We continue our Meet the Team series with an extra-ordinary milestone! Celebrating 50 years at C.U. Phosco, we meet Stephen Bray, Administration Manager based in our Coleford, Gloucestershire facility.
With such an important milestone, celebrated on 6th September 2026, we could not leave such a monumental tenure go without a mention!
STEPHEN, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 50 YEARS AT C.U. PHOSCO! TELL US WHAT YOU DO AT C.U. PHOSCO NOW?
I am the Administration Manager for the C.U. Phosco Coleford facility. The role covers all aspects of administration, ensuring the smooth running of the team as well as training, and ensuring that everyone can carry on with everything that they need for now and in the future.
50 YEARS IS QUITE A HISTORY! LET'S START AT THE BEGINNING. HOW DID YOUR JOURNEY WITH THE COMPANY BEGIN?
I started in the Progress Department on September 6th, 1976. Not long after, the materials controller in the stores retired, and I was offered his job - running materials for the aluminium columns, pontoons, footbridges, concrete columns and high masts, all out of the central stores. I took it on and moved over there.
After about a year to eighteen months, I felt there just wasn't enough to keep my mind occupied doing the stores job alone. So, I asked if I could go back to the Progress Department and do both jobs at once. Everyone agreed, so that's exactly what I did.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE JUGGLING BOTH ROLES?
Busy, but good. That was around the time we had the "frightening experience" of getting a computer screen put in the office; something none of us had ever used before, so we were basically allowed to play on it and figure it out. Not long after that, I was asked to take over running the Progress Department fully.
THE COMPANY WENT THROUGH A BIG STRUCTURAL CHANGE AROUND THEN TOO WITH DECENTRALISATION. HOW DID THAT AFFECT YOU?
After a couple of years running the Progress Department, the decision was made to decentralise. Instead of controlling the factory, the works, and shipments centrally, everything was pushed back out to the individual factories. That's when Geoff Plumb, who was setting up the Services Division, asked if I'd like to join him to help build it from the ground up.
YOU THEN JOINED THE CONTRACT SERVICES TEAM. WHAT DID THAT INVOLVE?
Everything. I set up the entire admin function for the Services Division. We were costing our own jobs, doing our own purchasing, our own accounts, the whole lot. It was fantastic, honestly one of my favourite times. When Geoff retired, I carried on, though it wasn't quite the same without him, we'd become good mates over the years.
AND THEN CAME ANOTHER TURNING POINT, THIS TIME AT COLEFORD
Yes. Philip Marques called and asked me to come down to Coleford to have a look and see what I thought. I did, and I saw it as another chance to build something from scratch, which I really enjoyed. I ended up buying a house nearby and never looked back. I built up Coleford until it was self-sufficient - we could produce our own information, control our own operations, still reporting into central accounts, but largely running independently. I think it turned out to be quite a success, and Philip seemed to agree.
FROM THERE YOU TOOK ON LIVERPOOL AS WELL?
I was asked to replicate what I'd done at Coleford up in Liverpool. For a while I split my time: two days a week in Liverpool, three days at Coleford. Liverpool followed the same path, becoming self-sufficient, until eventually they found an admin manager to take it on full-time locally. After that, I could manage things more by phone and focus more of my attention on Coleford.
YOU'VE MENTIONED A FEW PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN IMPORTANT ALONG THE WAY. WHO STANDS OUT?
Philip, definitely. He's been incredibly supportive, and I've always enjoyed the pressure and the challenge of making things work for him. On the team side, Carey Norris, Logistics Administrator, has been an absolute godsend. She's helped me enormously and kept things going, and she's been my right hand ever since. These days I also have Leoné Archibald, Materials Controller, working with me and she is coming along brilliantly. Knowing the systems are in good hands means I can finally start to sit back a little and trust that what I built will keep running well.
LOOKING BACK OVER THE WHOLE CAREER, WHAT'S KEPT YOU HERE SO LONG?
Honestly, I thought I'd stay three years! Here I am, 47 years later, and I still look forward to going into work. I've got my house, my garden, everything I love outside of work too. But there's still something that pulls me in every day. It probably sounds a bit daft, but I mean it.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Just gratitude, really. The family has been incredibly supportive through the tough times and personal problems along the way; they were always there for me. And I have to thank Philip Marques and Nicholas Marques for everything too. Give me another couple of years, and then I'll be out of your hair!