Ahmarra recently learned of the very sad death of one of our skilled bench joiners, Les Adey.
Les was born 2nd June 1952 and spent his whole life living in Rowlands Castle, Hampshire. He learnt his trade as an apprentice carpenter and went on to start his own company ‘Castle Joinery’ in the early 80’s supplying local builders with quality joinery, windows and doors.
Throughout his life he was known for the quality of his work, his ability to make pretty much anything out of wood and for never saying no, no matter how busy he was as he valued the customers he worked for.
Les found the administration side of the business a challenge and so sold his business to Tim Doran (Ahmarra’s MD) in 1989 initially continuing to run the business before eventually settling into a bench joiner role as the business began to grow.
Tim Doran has known Les for over 40 years and commented, ‘Les and I grew up in the same village, my earliest memories are of the games of football on the village recreation ground, when pretty much every boy in the village from 10 – 25 would turn up in the evenings to play. Les was the first person I ever employed and was a lifelong colleague and friend and a truly skilled bench joiner. Les enjoyed a moan, but at the heart of it you always knew it was because he cared so much about doing the best job he could. He was also known for doing anything for anybody and his death is a great loss to everyone at Ahmarra, we have lost a valued friend and colleague.’
‘This year marked his 30th anniversary as a bench joiner with Ahmarra something I doubt we will see again.’
Many staff have benefited from Les’s wisdom and excellent training over the years he was skilled in using every traditional joinery machine you could think of but more than anything we will remember him as a warm-hearted and generous friend. Les will be sadly missed by us all but we have many happy memories of time spent in his company and the legacy of his excellent bench joinery will live on for many years to come.
Tributes from staff:
Ahmarra Bench Joiners & Wood Machinists
Les was a true gent and will be sorely missed by all his mates in the factory. We all expect him to be stood at his bench working away. He generously shared his passion and knowledge of bench joinery having trained many of us over the years, and he will be missed by all of us for his ability to find a solution to any problem, his love of having a moan and his great sense of humour. RIP Les.
Rob Dives, Purchasing Manager
Les was a good friend and colleague for over 25 years, and I have lots of great memories of our times together. He was a top bloke and I will miss him a lot.
Kev Preston, Spray Shop Supervisor
Les was a true friend and nothing was too much for him, he would help out anyone, he will be sorely missed but never forgotten. RIP mate.
Tony Lock, Bench Joiner
Les Adey, what can you say? A true gent, not a bad bone in his body, such a great bloke. He was the sort of person that would give you his last tenner and would go above and beyond to help anyone out and me on numerous occasions. I have a lot of fond memories with Les including trips to Amsterdam and a French cruise, as well as working alongside him daily. Alright, so Les was known to moan a bit (maybe a lot!) but this is one of his many traits that I will miss the most. Going to miss the old sod, was a privilege to have known him. Ahmarra won’t seem the same. RIP Les.
Tony Smith, Setting Out Manager
I’ve worked with Les for over 23 years at Ahmarra and I will remember him always having a chuckle – usually at my expense, as well as the odd moan. He’ll be greatly missed! Rest in peace my friend.
Nick Barnett, Production Manager
Whilst I only knew Les for a relatively short while (14 months) I always found him to be a very competent joiner and held in very high regard by his colleagues. In my personal experience he was always ‘up for a challenge’ and I found his help and advice extremely helpful on a number of occasions. He was a genuine ‘Gentle Man’ and I will miss him and indeed his dry sense of humour a great deal. RIP Les, we will remember you.
Jack Brewer, Project Manager
Les was one of the most respected and valued members of the team at Ahmarra. He had bundles of knowledge and knew everything about joinery – he would have the answer to every question. But I will miss his character the most as he was always having a laugh.
Vicki Boulton, Marketing & Compliance Manager
Les was a fountain of knowledge at Ahmarra, there was nothing he didn’t know about joinery, but more than that he was a good friend to many of us and was liked and respected by all who knew him, he will be sadly missed.
Martyn Fennell, Business Development Manager
Les was a traditional bench joiner with years of experience, so he was great to have around for advice. He was always suggesting ways of doing things better though, as he liked to do a job right. He will be sadly missed by the business. Rest in peace Les.
Steve Oliver, Health & Safety Manager
I have known Les for over 10 years and he was somebody when I first started working for Ahmarra who explained to me about how Ahmarra doors are made. He also always reminded me about the importance of safety is the workshop and would tell me when something needed to be addressed. As Les and I were of a similar age we used to share a joke as to who would retire first me or him. RIP Les.
