Greeting those arriving at the imposing venue the Renaissance St Pancras Hotel was a Merlo telehandler trio consisting of current and historic models. A fully electric 2023 eWorker 25.5-90, was flanked by the recently restored classic 30-year-old P60.10XS and a current model MultiFarmer 44.9 telehandler.
Almost 130 attendees from the UK dealer network, industry associations and invited guests were joined by members of both Merlo UK & Merlo Group staff.
The evening kicked off with a reception in the gothic themed upper rooms of the hotel seeing speeches from Paolo Merlo, President and Massimo Biei, Business Manager of Merlo Group alongside Shaun Groom, General Manager of Merlo UK reflecting on the past 30 successful years of operations in the UK.
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The guests were able to visit the Gallery Room which saw 30 years’ worth of Merlo memories come to life. A company timeline display, photo montages and archival video footage dating back as far as 1993 offered a fascinating review of the Merlo brands development in the UK.
Following dinner, a number of awards were presented to dealers that had notched up significant periods of service with the Merlo franchise.
Among the awards presented by company President Paolo Merlo were two for 30 years as a Merlo dealer, West Wales dealer Brodyr Evans Bros and Devon based CR Willcocks, picking up the honours both having been with Merlo UK since its inception.
The final award of the evening was quite unique in that it went to an individual who had been selling Merlo since 1988 (prior to the founding of Merlo UK). Jeff Jones now of North Yorkshire based Brian Robinson Machinery received an award for 35 continuous years of Merlo sales. Jeff sold new in 1993 the now fully restored P60.10XS model, on display that evening in front of the hotel, it was great to be able to reunite the two of them after 30 years.
Reflecting on the evening Shaun Groom, General Manager of Merlo UK commented: "It has been great to be able to acknowledge in style all those present and that have gone before us in the last 30 years in bringing Merlo UK to where it is today. Whether be that as a customer, dealer, colleague or industry partner we are truly grateful for the support. Here is to the next 30 years!"
