Our very best wishes go to both of them and, particularly to Bob and his family on this special day.   Bob's son, Steve, has followed him in to the business as our HGV Driver and Yard Foreman.   Steve will also be taking over as Transport Manager following Bob's retirement.

Bob's official retirement party will take place later in the year so that his many past and present friends in the industry can attend - news and photos will follow after the event in November.

Bob joined DOE on 01 June 1971 in the days where there was still a "Mr Doe" running the business.   Bob was originally responsible for the Company's HGV low loader lorry and organised site moves for DOE's trax machines around the country.   So life has come "full circle" with Steve, almost literally, following in his father's footsteps although site moves nowadays no longer involve the excavators which are hired close to each site location.   

When it became uneconomic to own and transport large excavators around the country, Bob then moved over to the construction side of the business and, within a short time, brought his flair for cost effective organisation to contract management, initially in East Anglia and, as he progressed in the business, taking overall responsibility for all the construction works throughout Central and East Regions, a massive and very complex task. 

In later years as new, young managers joined or were recruited and trained from within DOE's labour force, Bob took on another challenging role, setting up and developing the Services Division.   This Division is dedicated to looking after annual maintenance contracts, one-off repairs, surface and synthetic carpet cleaning and, generally, all those essential "small" jobs which, if left undone, can quickly become "large" and, inevitably, more expensive jobs.   With climate change producing a significant increase in the growth of moss, lichens and weeds, this Division has become as busy all year round as the construction regions are right across the country.   It has become a vital part of DOE's overall service following the philosophy of being in a position to help from "concept to completion and beyond".

Bob, as you can see from one of the photos, is passionate about motorcycles and regularly disappears to the Isle of Man for the TT races.  This hobby, together with his love of gardening, bird breeding and keeping in touch with us via Steve's progress will keep him busy when he is not travelling with his wife, Janet.   Bob and Janet have enjoyed travelling to many different countries and will be setting off for a holiday in Turkey later this month before more long distance travel later in the year. 

Our very best wishes and thanks for so many years' hard work and valued contribution to our business go to Bob.   We all wish him and Janet many happy and healthy years of retirement and look forward to keeping in touch and watching them enjoy a very well earned rest from the rigours of modern business life.