The 4th July 2019 brings the 35th birthday of Ravencourt ltd. Our longest serving employee Paul Frisby reminisces about his time with the company.
I joined the company 26 years ago when we were based out of a temporary office at Cobbs Nook Farm in Stamford, where Tom Story company founder who is now 92 years old lived at the time. We sold Microscopes and High precision balances to laboratories and schools.
Distribution was labour intensive writing addresses by hand and using hand strapping machines. I remember Sue Knight, (now retired after a long career with company) taping away on her typewriter. Also Oli Story, who is managing director now, was visiting us regularly and at that time when he was only 4 years old.
As the business grew under the management of Ian Story, (Toms’ son and Oli’s father) we became mail order specialists in the education market and added school clocks into our growing list of products. Around 1995 we moved to new premises in Oakham Rutland which was, state of the art at the time, before moving into a converted small supermarket in Stamford to offer larger warehousing.
Oli and Ian converted the farm buildings at Cobbs Nook which, is still owned by the Story family, into our new distribution centre and office suites which we moved into in November 2018. We still supply science equipment and clocks to schools but now we also design and manufacture products to help people live well with dementia, visual impairment and age-related decline which is really rewarding.
It has been an exciting 26 years and I have seen amazing changes in this time, and I’m looking forward to the future as the company is now more focused on innovative new product design than ever before. The number of items we dispatch is increasing every month which is really exciting.
Being part of the Ravencourt Living team is like being part of a big family and I am really pleased that my 15-year-old son Jack will be joining the team for his work experience in October this year.
Happy 35th Birthday Ravencourt!