James was born in 1965 and some 6 months later in 1966 his dad Tony started Beverley Veneers.
With a brother and 2 sisters, it became clear as young adults that James was the one most likely to work in the family businesses, coffin making along with funeral homes and latterly crematoriums.
James trained as a cabinet maker/furniture designer at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood, Parnham House, Dorset which attracted students from all over the World.
In 1987, following further training in Houston, Texas with the second largest architectural woodworking company in America, James came back to live near and work at L T & R Vowles. His brief was to manufacture 1,000 coffin sets to make Vowles self-sufficient and to negate the need for transport from Beverley to Upton-upon-Severn. James achieved this with invaluable help from the team at Vowles.
With a strong desire to get back into the world of fine furniture, James left L T & R Vowles and went to work as Production Manager at a cabinet makers with 10 craftsmen, near Evesham.
In 1990, James moved back to Yorkshire to be nearer to his family and his roots and focussed on sales and marketing, knowing how he enjoyed this more than any other aspect of his career so far.
From 1990 to 2018, nearly 30 years, James progressed his career in sales and marketing working very successfully in a whole variety of sectors, always customer facing and always negotiating.
In 2018, Stewart Jukes, having connected with James 10 years previously, asked him to come back to L T & R Vowles as Sales and Marketing Director, appreciating his background along with his understanding of the business, the products, the customers, and even some of the same staff.
In 2023, the role was expanded to include the whole of the Jukes Group. James can hardly believe how his career journey has gone full circle and says “it just feels like coming home.”