The Mover Magazine -Jan 2012

8 The Mover ● January 2012 ● www.themover.co.ukNEWS: UKYorkshire Area dinner partyIt was a blustery night following a gloriously clear and bright day on26 November in Scarborough for the BAR Yorkshire Area dinner dance.Around 40 people bravedthe gale to visit theAmbassador Hotel,perched high on theEsplanade overlooking the NorthSea. The guests included Mike andJan Price: Mike used to run BARTSbefore his retirement; and of coursePhilip Kidd who also, it seemed,brought most of his staff for a wellearned knees-up.The event was well organised byGraham Puddephatt of ReasonGlobal Insurance who is also theYorkshire Area Secretary, and theArea Chairman, Michael Andrewsfrom Pickfords.After dinner and before thedancing started the guest speakerSteve Jordan, editor of The Moverand fellow Yorkshireman, dug up afew memories of days on the road asa removals salesman, and explaineda little of the background to the birthof The Mover in April this year. Stevesaid that he had been in the movingbusiness since 1974, had done everyAfter dinner andbefore the dancingstarted the guestspeaker SteveJordan, editor ofThe Mover and fellowYorkshireman, dugup a few memories ...job at his old company, AvalonOverseas, including packing,portering, driving vans and forklifts, making cases and, of course,all the office-based tasks. He hadalso worked with BAR, both paidand unpaid, for around 30 yearsincluding being the Chairman ofthe Freight Negotiation Committeeat the birth of the MTC.Steve had left Avalon in 1992 afterits sale to Trans Euro and had beenBAR’s New Met members enjoyChristmas cheer and festive quizworking as a writer ever since.During that time he had beenhandling public relations andcommunications for BAR since ColinQuarrington’s retirement someyears ago. When he was offered thejob as editor of the Removals &Storage magazine in 2005 he saw itas a great honour and he felt “like asquare peg in a square hole”. Hiswriting experience and 30-oddyears in the moving business madehim uniquely qualified to be thecustodian of the ‘old friend’ of theindustry.Unfortunately in recent years hefelt that BAR was destroying themagazine by overly restricting itscontent and distribution and insistingon including far too much BARadvertising within its pages to thepoint that, he felt, some people hadstopped reading the magazinecompletely. These matters ofprofessional principle, pluscommercial considerations, hadmade his position untenable by theend of 2010.“When I started The Mover, Iwondered if people would think ofme as a traitor,” he said. “But itdoesn’t seem that I needed to worry.People have been very supportive.I owe a particular debt to the peoplewho booked advertising in issuesone and two. The magazine didn’texist when they made their decision.That vote of confidence was quitehumbling and gave all of us at TheMover tremendous encouragement.I’d like to take this opportunity ofthanking everyone who has supportedus during our first year.”Steve closed by encouragingeveryone to read the new magazineand to contribute to it with theirown stories and observations of theindustry. “It’s a magazine for all ofyou,” he said. “Please don’t beafraid to use it.”The evening concluded with araffle, that helped cover the cost ofthe disco, which played until theearly hours.Around sixty members ofBAR’s New Met Area andtheir guests gathered atthe Novotel Heathrow on 24November for a Christmas gettogether and festive quiz. Afterenjoying an excellent meal it wasdown to the serious business offinding the brightest team in theroom with Christmas themedquestions put by quiz masterJohn Luker. It was no easy ridewith questions on subjects asdiverse as poetry, Christmas hits,ancient yuletide traditions andcharacters from Disney. As if thatwasn’t difficult enough the teamsthen had to identify 30 photos ofcelebrities disguised as Santa tocomplete the task.After all the answer papers werecalled in for marking the winningteam was finally revealed asCadogan Tate Residential, with amagnificent score of 41 points outof a possible 60. Team captainJames Mehmet stepped up to thestage to receive the winner’s trophyfrom Red Recruit’s Ray Inskip,who sponsored the competition.● Ray Inskip (left) and team captain James Mehmet.