A FAMILY business has passed from father to daughter in Wokingham.
Established in 1977 by Jack Hobbs and his wife Karen, Gemclean Ltd became a cleaning company that the family is proud of.
Daughter Kelly Blacknell followed in her parents’ footsteps, and went on to develop her own successful business, MCS Cleaning and Maintenance, in Leicestershire where she now lives.
She now adds Gemclean Ltd. to her portfolio.
Growing up in the Wokingham borough she remembers how Jack and Karen developed the business as their young family grew.
Jack started out as a window cleaner, but as his skills developed he expanded into carpet and upholstery cleaning, and then into commercial office cleaning.
“Dad taught me everything I know,” said Kelly.
“As children we would go out and help him clean.
“He taught us how to methodically work round a building, how not to miss a single bin or desk, how to empty a hoover bag and how to apply the penny test when the hoover pipe was blocked.
“Dad always used to say, ‘take care of the edges, because the middle will look after itself,’ and, ‘make sure you check round like you’re the paying customer,’ which helped us make sure that nothing would ever get missed.”
Kelly also took to heart the advice Jack gave her on how to treat employees.
“Dad told me that if you look after your team, they will look after you,” she said.
“And that’s just what we do – we now have 350 people in the MCS family, and we give them hand written birthday cards, Easter eggs and chocolates at Christmas, just as my parents always did for their teams.”
Now that he is semi-retiring, Jack is handing over Gemclean Ltd to his daughter.
“It is a huge privilege to take on Dad’s team, and to carry on looking after them,” Kelly said.
Things haven’t always been easy for the family.
“It was after many knock-backs and redundancies, and with our last £50 that we built MCS and helped to provide jobs for local people,” Kelly explained.
“We were determined to help give them back their pride and dignity.”
At age 10 Kelly’s youngest daughter became terminally ill with muscular dystrophy, while Kelly’s mum, Karen, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Dad rallied round all his customers to help raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK) and Cancer Research, and later donated much needed funds for Jessica’s wheelchair,” said Kelly.
“We are truly grateful for all my parents’ support, and to their customers and their cleaning team for everything they have done.”
Kelly is discovering that people have fond memories of working for Jack.
“They are all sad to hear that he’s retiring, and his clients have told me about the hard work, dedication and care that he has been known for over the years.
“One said to me, ‘Jack would always go that extra mile, looking after our building like it was his own – he cared, and you don’t seem to get that nowadays.’ ”
Kelly remembers one day, when a couple he employed couldn’t make it in to work after their car broke down.
“They felt awful letting Dad down, but he ended up helping them to buy a new car,” she said.
At age 72 Jack is finally stepping down – to a kind of semi-retirement.
“Dad is still very keen to continue supporting his residential carpet and fabric care clients, though, many of whom have been loyal customers through the years,” said Kelly.
“There, you see, he’s still caring about others.”
But now that area manager Richard has been appointed to run the rest of the Gemclean business, Jack should be able to find some time to enjoy this new chapter of life.
Kelly would like to welcome Richard to the business, and to wish Jack and Karen the happiest of retirements.
Gemclean Ltd is in Blagrove Lane, Wokingham.
For information, visit: www.gemcleanltd.co.uk and www.mcsclean.co.uk
