AROUND TOWN MEETS


“That’s the big message that I always try and push. It doesn’t matter what others think of your goals or what your past is. Always be who you want to be and don’t feel like you have to judge yourself on what others achieve.


“I could have been a singer if I believed in myself. Can I sing? Not a chance. But if you have self-belief and confidence you can make anything work.”


In 1976 aged 18, Julie packed up her things and moved to Cornwall with just £45 in her purse in search of a better life. Now, over 40 years later she admits if any of her own three children told her they were leaving she’d be devastated but says she needed to get away to change her life and make a better future for herself.


She quickly found employment as a junior secretary at a legal firm, again thanks to her true Yorkshire grit.


“I went in and said to the owner ‘if you appoint me you you’ll never regret it.’ Looking back, it was so bizarre when the job was only for £19 a week and my rent was £13 a week. But even then at 18, I’d already got my core values that have remained with me ever since: honesty, integrity and hard work – not that I knew what ‘core values’ were at that age.”


Julie says it was this risk- taking employer that taught her a lot in business. If you believe in your staff it gives them the right attitude to do wonders. Her employer noticed an aptitude in Julie for the law and provided her with informal training which started her progression to become a lawyer


Around the same time, Julie set out on her philanthropic path, becoming a voluntary associate for the probation service to help young girls get back on the straight and narrow.


“As an advisor, I was more like a friend to these girls. They were of a similar age to me but knew more about life than me already; they were living in women’s shelters or had a


For the first three years, from designing the product to eventual production, Julie continued working as a litigation lawyer and so ended up working two full-time jobs touching 80 hour weeks. After resolving disputes during the day, she would then go home and work for Pyronix during evenings and weekends.


couple of kids.”


She also helped as a secretary at the Bodmin Toy Library and taught adult literacy in her spare time – life was very busy in those early days and not much has changed since.


“I never looked back. The business was growing substantially and soon we opened a larger factory in Hellaby where we went on to employ 200 staff”


After a couple of years she moved to work for the local authority at North Cornwall District Council which gave her a further opportunity to learn, starting formal legal training at night school.


In 1982, Julie was promoted to a civil litigation manager and moved to Aylesbury District Council where chance saw her meet her future husband.


“I’d always vowed I’d never come back to Sheffield but that was until I met Mr Kenny and fell in love.”


Paul Kenny was from Sheffield and so Julie packed up her life in the West Country to be with him in 1985, almost ten years since moving away from home, finding employment with a local law firm.


The couple married at aroundtownmagazine.co.uk 5


Rotherham Register Office and were set for wedded bliss. Yet just five weeks later, Paul was made redundant from his job at a lighting company, with Julie fearful of what they were going to do now.


Having always had an interest in electronics, Paul wanted to design a PIR – or Passive Infrared Sensor – an electronic device used for security. However, he had no formal education or degree behind him.


Taking a chance on the idea, Julie sold her Aylesbury house and used the £28,000 collateral to fund the business start-up. Working with an external investor who had advertised in the paper for ambitious people, Pyronix Limited was born in 1986.


“I was naïve at the time as I didn’t know then that one in every two businesses fail. But looking back, being naïve was the best thing I could be as I believed the business could and would work.”


Friends at Julie’s 50th


During this time, Julie fell pregnant with their first child, working right up until being induced in January 1989; she spent a full day working in the office before heading to the labour ward at 6pm.


Now with a baby to think about, Julie decided juggling family life and two jobs was too much and so left her law career behind to concentrate on the business.


“I never looked back. The business was growing substantially and soon we opened a larger factory in Hellaby where we went on to employ 200 staff.”


Julie was also starting to become recognised within the industry, being appointed the first female director of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) in 1992 before going on to be their first female chair nearly 20 years later.


“I was definitely a woman in a man’s world but I never let it hold me back. I remember the first BSIA meeting I ever went to was in an exclusive gentleman’s club in London – they’d never even thought about women going.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84