A Fond Farewell
20th July 2021
The end of June marked the retirement of 2 of Aizlewood’s Mill’s most significant supporters. Michael Sharp and Denise Woolhouse were instrumental in the opening of Aizlewood’s Mill and have stayed with us ever since.
They both worked for a local engineering firm back in the 1980’s with Michael as Finance Director and Denise as PA to the Commercial Director. When that firm closed down Michael had the idea of opening an accountancy and bookkeeping worker co-operative and along with other founder members Accountability Northern Ltd was registered in February 1983.
This fledgling venture had its tricky early days, as so many new organisations do, but they stuck with it and by the time that Sheffield Co-operative Development Group were redeveloping the Mill, Accountability Northern were an obvious choice to be invited to tender for the management contract.
Having won the contract we became involved in planning how the Mill would operate and what kind of environment we wanted to create and finally in late 1989 we were open for business. Michael was the General Manager and Denise was the 'Receptionist Without A Reception'. The bespoke reception desk that we still have now was late arriving and so on her first day on site Denise sat in a draughty bleak area with no desk and no front door. Luckily by the time she finished for the day we at least had a door to close.
The early days were difficult for the Mill, the concept of managed workspace was relatively new at the time, indeed Aizlewood’s Mill was the first Business Centre to open in Sheffield and so we not only had to market the offices, but the concept itself. Their determination to succeed saw the Mill fill up quickly and so the worry of a failed business was quickly dispelled.
Michael’s thoughtful planning and insistence on creating a friendly and welcoming environment has been followed throughout the 30 years he has guided us, firstly in his hands-on role as General Manager and later as Financial Director behind the scenes. Denise returned to back-room duties once the Mill’s first formal Receptionist took up their post and has been working alongside Michael in the finance department ever since.
For those of us present in the Mill today, we owe so much to Michael and Denise. Together they have steered us through the hard times as well as the successes. Aizlewood’s Mill has become a fine example of successful managed workspace and we have been visited by many influential politicians including the leaders of two political parties on the campaign trail. All of this is a result of the groundwork laid and driven by them.
Our retirement celebration will be held in September, when we hope that a gathering worthy of their efforts will be possible.
