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Many of you will know that May is skin cancer awareness month.
As people who use our products predominately work outdoors, it seems only fitting to promote awareness. It is close to our heart too, with our very own National Sales Manager Shane McCormick being a survivor of skin cancer, which he can attribute largely to working outdoors in his younger days as a landscape gardener. It only takes a moment to cover up and apply sunscreen!
We are back at the NMBS and ready to see all our customers over the next couple of days! With a selection of aggregates to view in our very popular Aggregates Display Stands (which are making their way to Builder’s Merchants nationwide), you can talk to our friendly and knowledgeable Area Sales Managers and find out how we can help you.
Held at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry and with over 280 exhibitors, NMBS is the biggest event for Builder’s Merchants this year.
Long Rake Spar is pleased to announce the appointment of Dan Travis as Managing Director for Grantex and Industrial Minerals. Dan first joined Long Rake Spar in 2007, with his recent appointment testament to the hard work and dedication he has put in over the preceding years. Dan will bring strong leadership and a wealth of experience to his new role, driving these key business areas forward.
Owner and Managing Director of Long Rake Spar, Trevor Broadhurst said ‘This is an important new appointment for us, and we welcome the return of Dan back to the business. The dried aggregates sector has changed much in the last ten years and competition in this area is ever increasing. We are fortunate to have someone as experienced as Dan to take this position and feel that with him at the helm of the Grantex and Industrial Minerals division, we are well equipped to make the most of future opportunities.’
Long Rake Spar’s Head Office is based in Youlgrave, Derbyshire with a further four dockside sites and four processing facilities at various locations around the UK, which produce in the region of 750kt of finished product per annum. Long Rake Spar is committed to becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2030, which includes reducing emissions and investing in verified carbon reduction projects. Established in 1867 Long Rake has a long history in the business of aggregates. The specialised dried aggregate brand ‘Grantex’ was formed in 1997 as the original dried aggregate supplier in the marketplace.
Dan joins the Grantex business alongside Steven Singh to form a formidable team, offering a wealth of industry expertise, business connections and systems advice to its growing customer base. Dan said of his new appointment ‘I’m hugely excited to join Long Rake Spar as the MD of Grantex and Industrial Minerals. Long Rake Spar is a forward-thinking company where advancements in innovation and technology within the business are a continuous process. It is this commitment to improvement that makes this such an exciting opportunity, and I can’t wait to get started and contribute towards the future expansion of the business.’
Litton night is held annually, with many activities taking place during their well-dressing week. Some of the activities include a beer festival which culminates in a tug of war competition, live music, rides for kids, and a barbeque on the Tuesday evening. There really is something on for everyone!
This year Long Rake Spar were proud to support the Tug of War competition, where there were four teams entered. The winning team, Buxton Young Farmers A team, wiped the floor against the Red Lion team with their ski boot military precision. See the video!
Long Rake was proud to support this event as part of their ongoing work in supporting local communities.
Grantex Stockist Total Resin Solutions had a knockout of a job when contracted by World Boxing Champion Tyson Fury to surface the driveway of his Lancashire mansion.
For the 1,200 sqm driveway, the Total Resin Solutions blend Cappuccino was chosen and emblazoned with a huge Gypsy King logo. The choice of aggregates for the new resin-bound driveway was naturally Grantex specialist dried aggregates.
The Gypsy King logo has attracted a lot of attention, with Tyson’s Instagram post about his new driveway being liked over 85,000 times and the story has now been featured in two national newspapers, as well as numerous other media outlets.
On his Instagram feed Tyson wrote the following statement:
@grantexsurfacing The #gypsyking @Tyson Fury and his very stunning new driveway done by @TotalResinSolutionsGroundworks 🔥🔥 using Grantex Surfacing aggregates. #resinbound #tysonfury #grantex #gypsyking #celebstyle #drivewaygoals #homeimprovement #drivewayideas ♬ original sound – Grantex Surfacing
Long Rake Spar is proud to support Rally Driver Martin McGee in his latest bid at the Donegal International Rally running from 16th – 18th June 2023.
Right is a look at Martin at the Donegal International Rally 2008 from the onboard camera. It looks exhilarating, to say the least!
The Donegal International Rally is an annual motor racing event held in County Donegal, Ireland. It is one of the largest and most popular rallies in Ireland, attracting competitors and spectators from all over the world.
The Rally features a range of challenging stages that test the skill and endurance of the drivers. The stages are located on narrow and winding roads through the beautiful countryside of County Donegal, with stunning views and testing terrain that make the event both exciting and demanding.
We wish Martin a brilliant drive at The Donegal International Rally. Managing Director Trevor and Procurement and Logistics Director Kenny will be there to cheer Martin on.
We were delighted to support Addagrip with the pathways they donated to Anne Hamilton Designs and Taina Suonio’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show Sanctuary Garden- Cavernoma On My Mind. We were even more pleased to hear they had been awarded a Silver Medal for this beautiful garden.
This garden was designed to raise awareness of the Cavernoma Condition. Cavernoma is a little-known and highly debilitating condition. A cavernoma is a lesion of abnormal blood vessels, often found in the brain or spine that can cause strokes, seizures, neurological deficits and even death.
The pathways for the garden were donated by Grantex Stockist Addagrip, where the Addagrip Terrabase Rustic in Rustic Bramble was selected, and installed by Tom Salmon Landscaping.
Designers: Anne Hamilton & Taina Suonio
Pathway Supplier: Addagrip with their Addagrip Terrabase Rustic
Aggregates Supplier: Grantex Surfacing
Max had flown home to Scotland directly from his European Rally Championship debut in Poland, hoping for a strong result on the latest round of the British series. Sadly Max had to retire from the Jim Clark Rally with a broken driveshaft on the opening stage.
“I’m pretty gutted with this result,” said Max. “I was really looking forward to this event. I’d heard so much about it and so much about the stages, which are really close to home. Sadly, this is the sport sometimes. It’s possible we could have carried on, but there was a danger we would have done more damage to the transmission and we couldn’t risk that. It’s tough, but we move on from here and look forwards to Latvia, our next ERC outing.“
Rally sport runs in the McRae family, with Dad Alister away with the Subaru Impreza, gaining a superb fourth place at the inaugural Logiman Mythical Cars Rally in Italy. Max finished by saying “The good news is that Dad made it home in Italy on what sounded like an amazing event.”
Alister reiterated those thoughts, adding: “Obviously we’re disappointed for Max. He went there looking for seat time and to gain experience and that’s not happened. It’s also not ideal when you have new sponsors Asset Alliance and Long Rake Spar on the car, which we did in Scotland. Like Max said, rallying can be cruel sometimes. For me, I’m happy. My job was quite different here. I was at the Logiman Mythical Cars Rally to have some fun, drive a great car in the Best Impreza and enjoy the atmosphere being back on a great Italian rally. Seriously though, great weekend for us, tough one for Max – but mechanical issues are part of the game and he’ll be back soon enough.”
Saturday saw the marriage of two special people in the ‘Long Rake’ family. Annabel, who is the Supply Chain Manager, and Rob who is the Group Accountant. They met at work some eight years ago, where Annabel described Rob as the boy in accounts who was always smiling! They picked a fantastic day to get married and don’t they both look amazing!
We would like to take a moment to wish them both a long and happy life together.
In January 81 schools painted stones that were donated by Natural Selection and Silverton Aggregates for the Colchester Zoo Rocks project. Colchester Zoo is a zoological garden situated near Colchester, England. The zoo was opened in 1963.
This project was to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the opening of Colchester Zoo. We, along with Silverton Aggregates supplied approximately 12,000 Scottish Cobbles and around 160 Cambrian Boulders, which were painted by over 11,500 students across Essex, Suffolk and London!
On return back to the Zoo, these beautiful stones have been added to the commemorative garden located by the entrance of the Zoo. They will remain there for the next 18 months, so be sure to check out the beautiful and colourful new rockery garden on your next visit to Colchester Zoo!
Opening Hours:
Monday – Friday: 8:30am – 5pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed
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