THE TILLING GROUP
The company traces its origins to 1846, when Thomas Tilling started in business. Thomas Tilling was born in 1825 at Gutter's Hedge Farm, Hendon, Middlesex, of parents who had moved there from Gloucestershire. In 1846, at the age of 21,[2] he went into the transport business in London as a jobmaster in Walworth using a Horse and carriage which cost him andpound;30. In January 1850, he purchased a horse bus together with the right to run four journeys a day between Peckham and Oxford Street. This bus he drove himself, and at the time had only one employee; a conductor, Mr. Joseph Eagle, who stayed with the firm until the end of his working life, well into the 1890s.[3][4][5][6] By 1856, he owned 70 horses, which he used for bus and general carriage work. When the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was formed in 1866, Tilling was contracted to train and supply horses to haul the fire engines; the horses were trained to respond quickly and, prior to handover to the fire brigade, were employed on bus services (primarily the Peckham route) to gain experience with heavy traffic. Tilling soon became the biggest supplier of horsepower and vehicles in London, with a stable of 4,000 horses by the time of his death in 1893. Tilling is buried at Nunhead Cemetery.
Tilling's horse buses stopped at predetermined points and ran to a fixed timetable, making them more punctual and orderly than the other operators' buses.[2] This was one of the reasons for his success with customers. Because his buses operated on time, they earned the nickname of "Times" buses, and this became the fleet name painted on the side.
Another subsidiary of this group is Grahams Builder Merchants, this company took over Glover and Wood Ltd. It was apparent that the group wanted to move into more consumable items such as protective clothing, hose clips and numerous other items that GandW stocked and distributed. We had a new MD and Sales Director both were Graham men. They were very agressive and focused to grow the new business they had acquired. For the first time I was sent off to Graham's head office for sales training and I have to say, it made me more succesfull as a salesman. The link is a modern day version of the sort of training we were given.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q5I7iH9v14
I started to grow my sales on my area, I was happy always smiling and enjoyed what I did. My income allowed me to pursue my hobbies and as long as my sales were growing that's all I was really concerned about. However, one day I was summoned by the MD, he was a corporate high flyer and I could tell he was under pressure. He praised me for my success, but made a comment to me that changed my perspective of why I was working for this company. The comment was " you have only one weakness, you smile too much. I cannot believe that someone can smile all day like you" well I thought that was my job to smile at everyone I was a salesman !!
I decided that I needed to move on and as things start to move into place, through thought and attraction, I was approached by a small company based in Leicester called Guardsman Ltd, Colin Stevens, made the approach and I then Had an interview with Mike Sargent the MD. I took the job !!
If you want to follow the rest of my journey I will be posting each day, I hope you find my journey interesting please comment and share
I am now happy and fulfilled achieving my purpose, I have a property business and an online business. I have learnt to serve others ( as I hope I am doing now ) respect others for what they are trying to achieve no matter how big or small their ambition. I work on my attitude each day and look to help anyone I can on a daily basis.
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