Tributes paid to Underwood businessman for whom 'nothing was impossible'
Tributes have been paid to an Underwood man for whom ‘no job was too big’.
David Collins died last month aged 57 after short illness.
He founded Collins Earthworks, now based in Ripley in Derbyshire, 25 years ago and embraced the entrepreneurial spirit with a simple belief that it was never the case that something couldn’t be done.
Janet Poundall, David’s sister, said: “Everything he did, he did at 200 per cent, he was always so involved and always with a big smile on his face.
"He just never stood still.
"He’d be like ‘there’s a job in Scotland but we’re already doing a job here, so we’ll just buy 10 more diggers to do the Scotland job too’.
"David’s attitude was always ‘nothing is impossible, no job is too big’ and everybody loved him.
"He was a true gentleman, very approachable and always smiled all the time.
David’s love of diggers and machinery started from a young age when he used to drive about on a tractor on his father Grev’s smallholding off Farleys Lane in Hucknall.
His business started in Hucknall when he owned a single digger, but he soon began building up his fleet and realised he couldn’t keep them at a friend’s farmyard, as he had been doing, and he needed more space to expand.
He took the decision to move from Hucknall to Underwood and move his business to a site in Kirkby and continued to watch it grow, developing different divisions of the company, including earthworks, demolition and soil stabilisation.
Eventually, even the Kirkby site wasn’t big enough on its own and so the head office is now the company’s site in Ripley.
The company employs more than 700 people from across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
Janet continued: “He just had so much support from friends and family and the farming community in the early days and that just enabled him to keep growing the business and it really snowballed.
"He was very well known in the farming community.
"For 15 years, he had this dream of a big head office surrounded by the business site and they had just started building that at Ripley when he unfortuntately died.
"So he never got to see the head office building started but it and the business site around it will be a fitting legacy to him.”
Collins Earthworks also paid tribute to David on their Facebook page, posting: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our owner and founder, David Collins, sadly passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, August 21. “David was a visionary and dedicated leader, whose impact on The Collins Group, the construction industry as a whole and the wider community will be forever felt. “David will be remembered for his good nature, incredible enthusiasm, drive to succeed and extraordinary ability to get things done.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.”
David is survived by his mother Pauline, wife Jane, children Jack, Thomas, Katie and Lucie and sisters Jennifer, Janet and Lynne.
His funeral, on October 10, will be private but Collins Earthworks will be having a marquee at the head office where it will be livestreamed for any friends and colleagues who want to attend.
David was also a regular donator and supporter of The Lighthouse Construction Charity which supports construction industry workers and their families emotionally, physically and financially.