Interview
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It was about then that Peter met Becky , in 2012 . She was also in the Army reserve part of the same squadron ( 266 Port Maritime ), and he says “ she scooped me off my feet and moved me over to Portsmouth to live with her ”.
Car booting
This was the point when he and Becky began dabbling in car boot sales , and were so good at it that they bought a van and said “ why not do this on a bigger scale ?”. From such humble beginnings , their current business was born . After Peter passed his driving test Becky bought him a little Peugeot Partner , and his full time job was to go to Titchfield Auction on a Sunday evening and buy mixed boxes of stuff for a pound each , then ferry them back to Portsmouth , sort them and sell through the boot fair every Wednesday on Hayling Island . As business improved , he started attending Ford Market , near Arundel on Thursdays , doing the same thing . During Peter ’ s travels he was lucky to meet Colin McCloud and Ian Parmiters , two more experienced dealers , who took him under their wing and taught him the business . At one point , Colin offered Peter all the contents from Sabre sales which the ever-supportive Becky put on her credit card . The stuff that they bought filled a 100 sq ft warehouse to the ceiling , and it took three weeks to clear the place . The haul included 600 tin helmets , WW2 webbing , 1000 sets of battle dress uniforms , and 2000 peaked caps all in tiny sizes . Peter sold the stuff at many fairs including Wimbledon , Ford , Ardingly and Bursledon , all over a period of a month . With the proceeds he managed to get a bigger van , a Ford Luton van with electric tail-lift which made the job easier .
Eventually , they generated enough cashflow to move back to the Island - a Victorian house in Ryde which Peter affectionally calls the money pit ! “ I ’ m going to have to work seven days a week 24 hours a day to keep the cash hungry house .” he jokes . Meanwhile , Becky managed to get a nursing job at St . Mary ’ s . When Peter heard about an antique business for sale in Shanklin , he reckoned it was an opportunity not to be missed . He and Becky invested every penny they had to acquire the business . Straight away Peter had to re-stock
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