Crown jewels
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Dining in the Hall at Magdalen College, Oxford, on Friday it was possible to believe that our host Ken Cook, m.d. of Midlands BRS Ltd, had chosen a place a stability and tradition for his annual customers' dinner as a reassurance in these troubled times. Not so, however, be cause MBRSL has been entertaining major customers in this splendid setting for 12 years now.
I must say that wining and dining in the shadow of centuries-old panelling helps to put today's problems into perspective; and NFC executive vice-chairman Vic Paige rose to the occasion by quoting Roosevelt's famous dictum: "We've nothing to fear but fear itself." He obviously touched a chord when he told the galaxy of industrial managers (including some from troubled Cowley) that managers mustn't allow the prevalent despondency to discourage them. "Management's job is to solve problems, and British industry has some damned good managers."
Perhaps it was just as well that the subdued lighting made it impossible to see whether any MBRS executives actually blushed when Vic Paige said their company was one of the jewels in the crown of NFC!