Total Mileage: 6,489
It's now the festive season, and what better way to get into the swing of things than to spend a morning at Bradford's flagship depot in Yeovil for a Hire Industry Supplier Christmas Jumper day. Representing Hilti, who will be returning to the Executive Hire Show with a stand in Coventry next year, was the formidable Chas Baker (Supplier champion of the 'Who can chip a football into a Belle Mixer the most times in 1 minute' competition').
Dressed as Buddy the Elf, and feeling a little aggrieved that no one else had quite gone to the costume efforts that he had, was 'Jam' Yarnold from the Hire Supply Company. And finally, we had Ricky Driver from Husqvarna, regaling us with great stories. It was a fantastic day, all organised by Industry legend and Trading Director for Hire at Bradfords, Keith Hallam (pictured above), who is really looking forward to next year's Executive Hire Show in Coventry. It felt like a real Hire Show reunion ahead of the main event in February, and we are all looking forward to seeing each other at the bar in the Ricoh arena.
Just before finishing for the year, I spent a couple of days driving the southern Devon coast as part of the Executive Hire Show national visitor campaign. I spent a morning with regular attendees Steve (Pictured brandishing his new Altrad Belle DC300E+ Disc Cutters) and Dell at HS Hire in the beautiful seaside town of Teignmouth, before heading on further down the coast to Kingsbridge and getting stuck in country lanes for an hour because someone in front of me didn't know how to reverse and ended up blocking the road! Very frustrating.
In Plymouth, I caught up with Paul Curnow, Chief Business Development Officer (left) and Jason Moore, Chief Operations Officer (Right) at South West Hire and Sales, nominees for last year's Multi Depot Passionate Hirer award. They really loved attending the show in 2025 and are very much hoping to be able to make it again in 2026.
Now I think it's time to give the truck a little rest and go put my feet up for an end of year break. Merry Christmas all!
Rob Godfrey
My month started off with a tour of Ireland with my colleague Colin Andrews. Across four days, we visited 40 hirers from Cork to Coleraine, and we are pleased to report that a strong contingent of Irish hirers will be at the show!
I quite often revisit hirers to bring them up to date about the latest developments with the show. I did this on December 18th, when I called in to EPS Hire in Hebden Bridge and caught up with director, Jason Fielden. He is a devoted attendee of the event and visits every year with his co-directors and parents, David and Gillian.
Jason commented, “We made some significant investments at EHS 2025, including products from HSC, Husqvarna, Belle, and Sany. We would not miss the show as it is the main event of the year for the hire industry. I will be attending the Hire United meeting, which is taking place during the 2026 show, and it will be great to catch up with lots of friends from within the industry.”
Jason ‘insisted’ on being photographed in front of some Belle machinery, and as you can see, the company’s head of security, Lola the German Shepherd, photobombed the picture!
The entire Altrad Belle Team have been working tirelessly to help ensure the show is a great success. In addition to visiting independent hirers, we are also visiting all the national hirers to invite them to the show. Scott Herne visited GAP Group’s head office last week, and we are pleased to report that their procurement team will be at the show.
Steve McKenzie
On behalf of all the Team at Altrad Belle, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy & healthy 2026.
