has been your life for a number of years, but am confident that Kentcare will continue to grow and thrive, and I am pleased that my experience and advice is still required from time to time, to assist the Management team and staff to deliver a first class service to our customers.”