Let’s Talk Turkey

Three years ago, the run up to Christmas was quite different for Paul White. As leader of the Pendle Council and founder of the Modern Milkman, his days were spent waking up before dawn, delivering milk in his suit in time for morning meetings at the town council. Now on a blustery October day he is out in the bracing Pendle wind, along with his business partner Conor Walsh, tending to 500 turkeys, all of which will be centre stage on a Christmas dinner table.

Paul had become a councillor at the age of 22, one of the youngest in the UK, before becoming leader of the council and performing this role for a decade. It wasn’t his only role, he’d also set up the Modern Milkman which aimed to bring the milk round into the modern age, allowing customers to book a milk delivery online with an emphasis on sustainability.

“Some days I’d get up to deliver milk for Modern Milkman,” Paul White explains, “then go into our office as we had a marketing agency too, then I had to get on a train and go down to government to see a government minister, then I’d back up north on the train to chair the full council meeting – there was so much going on.”

Paul had been diagnosed with heart failure in 2018 at 31, just before his election as leader of the council, and was fitted with a pacemaker, but he still carried on with his hectic schedule.

I’ve always wanted to set up a farm since I was four years old.

“I just kept it to myself and carried on, I didn’t want people thinking it was a weakness,” Paul explains. Eventually Paul realised despite his success, that it would all be worth nothing if he wasn’t healthy. “I realised it could kill me, so I stood down and sold Modern Milkman.” Without this additional pressure, Paul began to daydream about a life in the country.

“My degree is to do with agriculture, so I trained as a land agent and always wanted to work in the countryside. I ran the National Trust Lake District Estate, looking after 100 farms and 300 cottages and all the Beatrix Potter properties, so I do have a background in managing estate but not necessarily looking after turkeys!” Paul laughs. “I’ve always wanted to set up a farm since I was four years old. I thought now was the time to do it. There were a lot of older turkey farmers leaving the industry because they were struggling to find labour, so I thought I could go and buy some turkeys and if I don’t like it… well it’ll be Christmas soon and they’ll all be gone, it’s not like I’m stuck with a load of sheep or cows.” But luckily Paul did like turkey farming, and he was also very good at it. Paul has sold turkeys all over the UK and was overjoyed at being selected as a finalist for New Entrant of the Year, at the British Farming Awards in Birmingham on the 20th October, the pair were even happier after scooping the silver!

I thought I could go and buy some turkeys and if I don’t like it… well it’ll be Christmas soon and they’ll all be gone

For Paul, the welfare of his turkeys is important and he hopes despite having a short life, it will be a good one.

“Our turkeys are all a heritage breed, they grow much slower, so we have them much longer, which makes the meat taste better.”

The turkeys have previously been allowed to roam in a patch of Colne farm land, only taking shelter in a cosy shed when the northern weather rears up. However due to concern over avian flu growing, the turkeys have been forced to stay inside. Paul is keen to keep his turkeys entertained despite restrictions.

“We’ve been putting on activities,” Paul laughs. “We also asked people to drop their pumpkins off after Halloween and the turkeys loved them!”

It’s clear that Paul values his turkeys and wants to keep them as happy as possible.

“They all have their own little character,” Paul explains, “I do have one at home from last year that I kept, it was a crossbreed of turkey, and my niece got really attached to it. It’s at home now – it is a bit of a pain though because it is very territorial with the chickens,” Paul smiles. While he’s not ‘talking turkey, Paul, ever the innovator, has developed a new company called Patch – which aims to revolutionise window cleaning.

“I thought I just wanted to live the ‘good life’, but I told Conor Walsh about my idea, he was an electrician at the time, and he said he’d quit his job tomorrow to help. That’s how we became turkey farming tech people!”

The idea behind Patch is a simple yet effective one and a similar premise to the Modern Milkman, it brings window cleaning into the modern age, with a digital platform to find a window cleaner and pay them, without routing around in the couch for cash.

“People our age probably wouldn’t be able to get a window cleaner or have the cash to pay them. You have to get in touch with them and they have to give you a quote but society has moved on from this way of working.

Society now is all about instant book, it’s all online. We even have an app for Android and Apple – it’s dead easy. The idea is that we’ll start out with our window cleaning services, but closer to Christmas introduce new services – for example using AI technology you’d be able to walk round your lawn with the app open and it’d give you a price for having your lawn mown, or give you instant prices for gutter fixing, or even things like driveway jet washing. It’s just in Haworth at the minute as we test the tech – but we are now ready to roll out nationwide.”

Now, although he’s back to working 80-hour weeks, this time, he has a team behind him.

For Paul, it’s important that Patch has its home in East Lancashire and is funded and run by locals. “We’ve managed to raise £250,000 out of East Lancashire-based investors to get it to market, that’s been a really interesting and enjoyable experience. Lancashire is one of the most underinvested places in the UK, and we were offered all the money we needed if we moved to Manchester – several times too. If it wasn’t for my passion to stay in East Lancashire we would’ve just gone to Manchester and taken the money. Instead, we took a fairly large loan against my house in Laneshawbridge an borrowed a load of money from a friend in Colne. We’ve brought together 20 first-time investors to have a go, with the hope that this community of people can go and help other people in East Lancashire with similar ideas, from this we are starting our own venture fund where we’ll only invest in businesses specifically from Lancashire.”

Despite Paul wanting a quiet life in the country, he also finds time to host a bi-weekly slot on Radio Lancashire, with Graham Liver, called our Lancashire Farm, sharing the thrills and spills of life on the land. Now, although he’s back to working 80-hour weeks, this time, he has a team behind him.

“I can trust the team we have; I can trust my business partner Conor.” Paul explains, “While previously I’d feel guilty for being on the farm, especially when we were really busy, now I just think about how lucky I am that I get to go and farm, knowing that everything will be fine. It’s the most fun I’ve had; every day is great!”

From leading Pendle Council to turkey farming tech person, Paul has taken a big leap in search of the good life and despite the freezing weather, for Paul, and his turkeys, it certainly seems to have paid off.

Paul’s turkeys are available to buy online at paulsturkeys.co.uk

ColneLife Winter 2022