In the late 1960’s Tom Ferncombe relocated from Ireland to southwest London in search of work. The 1950s had seen the largest net emigration from the country compared to all preceding decades and whilst this trend declined subsequently, it remained a feature through the 1960s and well into the 1970s. The economy was largely based on agriculture at this time, with less than a quarter of the working population employed in industry. It is perhaps understandable why our company founder decided to make his living elsewhere.
Tom’s early days in London saw him providing labour to other contractors and builders. An early morning would see him picking up Irish labourers from the Edgeware Road, “there were plenty about back then” Tom recollects, and transporting them to wherever they were needed. This could be quite some distance and Tom remembers travelling to parts of Norfolk, Essex, Kent and of course London itself. The same journey would then be completed each evening. Through contacts, Tom started working for O.C. Summers Ltd, first laying gas mains around Croydon and then undertaking drainage work in the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Having worked in the Borough through O.C. Summers for Wandsworth, the reputation had been built. When an opportunity arrived to tender for the contract directly in 1973, Tom took it and was awarded the work. As a result, Cappagh Contractors was incorporated in 1973 and the formal company history begins. The rest, as they say, is history...
