There are very few people I’ve met about whom I could say they were truly extraordinary, but Charles Lawrence was, without doubt, one of them.
As an entrepreneur within the sports and play construction industry since the 1970s there has been no bigger name, no greater single influence, and the legacy he leaves behind is immense.
Charles’s story is quite incredible: from leaving school with no qualifications, then setting up his first business cutting grass, to the array of successful businesses he started, the innovations he created. We’re very fortunate that he wrote it all down, in his remarkable autobiography, published in 2021: “Somebody said that it couldn’t be done… The Life and Times of Charles Lawrence”.
I first met Charles in the late 80s when my new role at The Lawn Tennis Association brought me into close contact with the leading builders of tennis courts, and then the wider sports construction industry. The name Charles Lawrence was already well established, especially in the fields of pitch and track construction, (and play surfaces), and Charles was naturally a leading light of the newly formed trade body for that side of the industry, the Synthetic Sports Surfaces Association (SSSA).
But it was when SAPCA was formed in1997 that I first began to work closely with Charles, after the SSSA joined forces with the equivalent organisation for specialist tennis court constructors (the TCCF). Foremost among industry leaders that envisaged the new body, Charles was chosen to be SAPCA’s first Chairman. As the association would need its own full-time administration – albeit initially just one person to help set it up and get it underway – I was approached and invited to put myself forward for the role. My “interview” was an evening with Charles in Newark, where he lived – essentially a long chat over an enjoyable dinner and, of course, with Charles, a few glasses of red wine.
At a personal level we hit it off well, and as we shared an excitement and optimistic vision for what SAPCA could become, it was agreed that I would be installed as the chief executive to work closely with Charles and the others appointed to the inaugural Board of Directors. It was a modest start – setting up the company, renting a room as the first office at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, buying a laptop, creating a plan for the first year of operation and starting to build a membership base, having inherited those members of the SSSA and TCCF that were coming on board.
A very large part of the attraction to me was the prospect of working closely with Charles, and learning from him, not just as the first Chairman, but as my mentor and guide. From our very regular progress meetings at his business HQ in Newark I soon came to appreciate his talents, as well as his genuine warmth and wicked sense of humour. He had natural charisma for sure, and limitless determination, but an innate instinct for business. One of the earliest things I learnt was when he said I should always be ready to answer his three simple questions: how much money do we have in the bank; how much are we owed; and how much do we owe?
But while being a savvy businessman Charles was very much a people person. Hard-nosed and blunt he could be, when needed, but he always excelled at the personal touch, and knew how to get the best out of colleagues. “Sometimes people need a pat on the back…”, he told me, with a twinkle in his eye, “… and sometimes a kick in the backside, it’s knowing which one, and when”. He had the gift of the gab, and loved an audience, and when addressing a gathering of SAPCA members he was nothing if not direct. He adhered doggedly to the principle that all SAPCA members were equal, and that it was beholden on all companies to contribute, and when supporting the association “to take off your company hat and see things from the whole industry’s point of view”. If ever there was any suggestion he was too influential as Chairman he would immediately invite others to put themselves forward to put in their own time and effort in the same way.
Charles was a hard worker, for sure, but always enjoyed the social side of work and was very much at home at SAPCA’s various events, or enjoying downtime and late nights at the industry’s biennial trade fair in Cologne. I recall drawing on his diplomacy skills at one Annual Dinner, when I had unknowingly sat two people next to each other who were in the middle of a fierce dispute. Thinking I must have done it on purpose one of the pair got up and was heading to the exit, before Charles intervened and quickly smoothed things over.
After those first four years SAPCA had become well established with a rapidly expanding membership base, sound finances, and a growing reputation for quality and effective self-regulation. Charles remained on the Board as Immediate Past Chairman and continued to play an important role in the association’s continued success. Charles was rightly presented with the SAPCA Award for Outstanding Achievement. After he retired Charles continued to keep a close interest in the industry, both the progress of the association and the well being of his great many former colleagues and friends. I was honoured that his final appearance at a SAPCA function was the SAPCA Annual Dinner in 2022, in order to make a presentation to me on the eve of my imminent retirement.
After knowing Charles for the last 35 years he had become a great friend, to whom I am hugely indebted, and like everyone who knew him I will miss him enormously.
Chris Trickey
SAPCA CEO (1997-2022)