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In memorium: Peter Hick Above: Peter Hick, who died last summer
Jonny Hick pays tribute to his father, Peter Hick, former TTF president and TRADA chairman, who died last summer just a few weeks short of his 90th birthday. My father Peter Hick was a toweringly (6ft 3in) popular figure in the timber trade in the 1970s and 80s – a former president of the Timber Trade Federation and chairman of TRADA for several years. He was known as “The Poet” and was a much sought-after after-dinner speaker at every regional dinner and brought the house down many times at the national
dinner with his incisive and observational wit. He was much loved by Scandinavian Ambassadors for speaking totally fluent Swedish (and pretty good Norwegian and Finnish). He famously knew more Swedish drinking songs than most Swedes having lived and worked in sawmills in Sweden for a year in his early 20s. Peter was the fourth generation to run the family timber importing and merchanting business, Beecroft & Wightman, established in Bradford by his great-grandfather John Wightman in 1864. By the end of the 19th century, it was one of the biggest timber businesses in Yorkshire and in 1898 opened a substantial sawmill and storage yard in Hull (ultimately covering some 20 acres). By the 1970s, Beecroft & Wightman Holdings Ltd was a substantive group employing several hundred people via eight subsidiaries, including joinery manufacturers Tait of Hull and RG Fowler.
Arundel & Co coated every lighthouse in Britain and in 1895 my great-grandfather Charles John Wightman backed a man called Davenport who had registered various water engineering patents. The first Cooling Towers in the world (12 of them) were built entirely of timber (140ft high) at Bradford Power Station in 1897 and Davenport Engineering went on to build and maintain all the curved concrete
Zest smashes charity target for 2024
to a home support charity in lieu of staff receiving Christmas gifts. Funds were raised via a series of charity challenges completed by the staff throughout the year.
Above (from left): Michelle Collard, CEO of Mind North East Wales; Andrew Baker, Zest MD; and Natasha Wait, business development and income generation manager of Mind North East Wales
Garden furniture, grow-your-own and decorative garden structure specialist, Zest has smashed its charity fund-raising target for 2024. Presenting a cheque for £18,800 to Mind - North East Wales – was one of the highlights of the company’s Christmas get together.
At the same event, Zest also presented a cheque for £2,000 to Shelter Cymru, which was money that staff voted to give
Highlights included Zest’s managing director Andrew Baker running the Valencia Marathon on December 1; the Manchester Marathon when nine employees participated; a 150ft Liverpool Cathedral Abseiling event; participation in Iron Man Wales; the Chester 10K; company sponsored quiz nights; cake bakes and raffles; and a 24-hour relay walk. “I’m so proud of what we have achieved and it wouldn’t have been possible without massive contributions from the whole team, as well as support from customers, suppliers and the local community,” said Mr Baker. “We have now raised almost £175,000 in our 14 years of fund-raising. Next year marks the Group’s 40th anniversary, and it would be great to hit the £200,000 mark during this milestone year.”
cooling towers (375ft high) in UK coal powered power stations. It also had a substantial water-cooling business in the US. Peter Wightman Hick was born in Bradford in 1934 and, after national service as a second lieutenant in the Green Howards, he was sent by his uncle Charles Wightman to run the Hull operation, becoming group managing director in 1965, a position he held until the business was sold to May & Hassell plc in 1984. He was development director of Hunter Timber until his retirement in 1990. In his heyday he spent six weeks a year touring Scandinavia and Russia buying timber direct from his many friends in the trade. He was a good cricketer and golfer and an extremely well known and popular figure in the Hull and East Yorkshire business community – captain and president of Brough Golf Club (1998), co-founder and chairman of Hull and Humberside Round Table, president of Hull Literary Club and master of its Annual Yuletide Revels. This attracted a sell-out crowd of 500 guests to its yearly Christmas dinner, where Dad would write and direct an hour’s worth of songs and sketches as a revue/review of the year with a cast of 10 (including myself) and a small orchestra. It was the highlight of the business social year.
JB Kind Doors raises over £3,500 for charity
Door distributor JB Kind has raised £3,670 for South Derbyshire Community Voluntary Support (CVS) as part of its two-year fund- raising commitment.
Chosen by employees as the company’s charity of the year for 2024 and 2025, South Derbyshire CVS provides crucial services such as an emergency food bank, projects to reduce loneliness and isolation, and mental well-being support. With another year of fund-raising activities ahead, the company aims to help further by the end of 2025.
The company’s main 2024 fund-raising events included a successful charity golf day, an Easter raffle, bake weeks, and a lively summer pub quiz.
“It’s been a team effort, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far,” said James Cadman, JB Kind’s managing director.
www.ttjonline.com | January/February 2025 | TTJ
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