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80


‘60 years and still going strong’


Derek Rendle, owner of R&G Auto Repairs in Kingsbridge, has been mending cars for an awfully long time…


R&G


Auto Repairs has long been a fixture


in Kingsbridge. Its longevity owes much to it being a family business with Derek and both his daughters active in the business. We spoke to Derek about the history of the business. “My life as a mechanic started on


2nd March 1959… I attended Kingsbridge Second-


ary Modern School (as it was then) from the age of 11 to 15. One morning, during a school assembly, the Headmaster Mr J Coombes gave a short announcement: Mr Garrett of Torcross Garage was looking for an apprentice motor mechanic. My father, who worked in Torcross, went to see Mr Garrett;


arranged an interview for me and I was accepted. So I started my life as an appren-


tice motor mechanic 60 years ago. I joined the two mechanics em-


ployed there - Mr Frank Wakeham and Mr Les Oldfield - attending day release at Plymouth Technical College to complete my appren- ticeship.


l to r: Claire, Derek, Sue (Mum) & Tanya In the mid-sixties Mr Garrett


It was a full day from the


very start - catching the 7am bus in Torcross and not returning home until 8.15pm.


retired from the garage and the workshop was taken over by Frank Wakeham. I continued working with Frank until 1973 at which time the garage was acquired by Mr Chris Venmore. Chris had some good ideas to push the business further forward. He successfully applied to Saab GB to become a Saab Dealership and we went from strength to strength. I made many long trips from the South Hams to Grimsby to attend Saab training courses. During the following year we were also made Honda Dealers which meant yet more training courses, all the while gaining a wider knowledge of all aspects of car mechanics. Chris sold the Garage in 1981;


Derek & Tanya


once again we had a new boss and the garage was then renamed Torcross Garage 1981 Ltd. Sadly, in 1984 it went into receivership and all the staff were made redundant. In April that year, Paul Gilbert


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