FOOTHEALTH
Editor Cheryl Taylor talks to Philip J. Taylor, Bespoke and Orthopaedic Footwear Specialist
Tell us about how you became a shoemaker, it’s an interesting story? I contracted polio as a child, and about the same time my parents were divorced and my three brothers and I were placed in the care of Hampshire Social Services. When I was eleven years old I was sent to the Lord Mayor Treloar College, a specialist school for children with disabilities. On the first morning in school I was told that I would be spending the next five years learning to make shoes and boots under the watchful eye of instructor and housemaster Peter Shaw. Over the coming years Peter Shaw became very influential in my life as I struggled to accept the limitations of my disability and the stigma of being in care. By the time I was to leave Treloars I was ready to lead an active and useful life and excitedly started my first full time job as a qualified shoemaker.
You worked for a number of companies before starting your own business, how did they compare and prepare you for going self employed? My first job was at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore. There was no pressure to reach unrealistic targets or cut corners and overall we achieved a very high quality standard of work. I moved north to Blackburn in 1976 and worked for six years with S. Reed & Co, my first taste of a commercial manufacturing environment. From Reeds I moved to my first workshop supervisor post at Manchester based Prince & Fletcher where we achieved a huge turn around in quality and production in just 3 years. Eventually P&F were swallowed up by CS Bullen of Liverpool where I moved to, setting up a new upper making department. All the companies I worked for held differing views on the need for profit and the reinvestment in training, and over the years the changing system of NHS contracts system seemed to have a greater influence on the quality of the footwear, unfortunately for the worse.
When and why did you decide to set up your own business? I was about forty years old I think, I was certainly getting frustrated with not having any control over the work I was doing and felt that my skills were being wasted. All the companies I worked for held differing views on the need for profit and the reinvestment in training, and over the years the changing system of NHS contracts system seemed to have a greater influence on the quality of the footwear, unfortunately for the worse. So, the help of a bank loan and heaps of support from Business Link I opened my first shop in Prescot, Merseyside. Running my own business was certainly an eye opener, it took two relocations and nine years to take the business into profit but it was worth it. Hopefully now that my son is working with me, we will be able to relax a little and concentrate on giving our customers a really special service.
What is the most satisfying aspect of your work? Over the last few years as the business has become more stable, I have been able to specialise in making shoes for people with more complex disabilities. Quite literally we have people walking in comfort when they thought impossible, and some people who thought they would never walk again. There is definitely a sense of pride in my work each time a happy customer walks through my door.
Tell me about your involvement with the British Polio Fellowship’s Orthotics Panel? After a number of years of being a member of the Fellowship, I thought it was time to put something into the equation as they are keen to develop their services in footwear and orthotics. The opportunity to join their
32 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • AUGUST 2010
Orthotics Panel was too good to be missed and in my first two years on the panel I have been responsible for creating a number of advice leaflets for members. The panel consists of representatives from all the main areas of orthotics and prosthetics and therefore has an important role to play in developing and improving the service offered to people with polio.
What is the one thing that has influenced you most to date? I think this again is something Peter Shaw did for me that he told me about a short time before he died. I was always in trouble at school and the headmaster told Peter that I would have to leave the school as it was obvious I was not happy there. Peter told me that he in turn had told the headmaster that if I was expelled, he would resign from his work at the school. I could not believe that someone was prepared to that for me, but he did. Since then I have changed my attitude to the way I work and now try to go the extra mile for my customers as they take on the NHS and try to get the footwear they need supplied and paid for by the NHS, yet still have me making their shoes.
And what plans do you have for the future? I am in the process of planning a move to the Peak District at the moment. My wife and I have bought a house a couple of miles from our planned new workshop at Bradwell, near Buxton. Hopefully this will be the last move and allow me to work till my retirement in the next ten years or so. My son James is fast becoming skilled enough to take on the running of the business, but I guess I might always want to be involved in some way, it would be difficult not to be involved in making a difference to people’s lives.
How can people get in touch now? The Cordwainer. 99 Railway Road, Leigh, Lancashire, WN7 4AD. Telephone 10942 739700. Website:
www.thecordwainer.co.uk Email:
thecordwainer@hotmail.co.uk
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