Charles is a global entrepreneur and environmental advocate with over 15 years of experience as the owner of Westaway Sausages Ltd, a leading producer of high-quality sausages and meat products in the UK. He is also the chairman of Newton Abbot Rugby Football Club Limited, a community-based sports organisation that promotes rugby and social inclusion in Devon.
It’s always great fun chatting to Charles and this was no exception. Join me in getting to know him a bit better.
What does your Monday morning routine look like?
My best hours are between 6.30am and 8.30am in the morning, so I tend to get into work at 6.30am – it’s when I can tackle the bigger problems. I look at my to-do list and create a plan of how to address the items that might still be there from the previous week. I also go through my diary to make sure I’m fully prepared for anything that’s coming up that week and the next week, to see what the key tasks are that we need to move forward on.
What’s your all-time favourite movie, and why?
Oh, gosh… I like feel good movies. I like to finish a movie and feel ‘Oh, that was great!’ It can be an adventure type movie or sometimes it can just be who you are watching the movie with. My wife really loves watching Top Gun and she’ll watch it time and again. Tom Cruise might not be my role model in life, but if somebody else is enjoying it, then movies are a great way of experiencing something together and that’s fun! I can’t think of a particular movie that I would say: ‘Look, I have to go and watch that again.’
What are you currently reading?
I’m not a great reader of books. I’ll certainly pick one up but I tend to gain knowledge through the internet. I like research and if you look through my search history you’ll see I have an eclectic interest. Product news, environmental issues, nature – yesterday for example, I was looking at Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Thermodynamics and how it relates to a circular economy. That can sometimes be quite difficult to go and find in a book.
What’s a hidden talent or skill that most people don’t know you possess?
Breadmaking. I have a good room to do it in. I find it a source of amazement that you can create something from just four ingredients and that a simple food can be quite so special and diverse. Flour, water, yeast and a bit of salt… I like alfresco cooking methods. Cooking in the open over an open fire, making beer. I like making stuff!
If you could visit any place in the world right now, where would you go?
Baja California – specifically the Sea of Cortez. Jacques Cousteau called it the aquarium of the sea. I’ve never been anywhere where there is quite so much diversity of marine life. Fish and whales and turtles – I’m particularly keen on turtles and I’ve always liked the sea. We sponsor a Turtle Rescue centre there. The Mexican far west is quite special. It’s very wide. Lots of sky and not many people.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Oh, it might be something a bit country & western or blues. I like contemporary stuff but I also like music that goes a way back like Fats Waller and Frank Sinatra. That kind of stuff but there’s nothing that makes me go: ‘This one is mine – I’ve got to get up and do this.’
Coffee or tea?
Coffee!
What is your most memorable foody childhood memory?
Making elderberry wine. I grew up in South Devon in the 1950s. There wasn’t a lot of food and drink about but we used to make a lot of stuff at home and elderberry wine was the kind of go-to thing we would always make – very easily available raw materials. So, from the middle of August we would collect elderberries and make a fairly appreciable amount of wine – 100 gallons or so. About 10 – 12 weeks later around Christmas time, that year’s vintage would be ready. Very satisfying.
Cats or dogs, or do you prefer another type of pet – and why?
Dogs – we’ve always had Border Terriers. Our current one is called Truffle. Border Terriers are quite feisty and they’re good companions that can walk for miles or be happy to curl up by the fire. They’re quite adaptable but they can be picky about their friends!
Share a quote or motto that inspires you or by which you live your life.
Waste nothing! I think it comes back to that childhood memory of not having much. We certainly ate some pretty weird and wonderful stuff but we always had pretty good fare. I find it very upsetting that we go to the trouble of rearing animals to eat, kill them, and then so much of it is just thrown away. I’m very lucky to have travelled quite widely and I’ve seen how some parts of the animal are celebrated in other parts of the world, where they are despised in this part of the world. It’s up to us to be creative with what some people might call the fifth quarter.
If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be and why?
Flying would be good, because it would just give me another perspective. On the ground we miss quite a bit of the context of our surroundings.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Always leave doors open. Never, never break off diplomatic relations entirely. Make sure there’s always a way back in. We live short lives and sometimes our communities are quite small. Effectively – don’t **** on your own doorstep!
What hobbies or interests do you have that would surprise us?
I love making things. That can be buildings, woodwork, growing vegetables, making bread – learning new skills. Again, the internet can be a great thing. The other day I was thinking – I need a new fridge for my man cave that I’m building. I have an old fridge and I thought – Couldn’t I wrap that fridge? Design a graphic that I can then print out to wrap my fridge so that it looks like an old petrol pump rather than a fridge. Maybe I’m kind of going back to that previous generation – a guy who likes to make his own wine, respecting and valuing all parts of the animal, making stuff, not wasting anything – there are certain things from the past that we can bring to bear in the lives we live today.
What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
My parents were giving me a hard time about what I was going to do with my life. I just grabbed hold of the newspaper and saw this advert and I said I would join the Royal Marines as an officer. And I did it! It wasn’t a particularly well conceived plan. I wasn’t one of those people who had a burning desire to do it but having said that I served 5 years in the Royal Marines and it certainly was an adventure! It taught me skills that I can use to this day, like observation and looking around you to find things you can use to your advantage.
What is your favourite food/drink product on the market right now and why?
I like a good sharing platter of meat – charcuterie and cheese and maybe a Mediterranean salad. That type of thing. I occasionally make my own charcuterie and a particular favourite of mine is a sweet pickled, air-dried bacon. Full-flavoured, slightly sweet – another thing I can make at home!
To contact Charles you can reach him via his LinkedIn profile or check out the Westaway Sausages website.
