Serving the Teesside Business Community | 23
FLYING THE FLAG
Teesside’s own Mike Matthews, the new president of the North East Chamber
of Commerce, talks to Tees Business editor Martin Walker...
N
orman Tebbit used to tell job-seekers
to get on their bikes in their search
for employment back in the early
1980s.
More than 30 years later, and the new
chairman of the North East Chamber of
Commerce, Mike Matthews, admits it was a
challenge which he took on quite literally.
The Nifco boss was out of work, freshly
laid off by Darlington-based Phoenix Tubings,
when he read an article on Margaret
Thatcher’s then employment minister Tebbit.
It inspired Matthews - who, by his
own admission, hailed from the humble
beginnings of Branksome council estate
in Darlington - to find work, by hook or by
crook.
And it was that determined, positive
outlook which he now tries to instil into his
own employees, as well as other businesses
in his new role with the NECC.
“I was half way through the second year
of my apprenticeship with Phoenix and they
announced its closure,” reflects Matthews,
with a wry smile.
“This was in the early 1980s and so
it was a common thing. Unemployment
was rising quickly. I was doing alright in
my apprenticeship. I started off poorly but
finished off strongly and won Most Improved
Apprentice of the Year - note it wasn’t
Apprentice of the Year! I was crap in the
beginning.
“I read an article in which Norman Tebbit
was telling people to get on their bikes, so I
took that literally and off I went knocking on
doors. Eventually I came to a company called
Elite Engineering in Newton Aycliffe and they
offered me a job.”
Although Matthews found his ideal job
then, his ambition to succeed soon outgrew
his small employers.
“I have some great memories of that job,”
he says. “The guys I worked with at Elite
were some of the best craftsman you’ll ever
come across.
“It was a sub-contract tool room. You’d
work seven days a week for 16 weeks
non-stop sometimes. If you were busy, you
just got stuck in. We used to earn loads of
money, but never had the time to spend it.
All the lads had nice cars and nice homes,
and the wives were getting new sofas every
three months. That was all the talk at the bait
table, an