Quarter-Century Awards for Staff At Britannia Leatherbarrows

2021 was a year full of milestones for Britannia Leatherbarrows of Bournemouth. Not only did it mark the 40^th anniversary for David and Diane Trenchard as owners of the business but it also marked 25 years of continuous service for no less than four staff members.

Richard Fisher started with the company as a school leaver and worked his way up through the roles of porter, driver, and operations manager to his current position as general manager. Now that owner David has stepped back from the day-to-day running of the firm, Richard – working closely with Director Darren Vale – is at the helm.

Lewis Mills began his career with Leatherbarrows when he was at school, working for the company in his holidays, and soon graduating to full-time employment. He is now a specialist in office moving and heads up the commercial side of the business.

Operations Manager Paul Messer was in his teens when he began work in the removals industry and has since gone from strength to strength. He will shortly be taking his Transport Manager CPC qualification.

Andrew Murrill joined the company directly after finishing his education and has been a porter/packer for many years. He has received extensive training in manual handling, export packing and customer relations, and can usually be found travelling through Europe helping our customers relocate.

To mark their quarter-century of service, all four of these staff members were given an extra week’s holiday each year, plus a unique custom-made model of a Bedford O-type van in company livery. A celebratory lunch was provided for the whole team to celebrate the occasion.

Leatherbarrows has always worked hard to create solutions that genuinely help their customers. They run an extensive fleet of demountable vehicles, which gives them huge flexibility to hold over the customer’s belongings if completion on the property is delayed. They operate mainly in West Hampshire, Dorset and South Wiltshire, but also specialise in removals to and from the Channel Islands as well as operating regular services into Spain, Portugal, and France. As a team, they are passionate about promoting excellence in the industry, both within the Britannia network and via their membership of and participation in the British Association of Removers.

Britannia Leatherbarrows has clearly found a superb balance between getting the job done well and making Leatherbarrows a great place to work. Richard, Lewis, Paul and Andrew are not the first employees to reach this milestone but they are joining a select group who have chosen to make Britannia Leatherbarrows their career employer. There aren’t too many companies in our industry that can boast this level of staff retention, so hats off to the management team!