Rain is something we’ve seen quite a lot of this year which made it difficult to get on the lawn to start Spring and of course aided the growth of the grass throughout the summer giving you plenty to cut and us lots of mowers to fix. Hopefully you had the opportunity to get away from the garden for a few days or weeks and enjoyed it on the dry days we had.
As we’ve now entered autumn and with winter closing in, we encourage you to get your machinery booked in NOW so you are ready to cut the grass in Spring. It might seem a long time away but trust me when I say the grass will suddenly shoot up & you want to be one of the organised people who are happily keeping on top of it, not wading through the forest wishing you’d booked in earlier. Take my advice & get mow-tivated NOW for that winter service!
As a small but continually growing business, the relationships we have with customers are of the utmost importance to us. We really enjoy having a chat as we book you in, whether it’s discussing the state of your lawn or allotment or maybe upcoming happy events or the challenges of family life. We like to get to know you and hope you feel this when you arrive on site or give us a call. As such, I thought I’d take the time in this update to re-introduce you to the team and also to remind you of how we can help. Some of our skills and additional services may actually be new to you and if so we hope you’ll find them quite useful to know about.
Anna is the first port of call for most of you when you get in touch. She has worked with us for about 18 months, is super friendly and has a background in retail as well as several family members in the horticultural and agricultural industry. As such, she understands why it’s important for your equipment to be up and working when you need it. If you need to book in your machinery for service or repairs, winter is the BEST time to get ahead, please speak to Anna and she’ll get you sorted.
I (Carol) am the other happy voice you will speak to on the phone and if you are looking for parts I’m the one you need. I know a fair bit about mowers and two-stroke equipment as well as fuel so can answer most questions and can advise on the economic viability of repairing your machinery. I’ve been married to Stuart for over 26 years and have been working alongside him for the last 10 running Fenland Spirit so while I don’t actually fix the equipment, I know more than you’d expect about mowers and garden machinery and I’m always happy to share my knowledge.
If you have a ride on or even a large walk behind mower which needs collecting, there is a good chance you will have met Matthew this summer. He is Carol and Stuart’s son, doing a degree in Mechatronics (Mechanical Engineering & Electronics) as well as being an important member of the workshop team. Having helped out in the workshop since before the pandemic he has learned a lot about mowers and is now putting his studying to good use including using a 3D printer within the workshop to make parts which are becoming hard to obtain. In this way we are future proofing our business and keeping your machinery going.
Many of you will know Stuart, who set up Fenland Spirit Services nearly 10 years ago in the original small workshop which now houses serviced lawnmowers waiting to be collected. He is a fully qualified and highly experienced agricultural and horticultural engineer. He is brilliant at 12 volt diagnostics and having spent 13 years working for the RAC also has a wide knowledge of other kinds of vehicles as well as thinking laterally around a problem and coming up with alternative solutions when parts are not easily available for your machine.
Stu is the one to speak to about sales machines, although since he’s often up to his elbows in a mower, Anna and Carol will help out with initial inquiries and Stuart will call the customer back for a more in-depth chat, before arranging a visit to view. Click here for our latest list of ride on mowers for sale. All of the machines we sell are fully serviced and sold with a warranty, ride on mowers are delivered and demonstrated by Stuart or Matthew. We also take trade in’s and buy mowers, so if you’re looking for a change, give us a call.
In the workshop we have the multi-skilled team of Lee and Ian who work on ride on or walk behind mowers and two-stroke equipment as the main part of their days respectively. Lee has been with us for over three years and gained a large amount of knowledge and expertise covering all types of garden machinery before focusing his time on ride-on machines with Stuart. He is methodical and thorough in his tasks and ensures your ride on mower comes back to you in tip-top condition and ready to go to work. He is also our man for refinishing sales mowers making them look like a new pin.
Ian has worked for many years on mowers and cars and his main hobby is banger racing. He’s worked for us since 2018 and mainly deals with walk behind mowers and two-stroke items. Ian can also be found in our welding bay repairing ride on mower decks to a high standard or painting machinery ready for sale, he is the man with a rattle can. If you have a ride on mower deck which has seen better days we can often repair it for less than the cost of a new one (if it’s even available) making your mower last for years longer.
Our newest team members are Alvin and Shelby. Alvin works part-time as a backup driver and helping us around the workshop and yard, keeping everything tidy and doing all those ‘other’ little jobs. Shelby is Carol and Stuart’s daughter, currently studying for her GCSE’s, she helps out on a Saturday morning emptying the bins and checking smoke alarms and has prepared some of our social media posts this summer for Fenland Spirit Services as well as for our metal fabrication business – Anvil Cottage Crafts, our campsite and Airbnb at Soham – Sherwood Farm Holidays.
So that’s our fabulous Fenland Spirit team with a wide variety of skills between us, we can help you with everything from sharpening a set of secateurs or loppers, servicing and repairs on your mower, garden or small construction machinery, refurbished mower sales, metal work repairs and welding. We make every effort to keep your equipment going and save you money instead of writing it off and just selling you a new machine.
You may have seen from our social media that we obtained a grant from East Cambs District Council in July to build an office and showroom in front of the workshop. The building will be going up in the next few weeks followed by several months of fit out over the winter. Anna and Carol will then move into our new home and we can stop saying “when we get the office” and start putting some improvements in place, giving us an even more welcoming space to display machinery and greet customers. One of the wonderful things our new showroom will give us is the opportunity to offer new battery powered equipment for those with a smaller garden or who wish to make the change to an electric item. Watch this space for more information and exciting news to come in the new year.
Thank you for taking the time to read our latest update and for getting to know our hard-working team. Please do get in touch to book your winter service, this can be done by giving us a call or clicking here We will add you to our schedule and be in touch to arrange collection or you can drop off walk behind or 2 stroke equipment when it suits you.
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