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The Final Countdown
Welcome to this year’s Henries 80’s style!
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ome of us in this room tonight are old enough to remember the 1980s. Not Warren, Gale and I of course! But people tell us it was a period of incredible musical diversity. There were so many exciting divergent trends. Big Hair, Glam Metal, Electro Pop, New Romantic, Disco, Thrash, Gothic, Indie Rock and pure unadulterated Pop… to name but a few. In many ways there are parallels with the UK greeting card industry today. There is a huge diversity in styles, as we will see tonight with this year’s Henries finalists. There is the over the top glam and glitter look which is the equivalent of Queen’s Freddy Mercury's flamboyant stance and Madonna, to the simple subtle earthiness of REM. There are the greeting card wordsmiths like the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, to the very pretty visual approach that is somewhat kindred to Spandau Ballet and the New Romantics. Musically the 1980s, like the UK greeting card industry of 2018, catered for every age and taste! And like our greeting card industry today, it was very fashion-led or, in many cases, lead fashion! We are fortunate to work in a great, friendly, creative industry. And an industry that, although not without its challenges, is still thriving. It’s an evening to stand tall and be proud of what we do! In the words of the immortal Freddy Mercury, ‘We are the Champions, my friends!’
Jakki Brown, Warren Lomax and Gale Astley The Henries and PG Team
A Special Thanks to
The Henries Awards only exist due to a number of companies and individuals, whose commitment to this event we would like to say a ‘big thank you’. Firstly to our wonderful award category sponsors for making The Henries possible, but also to Paper Rose/The Art Group for the magnificent 80s Electric Dreams design for the glorious Henries Invitations that were beautifully printed by Windles with board supplied by Antalis; to Gemma for the 'Now That's What I Call A Menu' that was printed by Loxleys; Windles for the fun placecards; The Sherwood Group for The Henries' finalists display boards; House Of Cards as Entertainment Sponsor and the Higher or Lower competition; Five Dollar Shake/Counting Stars for the Glitter Station, plus Cardzone, Hallmark, The Art File, Woodmansterne, LB Warehousing, Paper Rose, Paper Salad, Simon Elvin, Loxleys, Amscan, and Rhino Rugby for their generosity in donating some great raffle prizes.
Top: (Left to right): The Henries’ Warren Lomax, Jakki Brown and Gale Astley at the Henries Ooh La La themed 2017 awards. Left: This year’s Henries ticket was ‘Poptastic mate’.
The Henries Awards 2018
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