Edge Forum

Charlie Groves has been hand-crafting Sussex Trugs in a range of traditional styles dating back over 150 years.  Read about his practical vocation and what he has learned along his journey towards setting up his own business.

What was your journey to get where you are?

I left college in June of 1991, having sat ‘A’ levels which I later realised I shouldn’t have done because it wasn’t really the right thing for me.  I noticed in the local paper for a trainee Trug makers job, a few miles from home, so I could get there under my own steam.  I took the job with it in mind that it would just be a temporary thing, and here I am 18 years later still doing it.  I just found I enjoyed making things.  I prefer to make something rather than sit there thinking about something, it’s just more rewarding.

 What would you say your education was like?

Pretty much the same as everyone else’s really, there wasn’t really any part of it that made me excited I suppose.  It’s just going through the motions, to get your GCSEs and then hopefully off the back of those, get a good job.  I suppose technology and CDT and woodwork were quite interesting, but at 14 I don’t think I really appreciated how much more I would have enjoyed doing those than the GCSEs I ended up choosing.  If there had been something more practical to do, with hindsight that would have been the better route.  But then again at 14, some people can make their own decisions very well, others need it done for them.  It was just a regular education really.

 What does success mean to you?

Being happy doing what you are doing.  I think too many people nowadays gauge success in a monetary and material sense. But it’s never really done it for me.  I’ve never found any long term satisfaction in spending money on things.  We spend so much of our lives at work, where’s the sense in not enjoying it just for the money?  There’s obviously a middle road, but I love what I do and I’d much rather take home less money at the end of every month and have had a great time and met some really interesting people.

 What challenges have you faced?

Motivation, I think.  That’s the biggest challenge.  When you work for yourself and you are not particularly driven by money, how do you motivate yourself? It can be really easy to get stuck into bad habits, like having too many cups of tea in a day and things like that!  Stay in bed a bit too long in the mornings.  Certainly before the family, motivation was a bit of an issue.  It’s up to you if you work for yourself.  If you don’t have a degree of self discipline, it won’t work.  You’ve got to find a way of working efficiently and getting on really.  Mine was really enjoying the work that I do, that’s what makes me get up and get on.

 Did you have any support?

I had an enormous amount of support from my family. Because I was living at home when I founded this, I was 21.  Mum and dad were great, other wise I think I would have been put off from a financial point of view.  They lent me some money.  It wasn’t an enormous amount of money and I didn’t have it for very long.  Nowadays it might be easier to access that form a bank, they would maybe be a little bit more willing.  But the nature of this business means that you don’t need an enormous amount of money to get set up.  I had a former colleague who was very useful in the six weeks between having been made redundant and setting this up.  Business Link have been useful when I needed a little bit of advice.  I’ve had business reviews along the way just to make sure I’m doing the right thing and to see where they can help you.  The beauty of that is that it’s free of charge.

 What drives you?

Now, hungry children!  Knowing that I’m doing something good as well, that keeps me going.   Know that the baskets I am making will last for years and years. Being able to talk to someone who will be using what you’ve made for years and years and who appreciates it is great.  It’s a lot more personal and I think people appreciate that nowadays.

 Who is your role model?

I don’t really know that I have one.  There are people who I’ve met on the show circuit, as when I started the business fourteen years ago that was the only way I had of direct sales, like craft shows, county shows, flower shows.  I met lots of people with fascinating jobs, I’d get profession envy!  Some very skilled craftsmen, a few of them who are the masters of their crafts.  I have a lot of respect for people like that.  They love what they do, it’s almost like that’s what they were meant to do.  And a lot of them are the last of their kind.  They’re doing a good job of running course and teaching people, but unless you get someone to serve a long apprenticeship, skills like that will be lost.

 What advice would you give to young people?

Be determined if you’re certain that you have found something you want to do.   Make a serious effort to achieve it and make it happen.  And if you are unsure, try as many things as you can.  You can catch up, even if you’ve spent 8-10 years dabbling in things, unsure which of them would help you.  The more you’ve tried the more likely you are to find that one thing you like.

 What do you think education should be like?

I think it’s good as it is.  The difficulty is, it’s all got to be paid for.  To be as cheap as possible, I suppose it needs to be as general as possible.  Many more practical courses I think.  Even as young as 12 or 13, to have the opportunity to go to a college of further education to try other things, try chippieing, try plumbing, try all the things you don’t get to see at school.  That way I think, you’ll get the kids before they’ve lost interest and given up on it.  You might just find them that they think ‘this is great!’  It would have helped me, although I perhaps wouldn’t have ended up doing this, I could’ve been really good at something else outside of the mainstream regular education.

Check out Charlie's website 'The Trug Store' at:  http://www.thetrugstore.co.uk/