Britannia is famous for its parties and 2012 certainly lived up to expectations.

This year’s Britannia Conference took place over the weekend of 13-15 April at the Hilton Hotel Gateshead on the banks of the river Tyne. The iconic waterfront location - now transformed from its grubby industrial past - was a fitting setting for what proved to be an informative and entertaining conference.

Three hardy souls, Mark Lane, Alan Bennett and David Bray abandoned their cars for the weekend and cycled from Land’s End to Newcastle, all in the name of charity. They completed the 506 mile trip in five days raising several thousand pounds for their favourite good causes. Around 20 delegates riding bikes supplied by conference organisers Animo met the trio at the Angel of the North and rode with them for the final few miles to the hotel.

Welcome reception

The traditional welcome night was held at the famous Baltic Contemporary Art gallery a short distance down the quay from the hotel next to the millennium bridge. The venue offers stunning views of the river and its waterfront buildings, although many members of the party wished they’d worn an extra woolly as they enjoyed their pre-dinner drinks on the terrace.

The northern chill was soon forgotten as the barbeque fired up and the wine started flowing to the accompaniment of a jazz trio who entertained everyone throughout the evening.  All too soon it was time to head back to the hotel and prepare for Saturday’s conference, although a few members did make a ‘brief’ stop at the bar for a quick nightcap before returning to their rooms.

Back to business

As everyone gathered in the conference hall on Saturday morning Robert Goodwin took to the lectern to introduce the speakers and make sure everything ran smoothly throughout the day. This was Robert’s first time as facilitator, but despite some pre-match nerves he did an excellent job and has probably secured his place as master of ceremonies for future conferences. 

Mark Tresler, Britannia MD

Britannia’s Managing Director Mark Tresler welcomed everyone to the conference and gave an overview of the day’s programme before handing back to Robert to introduce the first speaker, Britannia’s Sales Director Gavin McCarthy. Gavin gave details of Britannia’s advertising and marketing activities over the past year and plans for 2012 which will include a major market research campaign to establish the public’s perception of the Britannia brand.

BAR Services

Miranda Hyder from BAR Services, ably assisted by David Brent (Tim Oliver) gave an entertaining presentation of their new space-saving corrugated packing cases.  Afterwards John Luker from Reason Global reminded delegates of the importance of providing adequate health insurance for crews travelling abroad and announced a special cost effective package for Britannia members.

Ben Quigley - branding

Next to take to the stage was Ben Quigley from Newcastle advertising agency Different.  Ben explained the principals of branding and took delegates on a journey beyond the logo to explore the true meaning of a brand and its importance to a company’s public image. 

Jasmine Birtles

Keynote speaker

This year’s keynote speaker was financial expert and journalist Jasmine Birtles who gave an entertaining and sometimes controversial presentation covering topics including the state of the economy which she predicted, using figures from Oxford Economics, will grow by a modest 0.3% during 2012, 1.8% in 2013 and 2.8% in 2014. Jasmine also predicted that interest rates were unlikely to rise during the next two years provided there was not a sudden increase in inflation triggered by a sudden increase in oil prices or further problems in the euro zone. However Jasmine also quipped that financial experts like her had confidently predicted the crash of 2008 three months after it took place!

Jasmine went on to speak about the opportunities a co-operative like Britannia has and encouraged members to embrace what she called the ‘collaborative society’ to share resources and work more closely with each other to maximise efficiency and increase profitability.

Speaking in her capacity as a website guru – she owns and runs financial website moneymagpie.com – Jasmine examined the new Britannia website and compared it with other leading sites in the industry, offering some useful suggestions for its development in the future. Jasmine also urged everyone to make use of social networking media such as Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to their sites and reach out to the new generation of customers who use them.

Question Time 

After lunch Jasmine chaired a special Britannia version of Question Time during which a distinguished panel of industry experts - Steve Fanning, Oliver Grieveson, Martin Thomas, John Luker and ‘David Brent’ - fielded questions on a number of important issues.  Some of the questions put to the panel were: Should more women be encouraged to join the moving industry?  Are trade associations good value for money? Would a reduction in fuel duty stimulate the economy as a whole?  All resulted in a healthy debate in which the audience were invited to join in.

Britannia Achievement Awards

The final event of the Britannia conference is, traditionally, the annual awards ceremony to honour the best performing Britannia companies in a number of categories.

The winners were:

Most Improved Shipper - Britannia Whitby C. Oliver

Top Shipper - Britannia Sandersteads

Outstanding Sales Support (runner up) - Britannia Neaves

Outstanding Sales Support (winner) - Britannia Ryans

Outstanding Quality of service (runner up) - Britannia Willis

Outstanding Quality of service (winner) - Britannia Sandersteads

Mark Tresler rounded off the formal part of the proceedings by highlighting the achievements of the group during his first year as MD and thanked everyone for their hard work during what had been a difficult trading period.  Mark concluded by inviting everyone to the gala dinner and encouraged members to enter the ‘name on a tenner’ raffle for what he promised would be a very special prize. 

Party time at Britannia

Britannia is famous for its parties and 2012 certainly lived up to expectations.  No black ties this year, red, white and blue was the order of the day with everyone entering into the spirit of the evening and joining in the fun. There were of course those who took things to extremes and draped themselves from head to toe in Union Jack suits and dresses, some even had hair dos in the same style! 

A string quartet played Mozart and Vivaldi as everyone gathered in the bar for red, white and blue cocktails before going through to the banqueting hall, stunningly decorated with – you guessed it – red, white and blue.

After an excellent meal, and a little wine, accompanied by music from the quartet, it was time to put on the party hats, wave the Union Jacks and join the guest choir for a rousing rendition of Elgar’s finest songs - Sir Edward would have been proud.

Charity auction

After taking a few minutes to come back down to Earth it was time to start the auction, which on this occasion was in aid of Chris Eaton and his family.  Chris, a driver for Britannia Fleet, was seriously injured last December when he was hit by a car while working in Bratislava.

Martin Thomas took to the rostrum as auctioneer selling various items donated by sponsors including a trip to the Harry Potter Studio, a helicopter flight and a Mercedes-Benz watch, raising an impressive £1,450. The ‘name on a tenner’ raffle for the star prize of a weekend at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge raised a further £1,450 for Chris and his family.

Disco

After all the excitement of the auction it was time for the disco, at least for the younger members of the party. For some it was time to call it a night, while others gathered for a last drink in the bar. A pleasant way of ending what had been an excellent conference and social occasion.

From top left: Bob Holmes, Annie Neave, Miranda Hyder and Peter Monk; far right; Joanne Williams and Melissa Redcliffe; Alison McDougall with Terry and Sue Sinnot; bottom left: Mark Tresler with Martin and Amanda Thomas.