The May 2011 edition of the Exhibition Magazine is now available and features an article written by Peter Bowen, CEO of Access Displays.

The article includes the personal experience and expertise of Peter, who recently attended an exhibition in Germany.

If you do not already have a copy of Exhibition Magazine, the article and complete magazine can be viewed by clicking the link below. 

May 2011 edition of Exhibition Magazine 

In August 2010 Access Displays hire services provided display solutions to support an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia of the last 90 years of history of the Somerdale site.
After the huge success of this event, where over 2000 visitors attended, it was staged, on site again at the Fry Club, from 26-30 Jan. 2011, attracting 5450 visitors over the 5 days.

Exhibition organiser, Hugh Evans, who worked at Somerdale for 35 years, explained, “We had a tremendous archive of photographs, documents and items of memorabilia from across the site’s history…. and wanted to exhibit on site for one last time.”
Hugh was assisted by former colleague Mike Burt, a 41 year ‘man and boy’ veteran of the factory, who commented that it was sad to see it finally close but that, it had been a wonderful place to work, where the conditions and the social provisions for employees were always fabulous…..”its those sorts of things the exhibition tried to commemorate – that spirit of Somerdale, which endured for so long”, said Mike.

After a site visit to the Fry Club, Christine Bufton of Access Displays, herself a native Bristolian, agreed, with organisers, a wide range of suitable display products for the event. These included 12 full height, glass showcases, 9 low level display cabinets, 25
6 panel lighting folding kits, and retractable barrier systems for use around the special exhibits.

Christine concludes, “the entire first floor of the Club was devoted to the exhibition and its tremendous success was a fitting celebration of the historic site”.

History

J.S.Fry & Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family. The business moved through several names and hands before ending up as J.S.Fry & Sons, around 1822, becoming the largest commercial provider of chocolate in Britain.

In 1847, the Fry,s chocolate factory, located in Union Street, Bristol, moulded the first ever chocolate bar suitable for widespread consumption. The firm began producing the Fry’s Chocolate Cream bar in 1866. Over 220 products were introduced in the following decades, including production of the first chocolate Easter egg in the UK in 1873 and the Fry’s Turkish Delight, in 1914.

In 1896 the firm became a registered private company. It was run by the Fry family with Joseph Storrs Fry II, a grandson of the first Joseph Storrs Fry, as the chairman.

Near the start of World War I the company was one of the largest employers in Bristol. By 1919 the company had merged with Cadbury’s chocolate and the joint company named British Cocoa and Chocolate Company. The Fry’s division began the move to Somerdale, but the factory was still a major producer of Cadbury’s products.

On October 2007, Cadbury announced plans to close the Somerdale plant, by 2010 with the loss of some 500 jobs.

In February, following the takeover of Cadbury plc, by Kraft Foods, the closure was confirmed to take place in 2011.

As recognition of the past, the company has said it will honour Cadbury’s previous undertakings to employees to rebuild the Fry Club on the Somerdale site.

Swindon Business News recently published an article on Access Displays and the celebration of our 20th anniversary. The full article can be found below.

During this time the company has worked in over 30 countries, winning more than 60 international awards for both best stand design and best stand at show, building regularly over 50,000 sq. ft of custom built exhibition stands each year.

But why has the business prospered when so many exhibition and display companies have gone to the wall in recent years?

To see what makes Access Displays different, we need to look back to those early days in 1990.

Access Displays, acting as an independent supplier, produced a very clear sales policy; to sell at manufacturers prices, to demonstrate the different options available and to offer impartial advice.

To complement these sales activities, a full hire service and installation facility was made available.

As the company’s reputation and client base grew so did the products and services.

To accommodate increasing requirements for large custom built stands, Access Displays purchased the Swindon-based custom build house, ‘The Design Shop (Swindon) Ltd’, in July 2000. This acquisition increased production capacity by 50 per cent.

Since then Access Displays has relocated its entire operation to Swindon, to provide its customers with the highest standards of workmanship and innovative graphic and stand design.

Over time, the company has continued to develop its extensive web site, detailing thousands of consumable items relating to exhibition, display and retail applications.

The latest addition is an extensive range of eye-catching, rotating and freestanding, static, glass display units and show cases, to hire or buy.

As one of the largest exhibition and display companies in the UK, with a reputation for service, Access Displays is the official exhibition contractor for some of the largest blue chip companies in the world and design and build their bespoke exhibition stands globally.

Whatever your event, we are here to help you find the system most suitable for your needs. Our aim is to make sure you get the right solution at the right time and at the right price.

Help for Heroes raises money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country.

We donated an 8 panel folding display stand to the Help for Heroes charity for use behind their merchandise table to help them with their fund raising events.

"Thank you so much for the wonderful donation to Help for Heroes of a display stand as a backdrop to my sales table, which I take to various events for fundraising."  - Gill, Help for Heroes.

View the complete range of folding display boards

Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies focusing on platinum group metals, diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, metallurgical and thermal coal.

Access Displays are pleased to supply one of the world's largest mining companies with the trade show pop up display stands.

 12/10/2010

Access Displays designed and built a 344m² bespoke exhibition stand for Kids II to be exhibited at Kind n Jugend 2010 in Cologne, Germany.

There are videos available on our YouTube page for both the build process and a tour around the completed exhibition stand.

Video: Building of Kids II Custom Built Exhibition Stand in Cologne, Germany

Video: Kids II Custom Built Exhibition Stand in Cologne, Germany

 14/09/2010

Access Displays exhibited at this years Event and Exhibiting Show 15th-16th July 2010 at the Business Design Centre.
Taking a 30sqm space only site the stand was built using our Linx modular system. You can find out more about this system by visiting our Custom Modular page.

With graphics printed direct to substrate the stand was clean and striking.

“This year’s visitor numbers were dramatically up on last year and we took many enquiries from new and existing customers and had paid for the cost of exhibiting by lunch time on the first day. Most of the visitors I spoke to thought the workshops and presentations were very useful and well delivered” - Peter Bowen C.E.O of Access Displays.

We have already booked next years stand space to why not make a note in your diary and come and see us?

With armed forces day in just a few weeks, Access Displays donated a 6 panel folding display including carry bag and velcro in support of Shoeboxes For Troops.

Shoeboxes For Troops fill shoeboxes with items to send to our troops on the frontline in Afghanistan. Items include shower gels, roll on deodorant, toothpaste and brushes, lip balms, wet wipes, shaving sticks and razors, tubs of curry powder, instant noodles, shortbread fingers, cuppa soups, polos, chewing gum. Shoeboxes For Troops have been told by both past and present troops that these boxes are a great morale booster when they receive them. Since the appeal was started back in July 2009 they have managed to send out 1800 boxes all with the help of the general public's generosity.

Below is the feedback Access Displays received from Neil and Jane Harding at Shoeboxes For Troops:

"Thank you once again for your kind donation which we received this afternoon. The board which you sent is fantastic as we can now display even more photographs and we can get our message across to the public. We have a collection arranged at our local Tesco/Marks and Spencer superstore and another collection at Wolsey Place Shopping Centre in Woking. I will let you know how we get on as to how many shoe boxes we manage to fill from the collections on both days! Once again a big thank you on behalf of our troops who are doing us proud."

Even if you're not a fan of football or don't understand it you can still take part in the World Cup 2010 competition. For just a £5 entry fee you predict how the games will progress and earn points for correct results. The winner takes all! Entries must be received along with entry fee by 10th June 2010. 

Once the World Cup starts, the competition page will be updated regularly to feature the top performing entries.

For more information on the World Cup 2010 competition including how to enter, click here.

Yesterday evening Access Displays exhibited at the Swindon Connections Networking Event at the Holiday Inn. The Swindon Connections Networking Event is ideal for networking with local businesses and communities and presented some great networking opportunities.

Our display featured a pop up stand complete with graphics and transportable case, some literature as well as a folding literature stand.

Click here to view our range of banner stands.

Click here to view our range of promotional display counters.

London City Airport have chosen our Screenflex product to use as portable screening within their airport terminal. Available in various heights, lengths and fabric colours  this quality product can be simply and quickly folded up and wheeled away when not in use, ideal for airports, conference centres and other large multi functional areas. 

Click here for more information and pricing on our Screenflex range of products

“Access Displays practice that grand old principle of ‘face to face’ communication and it’s this together with a total understanding of our Show Brief that lead to them winning the contract.

From the onset Access understood exactly what we wanted and provided a stand appropriate to our specification. From the initial detail and discussions all the way to the final on-site assembly everything went just like clockwork, and the overall image presented provided exactly the image we’d requested. Don’t just take our view of the success, our on-stand PrIze Draw asked visitors to score us on ‘How attractive and engaging was the DynaVox Mayer-Johnson stand, with an average overall score given of above 4.5 out of 5”.

As you may have seen, in the late 2009 series of Top Gear, the team used the Mima Art Gallery in Middlesborough to display automotive art.

Access Displays were delighted to have the opportunity to build yet another stand for Eberspächer at this years London boat show at the Excel centre. 

Eberspächer have been using Access Displays since 1992. Initially supplying them with panel and pole displays, pop up systems and banners it later developed into custom made exhibition stands at a number of international events.

We have continued to use Access Displays as their creative design has always reflected our company image, profile and marketing needs and they have consistently provided Eberspacher with outstanding service and first class displays, said Russell Brown, Managing Director at Eberspächer (UK) Ltd.