Dick Lawson, who ran a successful garden machinery dealership at Higher Coniscliffe near Darlington for many years has died at the age of 84. He passed away peacefully at the Gardens Care Home, Darlington on 25 October. His funeral was held on 1 November at St Edwin's Church, Higher Coniscliffe and attended by over 300 of his friends and family
His daughter Julia has sent us this reminder of his life.
"Dick was born at Welton in Lincolnshire, where his father had a small farm. His father died when Dick was eight, when his mother decided to return to Durham. where Dick then attended Darlington Grammar School.In his spare time Dick bought wirelesses, repaired them and sold them on. However, his mother soon put a stop to this when Dick repaired a wireless from a fish shop, which in turn made the whole house smell of fish. So that was the end of his first wheeling and dealing.
Dick had a year at Houghall where he gained 100% in Agricultural Machinery, resulting in a General Certificate in Agriculture. Following this, he worked as a farm pupil with Mr Burton Green at Sockburn Hall Farm. As the winter months were quiet, Mr Green suggested Dick went to work as an apprentice for a friend of his, J D Ord, where Dick received good training.
As most of his friends will know, Dick was a very organised and tidy person, and it frustrated him that that the spares were just dumped in the middle of the floor, left in no order and not labelled. So he set to in his own time identifying, labelling and shelving all parts - and from this gained the job of storekeeper.
Dick later became a demonstrator at JD Ord, and while demonstrating a Ferguson tractor he was approached by an elderly gentleman whom asked if he would be interested in working for David Brown Tractors. The man's son, Tom Lazenby, was Home Sales Manager at David Brown and was looking for an enthusiastic young man to join the Demonstration Team. After an interview, Dick was offered the position. He initially turned this down as the salary was not as good as he was receiving from Ords, but David Brown increased their offer, and Dick joined their team.
He had a great time travelling all over the country demonstrating machinery, staying in the best hotels, being entertained by dealers, which is where he developed a champagne taste on a beer income.
It was in 1958 Dick left David Browns to start a machinery operation for Teesside Farmers, which was later taken over by Farmway. Here it was quite a challenge for Dick finding premises, staff etc. but it was a huge success and he enjoyed every minute of it - whilst continuing to still sell David Brown tractors.
In 1968, Dick started his own business. He purchased the garage in High Coniscliffe, which became Dick Lawson Ltd. He was joined by John Pallister who left Farmway to join the firm. They sold Agricultural equipment and spares for many years, then all at once the farm machinery market collapsed. So the decision was made to exit the farm machinery market and concentrate on garden machinery.
The business grew and grew as well as selling garden machinery and spares; they repaired machines and hired out equipment. Dick’s daughter Julia and son Philip joined the company.Prepaid self service pumps were installed on the premises and there was a sign in the field across the road advertising 24 hour service. Dick always joked that he wished to be buried underneath this sign and was adamant that all of his paperwork was ’thrown in’ with him; as a result a small amount of paperwork was buried with him!
In 2004 the premises was sold to Kebble Homes and it was a great honour to the family that they called the road where the business once was LAWSONS COURT."
