SAVING ON ENERGY COSTS

a night on Harvey Wallbangers.

At Claymore we used to run an annual dealer trip supported by our suppliers and an incentive scheme with our dealers. Many were supported and arranged with Victor Adams from Sabo and then Simplicity. A great way to bring people together and improve a business relationship.

One of the most memorable was to India where we did the Golden Triangle. Fifty people trooping around India. We started in Delhi but due to a problem with new plans being delayed we had to take a train with our own first-class carriage from Delhi to Jaipur. They must have dragged a wreck of a carriage out of the scrapyard, it was awful. Our troop was very stoic but when the mice started running around, the girls were up on the seats howling. Victor and I hid at the back of the carriage.

We had our own polo match in Jaipur and tea with the Maharajah and his son who was one of the polo team captains. It made the Jaipur Times the next day. We rode elephants, went to a bear sanctuary, visited the Taj Mahal and had an incredible time. Somehow Duncan Martin from Mountfield got to hear about the trip and commissioned a cartoon about it as an advert for Mountfield. We have reproduced it here, but you had to have been there. Those who were there and who are reading this will no doubt have some great memories of this trip.

To all of you who joined in our many dealer trips, thank you for making them so interesting and so much fun and thank you for the business you did with Claymore. It was a pleasure to deal with you all. Also, a big thank you to Victor Adams for the many trips he supported and the factory visits he arranged.

In my S&J days I helped with a gardening programme for Harlech Television and had to support a presenter and film crew with Stiga equipment. The presenter was some young guy called Alan Titchmarsh. I had some black and white photos taken at the time. Many years later when we were doing the early Gardeners World Live shows at the NEC, Alan came on the stand for a chat. I asked him if he would sign my photos if I bought them in. He said he would and to bring them to the office the next day. As he walked away, he turned back and asked me why I had waited so long to get them signed? I just said, “Well, you weren’t famous back then.” He called me a cheeky basta…. But the photos were returned the next day to the stand, signed.

We had Linford Christy come on our stand at SALTEX one year. We already knew he had bought a large Wheelhorse tractor, but he was looking at our Simplicity Diesel. We told him he could not afford it and he had already made a mistake anyway. Fortunately, he found it all very amusing. We loved dealing with the rich and famous, most of whom were genuine people and good for a laugh.

Better get back on track. We sold Claymore to FGM in 2006 and I stayed on to complete the transfer but left to go to BAGMA in 2007. I was involved with BAGMA in the early days of my career as Burlingham’s were great supporters of the association (see recent editions of this magazine and the tributes to David Burlingham). At Claymore we became members of the AEA and I ended up on the board of the AEA, becoming president in 2003/4. Running a trade association after 23 years at Claymore was an interesting change and it took me some time to get used to the politics, the huge variety of work and the concept of being a training provider. Also being a part of a group whose main interest was the high street retail sector was a rather difficult concept to get to grips with for a machinery dealers association.

I quickly learnt some of the difficulties faced by dealers that I had not appreciated as much as a supplier. I also learnt that some of these problems have been evident since the inception of the original trade association in 1917. Warranty payments, labour rates, supplier relationships, dealer/ supplier contracts, technician training, succession planning and so on. Nothing new nowadays, but still not resolved to everyone’s satisfaction after over 100 years.

My challenge over the last 15 years or so has been to raise BAGMA’s profile, keep membership alive in a shrinking marketplace and add value to BAGMA’s membership package. All this whilst moving offices three times and more recently a fourth when we sold BAGMA to the AEA and

BAGMA and I are indebted to our members who sit on the BAGMA Council and represent the interests of our members as a whole. The many changes in the way BAGMA is structured has meant that our volunteers on the Council now have specific roles to play and can represent BAGMA in such areas as training and education, with CLIMMAR (our umbrella group in Europe), at BAGMA strategy meetings and attending shows and BAGMA Connect meetings generally. As part of our own succession planning, we have enlisted three new younger members onto the Council. All these positions are voluntary, and we are always looking to add new and interested people onto the Council. Give us a call if you are interested.