Carpenters Couples

Carpenters Group are supporting Rainbow Trust Children's Charity and the amazing work they do in our local communities as part of 'ILC Day' on 14th February! 🌈

Seen as ILC Day takes part on Valentines Day, we thought we would do an extra special feature and have a chat with some of our lovely Carpenters Couples.

Here are stories from some of our top Carpenters Couples

Read John Carpenter & Donna Scully's Story:

"Jonna!!

John founded Carpenters 30 years ago this year.  I helped set it up but I didn’t officially join him until 3 years later.  This means we have been working and living together for 27 years!

People ask us all the time how we can be a couple in real life and work together.  How do we not drive each other mad.  Do we fight all the time! People are really interested to know how we appear to have made it work.

We’ve really (mostly) enjoyed building and running Carpenters and seeing it grow into the amazing business it is today.  That is beyond our wildest dreams.  We are most proud of the culture, our people, amount we give back and how many people have been able to earn a living through us.  We’ve tried to have a ‘no blame’ culture at Carpenters where, if you make a decision in good faith, even if it goes wrong, there is no fallout.  John and I have that rule with each other too.

Seeing our people train, get further educated, promoted and enjoying what they do brings a great sense of joy to us both.  We both come from basic backgrounds, we didn’t go to university and we both qualified as lawyers the very long way.  We wanted to run a business we could be proud of and was a reflection of our values and background.  Equality, diversity and social mobility are vital to us both.

Has it all been a bed of roses? Not on your life.  We’ve had the ups and downs you’d imagine for any working couple both personally and professionally but we’ve a huge amount of love and respect for each other and that gets you through the bad times.  Add to that a fairly wicket sense of humour and sense of fun and its definitely about work hard, play hard!

John and I will celebrate Valentines Day for sure.  He always buys me a bouquet of the pink flowers I had at our wedding and we will go out for a special meal.  I know that’s not for everybody, and it has become very commercial, but we like to mark the occasion.  We are still a little romantic!

Somebody told a few years ago that we are known in Carpenters as ‘Jonna’ and it really tickled us.  We tell a lot of people about it and they always laugh."

Read Eddie & Kerry Cogley's Story:

Eddie has worked at Carpenters Group for 19 years and Kerry has worked at Carpenters Group for 18 years. 

When Eddie first started at Carpenters Group, he was a finance assistance and part of his role was to pass cheques out to fee earners across the business. He had to pass cheques to Kerry and some office banter would come in to play. They then got to know each other more over time and they first got close on a works night out in the revolution bar on Matthew street, classy place! A bit corny but they then actually made it official on Valentine’s day. Eddie arranged for a colleague to leave a red rose on Kerry's desk as he wasn’t in on that day and the rest is history!

The worst thing about working together for Eddie is when Kerry doesn’t settle enough cases and taints the good Cogley name! The worst thing for Kerry about working together is that there is no hiding!

Their valentines plans will consist of having a nice meal given that it is a school night and spending time with their 2 beautiful daughters who know love to spend their valentines with them.

Read Mike & Lauren Dunne's Story:

Lauren joined Carpenters Group in June 2010, this year will be her 14 year anniversary and she is a year away from becoming a Carpenters “lifer”.
Mike joined a year later in June 2011, they have a collective 27 years between them. They often wonder by the end of our careers how many years this may be.

They first met when Mike joined the Carpenters Group team, they were both working in Priory House, in what was at the time our first response unit. After a year they went on their first date and never looked back. 12 years later they’re married and have and amazing daughter Reeva together.

Lauren said that the best thing about working together is that they get to share experiences together and really appreciate what each other do.  The worst thing about working together for Lauren is that there is absolutely no way of avoiding an email from each other!

Mike agrees with Lauren that the best thing about working together is sharing experiences together, they both really appreciate what the other does in their roles. Plus the commute together always gets the day off to good start.  The worst thing for Mike is buying lunch for two every day (joking!) Switching off from work chat can sometimes be their downfall.

For their Valentines plans they are off to on a short break to the Lakes, so Lauren tells Mike anyway.

Read Charlie & Joanne Restall's Story:

Charlie and Joanne Restall met in January 2012 online and have lived happily ever after ever since!

They were soon to be married and will be celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary in November this year.

They have worked at Carpenters Group for over 6 years in the Insurance Services department making them part of the furniture and say that working together gives them a happy balance. They tell us that they have enjoyed many Carpenters Group famous parties and met some lovely people along the way who have become close friends.

Outside of work they love going on holiday, whether it be camping, city breaks, sunny beaches or long cruises. They love to go out to the theatre or for long walks in country parks and manor houses but equally enjoy staying in and binge watching TV dramas. Charlies other love is sport, whether that be football, racing, golf and his claim to fame is that he plays darts 3 nights a week with superstar Luke Littler!

We hope you have enjoyed finding out more about the couples of Carpenters Group!