Show On display at Hillhead : a range of equipment from Volvo who donated £1,500 to our Fund. The Hillhead Show, the bi-annual event at Hillhead Quarry, near Buxton in Derbyshire is an opportunity for the plant industry to display quarry equipment in a working environment, and very successful it is too. It is also an opportunity for the Club to get out and meet people. The organisers regularly provide Nottingham Branch with stand space, and this year was no exception. Alan Upton of Hewden Site Accommodation donated elegant shelter for Chris Balls and his team, who spread the Lighthouse word and generated funds. In this respect they did particularly well: end of show total was £4547. Generous donations from Caterpillar, JCB, and Extec Crushers were topped by a gift from Volvo of œ1,500. The Club also had facilities to display the 1943 Caterpillar R4 donated by Dave McManus and being auctioned f.o.c. by Morris Leslie. This unusual donation obviously caught the eye of the construction and plant press, the majority of journals have featured photographs and a write up of the Club and our Fund. The auction for our 'piece of history' closed at the end of the show when the winning bid of £4,500 was made by Tom and James Balls, 3rd. generation of J C Balls & Sons.

Membership almost 5,000 Proof that publicity, together with member's hard work, is having effect came with recent membership figures. Include the close to two hundred life members and membership stands at almost 5,000. Nottingham is still recruiting steadily: their numbers are now well over the four hundred mark. South East, with a net gain of eighteen, is next in terms of getting people to sign on the line. Feedback from those branches which are most successful in the recruitment stakes, and from our Ipswich Office where the paperwork is processed, points to one inescapable fact: Membership has to be sold, face-to-face. One other fact emerges: with subs. at £10 per year there isn't much sales resistance!

FINNING (UK) pledge new members sponsorship. A letter from Alex Hillman, Finning (UK)'s General Manager Marketing brings the welcome news that England's leading Caterpillar dealer has undertaken to sponsor our 'Silver Lighthouse Trophy'. Instituted a dozen years ago, the Trophy is awarded to the branch which achieves the biggest increase in membership. Nottingham are the current holders. Finning (UK)'s pledge is to match each new recruit with a donation of £10 to our Fund, which, given the current recruitment level, will equate to between three and four thousand pounds annually. This new sponsorship maintains the support that Finning (UK) have given to the Club over the years. The company has appeared in the Corporate Sponsors list since its inception and at local level Finning are no strangers to the Club. Alex has long been an active member and Finning have supported Midlands events, regularly sponsoring their Golf Day . Pic: Notts Dave Griffin with our Silver Lighthouse

New Tenners for Old Toners The club has forged a link with recycling organisation 'Office Green' which promises to boost our Benevolent Fund. Used toners will add cash to our coffers. Office Green will collect your empty toner and ink cartridges, or small recyclable items . To find out more about Office Green's range of services and the value of your waste telephone 0800 833 480 or mail them at mail@officegreen.co.uk.

Concrete addition to our Benevolent Funds Our S. Wales Chairman Graham Ponsford is the man in the middle receiving the £2,000 cheque. The picture above was taken at last year's Concrete Society Dinner held at Cardiff's Marriot Hotel. Dublin based concrete products specialist Acheson & Glover's decision to forgoe Christmas gifts in favour of charitable donations, resulted in S. Wales Chairman Graham Ponsford accepting, on behalf of our Fund, a cheque for œ2,000 from Mike Doolan and colleague Dave Boland. Mike is UK sales manager, as well as now being Chairman of the S.Wales Concrete Society. Dave, who travelled from Dublin for the occasion, is sales and marketing director for both Ireland and the UK. Both are members of the Lighthouse Club. Pic: Mike Doolan of Acheson and Glover (l) with colleague Dave Boland (r).

Cork Branch aids local cause Cork Branch members were not slow in coming forward when former Irish Rugby Team Captain and British Lions Manager Donal Lenihan made an appeal for funds. Donal is the appeals manager for a collection being made on behalf of a very seriously injured carpenter. Involved in an accident last year, the carpenter and his family have endured a very difficult time. Donal Lenihan's efforts and Cork Lighthouse Club members contribution will help. Pic: Harry Matson Chairman of Cork Branch with Donal Lenihan. Courtesy Cork Examiner.

Lighthouse Club Golfing Society Pro-Am 2003 Thanks to the hard work put in by Keith Chaundy and Elizabetta Baylis, our Golfing Society is now a serious contributorto the Benevolent Fund - to the tune of £16,000. Perhaps more to the point, each year it provides two great days out for construction industry golfers. Mill Ride in June and the Berkshire in September are now 'must play' days for many construction people. This year Mill Ride played host to 28 teams for our Annual Pro-Am. Early players cursed their luck as the wind blew, but they were the fortunate ones, it got worse! Needless to say, the pros dealt with the weather whilst our chaps struggled a bit. Nevertheless there was some commendable golf. For the pros, Glen Haynes won from Steven Cowle, both at 3 under, 3rd came Paul Way one stroke behind. HBG Construction were team winners, followed closely by CJ Pryor (Plant) who squeezed 2nd place on a count back from T E Beach (Contractors). In the course of dinner the wind dropped to give us all a perfect evening to enjoy a golfing Cabaret provided by Jeremy Dale the Trick Shot King, who proved to be an extremely entertaining and amusing demonstrator of ambidexterity on the golf course, with a dose of sheer impossibility thrown in for good measure.

Our Marathon Team tops £14,000 Steve Radcliffe and his team of marathon runners have been busy calling in the pledges made to them prior to the great run. Steve reports that most of that sponsorship money has now been received and he anticipates a grand total of £14,000, possibly more. Looking forward to next year, if anyone out there is interested in one of our Golden Bond places or in sponsoring the runners clothing, would they contact Steve on 07831 147843

Our Northern Ireland Branch Celebrates 40 Years The Branch's Annual Dinner this year marked a very special anniversary with a very special occasion. At Belfast's Europa Hotel, Lighthouse Club members and their guests celebrated their branch's 40th Anniversary. And if that wasn't special enough then the fact that, on the night, the Chairmanship of Northern Ireland Branch passed to Aubrey Taggart made the occasion very special indeed; . It was in 1963 that Aubrey's father Hubert Taggart OBE, got Northern Ireland Branch under way, becoming the first Chairman. Forty years later, and Hubert's son Aubrey was the incoming Chairman. This must surely be a unique event in the history of the Club. And Hubert was one of the close on three hundred who were in attendance to see Aubrey take his chain of office. Aubrey Taggart with Sir William Francis presenting the crystal Lighthouse to Hubert Taggart The Guest Speaker was Past President Sir William Francis, and it was his pleasure to present a specially commissioned crystal lighthouse to Hubert Taggart for his forty years service to the Club. Also present on this momentous evening was Chairman of Council Robert Smith. Robert's duty was to accept, on behalf of our Benevolent Fund, the Branch's substantial donation. The evening was rounded off by popular entertainer Dusty Young who enthralled the audience with quick fire Irish jokes. This year is also special for Hugh Taggart & Sons Ltd.who celebrate 100 Years of Construction Excellence; Hubert, the son of the founder has his sons Colin & Aubrey following on in the family tradition. Photographs courtesy of Northern Builder