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”.