Ian Scarr-Hall: My grandfather George Scarr-Hall worked as a blacksmith before founding GSH in Hanley, Staffordshire in the English Midlands in 1895, first as a sole trader before forming the limited company. Back then, this region was the centre of the pottery industry which is the reason why the original company building was located in one of the six towns of the Potteries, which only later joined together to form the city of Stoke-on-Trent. My grandfather was a visionary: there was a huge demand in that area to heat the pottery kilns to dry the pottery, so my grandfather developed a so-called "high-pressure steam boiler". This was a very high temperature coil of pipework which had hot water in it. The endless loop of pipework (Picture 1) would then circulate around the kilns to dry the pottery. Afterwards, the pottery got painted and made suitable for selling in the workshop. The offices in those days were extremely hot, hence workers had to be very careful not to get burnt. Today it would probably be illegal. Another story I remember was a ritual that was put in place for new employees of GSH. They would be led into the pottery kilns in the potteries as a means to introducing them to the business. However, they were not led into the clean part, but rather into one of the very dirty kilns where they were left to their own devices for a while. The scare was part of the initiation procedure. As the local industry flourished, the business diversified into installing and maintaining industrial equipment, marking its move into what is known today as facilities management. In 1939, the Second World War broke out, and the company was contracted to provide engineering support to the Air Ministry and War Office. This meant that my grandfather and father had to travel around the UK to visit different factories. In those days there were hardly any street signs in the countryside, so I remember both of them returning from their trips, complaining that they had gotten completely lost. My grandfather died in 1943 and my father George Scarr-Hall took over the company. Surviving the war years was not easy, especially because of the bombings. I recall going into work, even at the weekends, to check that the buildings were still standing.