When James left school he wanted to be an electrician, following in his grandfather’s footsteps but could not get an apprenticeship. He joined the local steelworks as apprentice garage mechanic and after a number of years became garage foreman.

During this period, he ran a mobile disco with Mandy for ten years, worked weekends supplying public address equipment for outside events and installing television aerials throughout the Dale where he lived. He also rented out two televisions and a garage as a side line!

In 1981 James and Mandy purchased two small marquees and started hiring them out for weekend events.

James was made redundant in 1983 and he took a gamble, deciding to make the marquee hire business a full time occupation. The disco lasted for another couple of years before the expansion of the marquee business became more time consuming, so the disco was retired.

In the early days, the marquees were made from canvas and were made in house by James, Mandy and her mother. Every process was learned from scratch with a lot of advice from a local sailmaker.

James has always maintained his ‘hands-on’ approach to the business and frequently says that “work is his hobby”.

Mandy worked in the accounts office at the local steelworks, where she met James. She became involved in his various schemes on the accounts side and as his roadie for the disco. When she was made redundant, she went to work for local government until 1985 when Adam was born. She then joined the business full time doing the clerical side of things.

When they decided to start manufacturing the marquees in house, Mandy added sewing machinist to her list of duties.

In the early days, Mandy and James had to turn their hands to many tasks and do whatever job required doing.

Like James, she cannot imagine life without working in the business and neither of them plans to retire in the near future.

John was the very first employee of James Fletcher Marquees in 1983. He specialises in show marquees, two of his largest annual events are the Border Union Championship Dog Show and Northumberland County Show. Because he has been team leader at these events for many years, the organisers can confidently leave him to complete the contract on time from the marking out stage to the handover. When not erecting marquees, he is usually spending time inside them, as his other full time passion is a championship show rabbit breeder and judge.

Adam joined the company in 2003 after leaving university. Previously he had worked during the school holidays and weekends. He has gained a good knowledge of the company by working in all departments. He is now responsible for maintenance and forward planning. During busy periods, Adam can be found out on-site with his own team.