Two million here we come

Yes, it really is 20 years since Gary Morton and friends launched the organisation that has become the byword for charitable effort in this industry. And now Gary has set himself – not to mention the legion of supporters whose blood, sweat and saddle-rash have supported him so far – the target of going for £2million, or about half again the current total. It goes without saying, we all wish Gary and all the team the very best in all their efforts. Read story.

Elsewhere, the FIT Show has taken the first big step to allay the fears over its move to the NEC with announcement that it has already outgrown the equivalent of the total Telford floor space with exhibitor bookings. Read story.

And finally, we might almost claim a record of our own, having reached the eve of June before making our first mention of the EU Referendum Read story. We should add, if anyone has any thoughts they would like to share on the matter, there are three more issues before the vote; we look forward to hearing from you.

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this week’s issue.

Chris Church Editor

Please send all your news stories to news@the-glazine.com

This Week's News

FIT’s filling fast for 2017

Nearly three quarters of the space at the new NEC home of next year’s FIT Show has already been booked

Organisers say the move to the National Exhibition Centre prompted a surge in exhibition stand bookings when it was launched discreetly to exhibitors in December last year and now, with almost exactly a year to go, more than 71% of the exhibition floor space has been snapped up. That is 40% more space again than the total at this year’s event, comfortably justifying the decision to move to the larger venue.

“All exhibition space at The FIT Show has sold out at each of the events staged at Telford,” said Matthew Glover, Chairman of FIT Events Ltd. “Telford has been an excellent venue for us and we have enjoyed being there. But it’s time to move on and from the moment when we quietly introduced that we were moving to the NEC, there has been a clamour for space.

Read the Rest Here...

GM celebrates 20 years with £2million target

GM Fundraising has marked its 20th anniversary with the rallying-call by founder Gary Morton: “It’s onwards and upwards to £2million – our next target!”

The first event was only meant to be a one-off, as Gary recalled: We aimed to have 300 guests to the Grand Hotel in Birmingham with the target of raising £5,000 for Zoe’s Place, a baby’s hospice in Liverpool.  In order to collect the funds, we set up an account at the bank – and with little thought behind it, the account was created in the name of GM (Gary Morton) Fundraising.  We smashed our target by raising over £16,500 and it became the bedrock of our fundraising efforts”
Dave Broxton, who joined the team in 2004, added: “With the Border2Border ride nearly upon us it’s also a timely reminder of the first ever GM Fundraising Cycle Ride which took place in June 2005.  Top2Bottom challenged us to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End. Our target was to raise £15,000 – we raised over £51,000.”

Read the Rest Here...

Brexit – how would major constructors react?

Many major construction companies could think again about future UK projects if the UK votes to leave the EU in the referendum, according to industry analyst Barbour ABI.

Seven of the ten biggest construction companies working in the UK but with headquarters elsewhere in the EU have placed bids on future construction projects worth more than a combined £9 billion as the vote to stay or go from the EU now less than a month away.

Barbour ABI lead economist Michael Dall said: “These ten companies already have well established UK arms, however an EU referendum could bring about a change in the business environment, which may make these multi-national businesses potentially think about their future construction pipelines in the UK market.

Read the Rest Here...

PIGS fly back to London

The next People in Glazing Society (PIGS) event of the year will be at Canal 125 in London’s King’s Cross on 7 July.
“The Manchester event in March was a great success,” said PIGS organiser Sarah Ball of Balls2 Marketing. “We’ve already got a long list of sponsors who have signed up to support all three PIGS 2016 events and as usual, all the money goes behind the bar to start the PIGS party.”

As usual, tickets to PIGS are free. Registration is open now until the start of the event.

This summer, PIGS event will also be welcoming PIGS supporters GM Fundraising back to the UK after their impressive Border 2 Border cycling challenge to raise money for Hope House Children’s Hospices.

Read the Rest Here...