Mark Minshull McMemories

Some things that always make me smile about Mark are – His enduring ability to always suggest ‘one more’ glass of red wine in a way that is impossible to refuse! The way he always says he’s ‘getting on a bit these days’ before completing some physical challenge like a guy in his 30’s (I rode the Festive 50 with him and he skipped off up the hills like they didn’t exist and left me for dead!) His love of cars and bikes. I don’t think there’s a car he hasn’t either owned or driven and it really makes me smile when I see him (all 6ft plus of him) driving around in a little supercharged hot- hatch Mini Cooper! Overall, it’s been an honour to have worked with him and to truly be able to call him a friend. Simply a fantastic guy! Thanks, So, the first time that Mark took me out to lunch was when he interviewed me. We met at a McDonald’s. I knew that he was a big spender from that moment! Bearing in mind that I was employed at the very start of when Linney was hoping to move into Managed Services, and that he didn’t actually have a job for me, and was hoping that he would win the Roche account so that he would have. Until then, he wanted me to work out of Quadrant, to help them out. On my second day, there was an Exec Meeting at Quadrant, and Mark asked me to join them at lunchtime to tell them all about my previous employer, Astron, and how they approached Print Management. I can remember John Bewick being very dismissive and Nick Linney suspicious. Mark clearly won them over, and lunch was looking up! We won the Roche account just in time, as Peter and John at Quadrant had had quite enough of me! Unfortunately we were unprepared for the administrative side of the business, and I was given a computer with Excel, Word and PowerPoint and told to get on with creating some systems and processes, whilst Mark went off to win some business. Mark put me in touch with Mark Parkin-Coat s an together we created an MIS that was used for a number of years, until Jim Bird decided that he wanted a better one. As we started to get busier, I was given a PM at Mansfield to manage Roche work through the factory. The way it worked was that I was given a fresh faced to train up in the ways of PM. If they were any good after Six months, Mark would take them from me and put them on another account, if they were no good I had to keep them! Mark once asked me for my thoughts on a guy called Cameron Moir that I had previously worked with. Bearing in mind that Mark always wanted me to be honest, I told him! I think my parting shot was, “I wouldn’t employ him if he was the last person on earth”. To which Mark replied, “He s arts tomorrow, and I want you to work with him”! Roche UK went really well, and we were asked to take on Roche Global, meeting with Diane Goodsell at the David Couthard Boutique Hotel. Dinner was definately looking up!!. Roche Global involved many trips to Basel Switzerland and New Jersey USA. On our first trip to Basel, we had no idea that the restaurants all closed at 9pm, so went hungry on our first night. The next morning we were sat in the huge foyer very early, waiting to meet the client and her boss. To pass the time, I decided to catch up on e-mails. There was one from my PM at Quadrant that demanded I open it urgently, which I did. A claxon sounded, the screen started flashing all manner of colours and a voice started shouting from the computer “Porn Alert, Porn Alert!”. Mark just very calmly asked “Is everything ok?” I was so flustered and embarrassed that I couldn’t turn it down or off. On our first trip to New York, we popped into a Deli for a snack prior to taking the client out for a meal in the evening. Ever since watching American Cop programmes in my youth, I had wanted to have a Pastrami on Rye. It was huge, held together with toothpicks and covered in Pickles and crisps. Even snacks were looking up now! I can clearly remember Marks excitement when we won the Aldi account, and he phoned me in Basel to tell me. Roche Global didn’t go anywhere near as well as Roche UK, and one day Mark said, “It really isn’t working, you have been banging your head against a brick wall for long enough, I have a new brick wall for you to bag your head against, we have won McDonald’s Design and Print, and I want my safest pair of hands on it” I can safely say, that I have never been happier in my work life, and am so grateful to Mark for sticking with me when things weren’t going so well. On many many occasions in my e rly days Mark would say “That isn’t how we do things, that really isn’t the Linney way!” Yeah well, just upping sticks and retiring off to another country, that isn’t the Linney way Mark! I hope that he has a very long and happy retirement. Kind Regards, Edwin EDWIN DARFI