Charlie Denham, born in 1941, son of a family butcher. At 17 years old, Charlie decided not to follow in the family business and instead became a poultry farmer.

During the next 12 years, he built a very successful business rearing chickens and producing eggs from over 100,000 laying hens. Around 1968, the poultry industry, egg production in particular, became seriously unprofitable with over production and the loss of government subsides. The experience Charlie gained during this period taught him a very expensive lesson – never again to allow a marketing company or organisation control the price he receives for all his production.

Around 1968, Charlie became very intrigued by worm farming, having seen several small worm farms in America earning a good living from the sale of worms produced on manure from rabbit to cattle ranches, which easily became the most profitable enterprise on the farms where only a minimum of professional marketing was employed.

Full of enthusiasm which he maintains today, Charlie embarked on his career in worm growing, which became his main business in 1972. Selling worms direct to anglers and worm composts to gardeners. In 1970, Charlie proudly boasts that he built the first commercial worm farm in the UK. Other people were selling worms, but they were either imported, or picked from grassland and sewage settling beds.

Media Interest

Charlies lifetime with worms has attracted media attention over the years, with many television appearances on news and farming programmes, world and local radio, plus many hundreds of newspaper features.

Charlie enjoys the creativity and quality of some of the headlines he generates!