Friday 16th May saw all 24 Cleankill staff enjoy a morning's conference at a hotel in the New Forest followed by an afternoon Battlefield Live experience which left everyone aching for a few days afterwards! After a champagne reception in the hotel grounds we had a meal in a private dining room. The event celebrated Cleankill reaching a one million pound contract portfolio and it was also a celebration of Barrie Foster's retirement. Barrie has over 40 years' pest control experience as a technician - the last 12 of which had been spent with Cleankill. Barrie was well known within the industry, having started his career with Rentokil in Dover Street.
Cleankill Director Jonathan Whitehead gave a speech, recollecting many of Barrie’s past ‘exploits’ in the industry and remembering that Barrie had trained Cleankill MD Paul Bates back in 1981! Barrie was presented with a tankard from his colleagues and a specially made trophy which represented Barrie’s love of old motorbikes and included items showing his pest control work. The inscription on the trophy was:
Barrie Foster
Skilful and innovative
Knowledgeable and mad
Loyal and hardworking
Friend and mentor
Nemesis of all pests
May 2014
Barrie responded by saying that he had worked harder in his 12 years with Cleankill than he had in his 28 years with Rentokil, but had enjoyed all of his time with the company and that work had been fun for the last 12 years!! After that he became totally incoherent....!