Les Skates

Leslie Herbert Skates (1920 – 2007)
 
Les joined Herbert & Sons Ltd. in 1938 at the age of 18 when we were in Goswell Road.  Shortly after the outbreak of WWII, he enlisted in the RAF and spent most of his time on an airfield in Iceland.
 
On demobilisation, he rejoined the company and had a brief period as Sales Office Manager.  He then transferred to the sales team, becoming one of the best speciality salesmen of scales and mincers to independent traders that the company had ever had.  As the supermarkets began to grow, Les also handled many of our sales to them, including Tesco.
 
In 1974, he and Glad moved to Haverhill and Les took over responsibility for Service Administration.  In the run up to his retirement in March 1985, Les returned to selling, this time of the Cherub Baby Scale, where his rapid success in increasing the number of units required caused production some headaches.
 
Les and Glad had an active retirement, usually spending much of the winter in a sunny Mediterranean or North African resort to avoid the cold, as Les had picked up an aversion to the cold from his Iceland days.
 
Les died on 29th July 2007 in Margate, where he and Glad had moved to, after many years of living in Stambourne.

 
Les Skates