On Saturday 17th September 2022 ForFarmers Radstock will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the mill opening its doors back in 1972.

Although construction of the site and partial manufacturing started before this date, it wasn't up to full working capacity until the October of 1972. The mill started its life under the business name of Pauls and Whites, which had originally been founded in Ipswich in the early 19th century. Since then the site has expanded several times, but most prominently in 1987, when additional bin storage and a new Bulk Outloading system was created, which is still in use to this day. In 1992 Pauls Agriculture merged with BOCM Silcock and became known as BOCM Pauls until it was eventually acquired by ForFarmers in 2012.

ForFarmers Radstock will be celebrating its 50th from 11pm until 3pm on Saturday the 17th September with an open day event at the mill for past and present employees, including an exhibition of photographs showing its history from across the decades, guided ground floor mill tours, as well as a hog roast and other refreshments. The current Operations Manager, John Ward, has seen a lot of change during his time with the business and had this to say, "In November this year I will have worked at Radstock mill for 43 years, carrying out tasks from sweeping the floors to operating the presses, but now look after the site as its Operations Manager. I remember my first day vividly, when the then supervisor Dave Bevan came up to me and said "grab a brush and follow me". I was soon off and running and haven't looked back since. It's amazing to think how many hundreds of people have come and gone since my start date and I have seen so much change for the better around our site and the surrounding area."

"It will be great to see as many of my past colleagues as possible to help us celebrate 50 years of success in the animal feed sector."

Site Address: ForFarmers, Mill Road, Radstock, BA35TT, for more information please contact Grant Johnson by emailing using [email protected]