FIFTY years after starting his first job as a fresh-faced school leaver, Jimmy McGhee now occupies the boss’s chair of the agricultural engineering firm he joined two days after it marked its 100th anniversary.
A childhood spent working on Ayrshire farms had led to an interest in machinery, so an apprenticeship at A & W Pollock Farm Machinery in Mauchline was his dream job.
The company’s founder was Andrew Pollock, whose talent for inventing labour-saving machinery led to the initial success of the firm, servicing markets including Canada, France, Taiwan and Japan.
McGhee started off in the workshop, then the drawing office before going on the road as a salesman in 1976.
Now, as the firm marks its 150th anniversary and his 50th year there, he recalls how in 1998, his career nearly came to an end, when then owner John Pollock decided to retire and close the firm.
McGhee, who is now 66, was facing redundancy, but said: “I came in the next day and asked John ‘is redundancy the only option? I’d like to try and take over the company’. To his credit he was delighted, promised to make it easy for me and stuck true to his word.”
McGhee engaged the services of a retired bank manager, who helped him raise finance and guided him through the takeover process. He then moved the operation to its current premises at the former mining village of Lugar, near Cumnock, with help from East Ayrshire Council’s economic development team.
A bout of illness two years ago gave Jimmy time to sort through the Pollock archives and from them he has written a book about the history of the company – a record of innovation, skill and entrepreneurship.
The hardback publication was unveiled at this year’s Royal Highland Show at Ingliston.
McGhee said: “I had major heart surgery and while I was lying in the Golden Jubilee Hospital, I was thinking I’d been at Pollock’s for 49 years and I’ve got most of the archives, so I thought I’d write them down before I popped my clogs.
“We had 35 printing blocks from our adverts from around 1890, so I got the National Trust to get them printed.
“Fast forward to our 100th anniversary open day and the former works manager presented me with a whole box of printing blocks, some I hadn’t seen before. One of them was from the first war and was a munitions cart.”
He told The National the business was not an entirely easy ride and the firm had to reinvent itself along the way: “The things we were making in the 50s and 60s weren’t relevant to modern farming. In 1963 we designed a byre cleaner and it sold in huge numbers – and about 700 went to Japan. They bought them from us for ten years and came to an agreement where they paid a royalty on everything they produced.”
Since taking over the firm in 1998 McGhee says they’ve turned a profit every year, but he added: “The last two years have been the hardest, dairy farmers weren’t getting their payments, but things have eased off and we’ve got a very healthy order book and are looking to recruit some new apprentices. We’ve had a great 150 years at Pollock’s and we’re very much looking forward to the next 150.”
East Ayrshire’s Depute Provost Claire Leitch, who visited the factory on its anniversary day, said the firm had a proud record.
She said: “That many of the first tools they made are still in existence demonstrates the quality of manufacture and design which comes from the passion and drive of all who work here.”
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