From a not very promising start at school, Richard Phelps has made his way in the meat industry to bring his company out as a fore-runner in the Red Meat Industry Forum's Benchmarking initiative I was born in Bradford on Avon in 1968 and went to school in Melksham where my performance was average. Both my parents were schoolteachers but nonetheless they had limited expectations, which reduced the pressure on me - particularly as my sister was well above average whilst this was an advantage it also carried the disadvantage of obscurity submerged in the mass of other average pupils. To some this obscurity was difficult to escape in life, if indeed they were motivated to try. I had other ideas. My skills were practical and at the age of two my grandfather bought me a miniature carpentry saw. I had a love of animals and from the age of twelve kept poultry - for the eggs rather than the meat.
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