Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.
There is so much out there that’s a bit grim and depressing, even though we are in Spring, the season of rebirth and new growth. The Trump tariffs are tanking the US economy – and anyone’s pension/ISA that’s invested in US funds. The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hesgarth really needs to have a lesson from a 12-year-old in how to operate a mobile phone, as it appears he leaked details of an airstrike against Houti rebels in Yemen to yet another chatgroup. This one including members of his family. “Hey Pete. Lunch on Sunday? Soz, got things going down in Yemen, I think? OK, Week after? Yep, that should be OK.” Maybe we should get him one of those old-people phones I got my mother, big buttons, big screen and no new-fangled messaging service.
A visit from the Vice President JD Vance seems to have been the last straw for poor old Pope Francis, and, closer to home, we have a lot of noise about who gets to use which public loo, as well as a lot of public (well LinkedIn anyway) discourse about Travis Perkins’ current situation.
So, in the spirit of not wanting to think about the horrid stuff too much, might I gently turn your attention to something lovely and celebratory?
I am, of course, talking about our annual shindig highlighting everything that is great and good about this sector. The BMJ Industry Awards 2025. We have extended the deadline, as, once again, I didn’t think to take the Easter weekend and the May Bank Holiday into account. Every year we have Easter and the Bank Holiday, and every year it takes me by surprise.
There are now two weeks to get yourselves over to the BMJ Industry Awards website, https://www.bmjindustryawards.co.uk/enter/ choose your category/categories, fill out your details or the details of the people and businesses you are nominating, press submit and sit back and wait for the voting to open. The only real effort is to upload some details or photography for those categories where it’s a bit more relevant – the landscaping display, bathroom showroom, people categories, for example.
This is the only industry awards programme that is voted for by the people who really understand what good looks like, the customers, the colleagues, the suppliers who work in it day-in, day-out.
Once the nominations are in and have been verified, so that everyone is in the appropriate category, the voting portal will open, and then it’s over to you. It’s a totally secure set-up – even I can’t get into it – and the techy wizards have ensured that the field is levelled so that that the biggest companies don’t just get all the votes. It will also work out if you’ve got your Mum, the milkman, and your hairdresser to vote for you.
We’ve been running this event since 2018, so you should all know the drill by now. Once you’ve entered, get onto the booking page and make sure you have a table or some seats so that you can be there to find out who you, the people, have voted as your favourites. Not my favourites, the people, businesses and brands that merchants and suppliers believe are doing to best jobs in the best industry.
www.bmjindustryawards.co.uk/enter/
The gala awards lunch is on THURSDAY September 25th at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, Tower Bridge London. It will be hosted by the rather fabulous, gets-better-with-age, Lawrence Dallaglio OBE. Warning: I will probably go full-on fan-girl. #Sorrynotsorry
You all know the companies, brands and people that you think should be celebrated, so why not let the rest of us know, and give us all a chance to really embrace all that goodness and greatness in our fabulous industry.
