David Goldsby, manager of Vitacress Sales Ltd - Birmingham, retired this week after 39 years in the fresh produce trade.
Customers, colleagues and competitors turned out in force to give Goldsby, who also celebrated his 60th birthday this week, a good send-off in the city last Saturday. The major reason for his retirement is to allow him to concentrate more of his time on the Chernobyl Children Lifeline charity, for which he heads up the Birmingham link - one of around 130 in the UK.
Goldsby's back catalogue of employers reads like a who's who of Birmingham wholesaling. He began his fruit and veg career as a groundsman with Davis & Randall in 1966, worked for JV White and Simkin & Tucker in the same role, before moving out of the old market for a spell to become a driver for Mills Fruiterers, which was then taken over by Griffin & Steel. He then moved to Louis Reece, initially as a porter and then a salesman, and was with the company when the move was made to the market's new Pershore Street site in 1976.
After Louis Reece it was on to John Dennis, where Goldsby made the progression to director before joining Vitacress when it opened its Birmingham units in 1996. Nine years on and it's time for a different challenge.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 devastated the lives of millions of Belarusians and the charity of which Goldsby is now a dedicated supporter was established in 1992 to bring some relief to the children of the nation. "I got involved in the charity in 1993. We raise funds to bring children affected by the disaster to Birmingham for four weeks every year to give them a holiday and some respite, and to enable their immune systems to recover from the background radiation they endure.
"The results are good. Not only does it improve their immune systems, the children find that the sore throats and headaches that are their constant companions disappear. Childr4en of eight-10 years old have the bones of 60 year olds and their blood vessels are very weak, but doctors have told us that just bringing them over to Birmingham once can potentially add two years to a child's life. If I can add one day to a child's life then any amount of effort is worth it."
As well as hosting children through the charity, Goldsby has also funded trips off his own back. "It gives them a new outlook on life; a spark of life. You can't smell, taste or see radiation, the only way they know it's there is because their health deteriorates. Life expectancy in Belarus has dropped to 58 and the WHO has said that the mortality rate has now overtaken the birth rate in the country. Pollution won't peak there until 2050. It is in the water table, in the air and in the foodchain. You can't burn it and they don't have the resources to bury it. The Chernobyl unit is covered in a concrete casing and that is beginning to crumble away.
"So I won't have a minute's regret about leaving the fruit trade. I am lucky to have a different perspective on life and have not been totally wrapped up with work. I'm also hoping to be involved at Birmingham Children's Hospital and help with leukaemia support there."
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