It’s a growing thing

from I'd Rather Be In Deeping September 2021

Countryside Code

Entrepreneurship is a quality that courses through the veins of the Rogers family. For them it is a natural character trait and it bubbles over into healthy exuberance carrying others along in its wake!

Bert and Dorothy moved to Peterborough with Combex, the toy firm, after starting their married life in leafy Selsdon in Surrey. Leaving Cherry Tree Green they set up home in a newly built bungalow in what was North Rd, Northborough, Northamptonshire. Really? Not for long! Bert bought his influence to bear and in tribute to Northborough Castle the road was renamed Castle Drive and that it has remained. In honour of his new home Bert, now Sales Manager for the company, would answer the phone ‘Lord Northborough!’ and later when he moved to Deeping he became ‘Baron of Back Lane’! Max Reich, owner of the company but without a family of his own, had intended to leave the company to Bert and two other colleagues. Indeed, he may have been visiting the Rogers’ to discuss this future; Dorothy had bought a Doulton dinner service in anticipation! But before any documents were signed, he sadly passed away and his brother briefly took over before selling to Richard Beacham. With ambitions to become ‘Mr Toy‘, Beacham grew the business group to become Dunbee Combex Marx and then, against Bert’s advice, purchased Louis Marx America. But the cost of raw materials was escalating and in 1980 the company filed for bankruptcy. But with his mortgage paid and a son in the growing trade, when one of Les Taylor’s fields in Back Lane, Deeping St James, came up for sale In November 1971, Bert attended the Lyall & Co sale at The Three Tuns and snapped it up! Initially the whole plot was let to R. M. Addy to cultivate. but in December 1975 the first block of glass went up and Keith activated the horticultural skills he had learnt at Parigo. Their first house on the site was built in 1976. With brother Tony who initially continued to work at Perkins, the family had a 4.00am start three mornings a week. Dorothy left to finish while the boys returned to their day jobs, leaving her with the trailer to make deliveries. Flowers grown outside were harvested in September/ October while those under glass were cropped year round. As business grew, the family supplied markets and shops throughout the country with their chrysanths – they were also sold locally at The Goat by Ken and Norah Dyer. At the height of their business the company had two lorries and delivery drivers and set up an import business bringing in flowers from the four corners of the world. On one occasion they featured on the BBC news when a consignment of carnations from Columbia was impounded at the airport, cocaine stored in the wooden bar which held the stems in place. On another occasion roses destined for the Valentine’s Day market missed

a vital rendezvous with a delivery truck at the airport and a local friend undertook a 1,000-mile round trip to Glasgow and all stops in between! The roses got through – romance hadn’t died! At the height of their business in the 1990s another house was built on the site, the land was divided and the property gained extra space. Caravanning had been popular in the family; Alison’s parents had been members of the Caravan Club since 1963 and Alison and Keith themselves members since 1983. So in 1994 they started to develop the area behind the bungalow Dorothy and Bert Rogers and created five pitches around an oval in the centre - each pitch looking outwards and fully serviced with an electric hook up at a time when this was yet to be the norm. But by 2008 Border Nurseries were finding that their customer base was shrinking, and florists’ shops were under pressure from the supermarkets and so the decision was made to develop the caravan storage side of the business. This was developed to a very high standard with a state of the art security system, devised initially for Border and now being rolled out in sites across the country. It was awarded a CaSSOA gold site from the outset and this year became the first CaSSOA compound in the country to be awarded the new exemplar Platinum grading.

By 2009 the limited capacity of just five pitches for touring caravans was not sufficient for demand and planning permission was obtained for a further eleven pitches around an open grassed area with cars parked to one side. Access is via a controlled gate with CCTV giving their visitors peace of mind when out exploring the area. The adjacent storage facility gives the option to store and stay!

In 2017 the decision was taken to apply for permission to dismantle the glasshouses and in the same footprint to build self-storage units. The units now offer the same respect for the environment as is apparent elsewhere on the site, low level, green and well maintained. Visitors to the caravan park are encouraged to enter the village from the outskirts to avoid adding to traffic in the centre. On what was to be his last trip out for a ploughman’s lunch in Empingham in 2017, Bert was sitting with Keith and Alison when his granddaughter Helen, now a partner in the business and her partner Mike arrived in a chance meeting and in that moment Bert was able to see that the business he had started was in capable hands to go forward into the future. Granddaughter Emma also works part-time in the business.

But Bert’s legacy is not just in the business he helped to establish but in the Rotary Club of the Deepings of which he was a founder member and received a Paul Harris award. Meanwhile Dorothy was a former member and past president of Inner Wheel. Keith and Alison participated in Rotaract with gusto, constructing a carnival float in the glasshouse among other daredevil adventures. Bert was keen to support Young Enterprise at school, conducting mock interviews with young people at Arthur Mellows and The Deepings School. Bert and Dorothy were both keen members of the Deepings Bowls Club. Bert was also in the Deepings and Stamford Bridge Clubs.

And so the Baron of Back Lane and Border Nurseries now Border Caravan Storage, Border Store It and Keal Lodge Caravan Park has carved a place in the history books as 50 golden years of trading are celebrated in 2021.