GORDON Litchfield Wool (GLW) has reached a milestone of 30 years in business.

As a small family business, Gordon and his wife Kate say the success really comes down to a hardworking team and loyal clientele.

“Gordon was working for NZT Wool and one day he came home to me and our one-year-old, in our little Springwell cottage and said we were going out on our own,” Kate said.

Gordon said he wanted to start something with a different angle, something that growers really wanted.

“We started out in a section of the Allanspach Steel building, who we were very grateful to for giving us our start," Gordon said.

“After about five years we moved over to our current location, which we finally purchased ourselves about six years ago.”

The GLW team behind them has stayed fairly constant over the years.

“Kate was on board from the beginning and we have been lucky to have some longevity with our staff here, who we are proud to have as part of our team.

“The Maxwell boys were with us from the early days, and then Pauline Bolton joined us and stayed on for about 20 years. Sam Green was with us for 17 years and Vicki Flynn has been here for 25 years. Steven Roberson joined us through Workability 18 years ago and has been really valuable to the team. There have been many others who have all done a great job here and we have been very lucky with our staff.

“As a family business, you really need a great team behind you.”

Another important member of the team is ‘Cleo’ the core testing machine. After looking into purchasing one after about five years of operating, Gordon realised they could not afford a brand new one, with a price tag of more than $100,000. So he purchased several secondhand ones and built ‘Cleo’ himself. Gordon spent many late nights tinkering on the machine, leading to Kate christening her ‘Cleo’ – the other woman.

After 25 years, ‘Cleo’ is still going strong and with the top 10 percent of core testing machines across NSW and Queensland testing 41.3 bales per hour, ‘Cleo’ manages to get through 52.2 bales per hour.

Gordon says forming relationships with their clients over the 30 years has been another special part of the journey.

“One really big highlight for me is that we are now dealing with third generation clients. That is something really special. We also have some clients who have been with us right from the beginning,” Gordan said.

“To have clients who have been with us so long and who have confidence in us to make decisions for them in the sale room is really rewarding,” Kate said.

Expanding the business into Yass, Goulburn and Dubbo over the years, these days GLW sells at Sydney auctions weekly, and regularly in Melbourne also.

Over the 30 years, Gordon says the quality of Monaro wool has come a long way.

“When we started, we were mostly dealing with 20 or 21 micron wool, but we don’t have any of that now. It’s mostly 14, 15 and 16 micron these days, which you would never see back then.”

Gordon has also been involved in the larger wool community through positions such as director on the Australian Wool Exchange, chairman on the Inland Wool Brokers Association and a member of the National Auction Selling Committee, among others.

Locally, he and Kate are also big supporters of the community, helping to support causes where they can.

Gordon has been the president of the Cooma Show Society and the junior rugby club. The GLW shed is also used as a storage area for local groups such as the Monaro Committee for Cancer Research (mcCr), Cooma Community Chest, Cooma Car Club and the Cooma Rugby Union Football Club. In 2016, the shed also hosted the Cooma Community Chest’s ‘Fashionation’, a charity auction showcasing local designers and handmade fashion featuring wool. They also host Cooma Car Club junior development days and a recent national Holden FX judging event.

In celebration of the milestone, Gordon and Kate held an event on Saturday night with more than 130 of their clients and their staff as a thank you for the support over the last 30 years. The official anniversary was on Monday November 18.