It’s been a busy month what with running our very first Security Twenty Special event (STS), in Wales, and then rushing to Dublin for ST17 over there. I am glad to be sat here in St Lucia having a rest; well, writing this for you guys to keep you all in touch with the gossip.
The event in Wales was a massive success, we had lots of buyers meeting lots of exhibitors in pre-arranged appointments. We got together a variety of exhibitors to give the consultants, integrators and end users a selection of product ranges and products they may have never seen before but that can offer a solution to some of their problems. We mixed that up with a bit of pleasure namely golf, archery and laser clay pigeon shooting. It has to be said that a bunch of guys claiming to be golfers were all beat by the one woman in the team who was Adele Mangham, pictured centre, the wife of Paul Mangham from Universal Security Systems. Paul’s pictured left, and on the right is Derek Mander.
Damien Marsh from Anixter picked up the best shooter of the day while Stephen King from Stentofon was the best archer! Call him Robin from now on. While in Wales we had a barbecue on one night albeit a little cold to be outside in Wales in March! and a black tie gala dinner on the second. Ha, I’ve just read on Linkedin that Daniel Bishop from Vicon wrote this: “Big thanks to Roy Cooper and Liz lloyd for an excellent three day event at the Celtic Manor. Some high quality end users, consultants and integrators at the event with a nice mix of manufacturers. I enjoyed every minute and I’m looking forward to working on some exciting opportunities with new partners off the back of it. Winning a whoopy cushion for the worst shot of the day was obviously a proud moment…….. a win is a win after all. I’m sure everyone who attended got something from it and I look forward to next year. I’ll be playing (loosely speaking) golf on a regular basis so if you want to join me drop me a line and we’ll get out – but for now…… Sleep.” What he failed to mention was that he was also voted as a Steven Gerrard look alike! But seriously it was really good for all so if you fancy taking part in our next one which won’t be until 2018 then let me know.
Dublin likewise was again a huge success and a big thank you to all our exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and of course delegates for coming along. The next stop for ST17 is Harrogate which will be in a new venue for us, and that is the Majestic Hotel on Independence Day – indepedence for the USA that is, not Yorkshire, July 4. And not forgetting the charity dinner on the evening of Monday, July 3, where I will be bringing along the traditional heads and tails game.
Now the other night Alistair Enser called me to say he was leaving Vanderbilt. He reminded me that he had spent some 14 years at the company starting with them when it was Bewator, which as you know became Siemens then Vanderbilt, Prior to this of course he was with Norbain and Richardsons. He said he had resigned as he wanted a new challenge or a new start, however he also said who could not say where he is going because it has not been announced internally yet at the new company, but he did say however it will be obvious! So your guess is as good as mine, perhaps we should open a book on it, might be better odds than the Grand National. Not many of you will know this but Alistair loves his cars, his day to day car is a Chrysler 300 and has been for years now, but has just recently bought himself an Aston Martin, and very nice it is too.
I mentioned Simon Shawley last month and tried to give you a clue? It seems Simon has set his own company up and is doing a bit of sub-contract work with Genie, yep, there was your clue. So now you’re looking for a clue above re Alistair aren’t you?!
Ok; Oprema have been recruiting and taken on Carl Scarrott as Business Development Manager (BDM) and Nick Blake as Internal Sales Executive. Carl has over 25 years’ experience in the security industry and before joining the distributor was Area Sales Manager South East at another distributor Pro-Vision. Carl also spent ten years at another distributor, Norbain. Nick Blake is joining from – yes, you guessed it, another distributor – ADI Global, where he has been working in sales for the past two and a half years. Oprema also report two internal promotions. Kate Green’s going as Internal Sales Supervisor and Lee Alm’s taking on a Technical Support Supervisor role.
Next month it’s Ifsec time, yep already, I will be there treading the boards with the team from Professional Security, so you need to start training, and if you want to see us, well, just let us know, as our diaries do get a bit jammed. Now where has my mojito gone!?
