A successful 60-year business link between working partners in Reading and London will be symbolically reaffirmed by the opening of a new £2 million St. John Ambulance distribution centre in Peterborough by HRH The Princess Royal on July 16.
It was fitting that Thames Valley printing company Lamport Gilbert was one of the first to congratulate St. John Ambulance on completion of its new purpose-built national distribution centre in Peterborough – Lamport Gilbert has been working with St. John Ambulance Supplies since the middle of the last century.
The Reading-based firm has grown and developed with the St. John Ambulance Supplies network, which now provides state-of-the art worldwide distribution of its 6,000-plus products. Lamport Gilbert prints the majority of St. John Ambulance product, training and service support documentation.
St. John Ambulance Supplies also entrusts Lamport Gilbert with the storage and supply of more than 70-tonnes of their various printed materials – held in an online stock-order system Lamport Gilbert devised especially for them.
“As long-time working partners we are delighted to congratulate St. John Ambulance Supplies on relocating its London and regional warehousing to its new single-site product distribution centre in Peterborough,” said Charles Day, sales director of Lamport Gilbert.
“It will be wonderful for St. John Ambulance Supplies to get its entire product stock in one location, since this can only benefit efficiency and performance for its suppliers and international customers alike.
“We like to think that St. John Ambulance Supplies has also benefited over the past 60 years by getting its entire printing requirements from one location!”
Account manager Bob Sym will represent Lamport Gilbert at the distribution centre official opening by HRH The Princess Royal, Commandant in Chief of St John Ambulance, the UK's leading First Aid charity. Bob has been handling the needs of St. John Ambulance Supplies for the past 27 years.
“Our relationship with Lamport Gilbert is based on a professional trust created through their long-term continuity of performance, quality and value,“ explained Stephen English, general manager of St. John Supplies. “Throughout the years Lamport Gilbert has taken as much care with our printing jobs as we would an injured person.”
Lamport Gilbert is one of the few printers in the country working to the environmental management standard ISO 14001, and will no doubt be a supportive ‘old-friend’ as St. John Ambulance Supplies progresses towards the achievement of its own ISO 14001 environmental accreditation status and future sustainability plans.
Enduring links and heritage go hand in hand for the two organisations. Lamport Gilbert, one of the Thames Valley’s oldest printing firms, proudly celebrated its own centenary with the turn of the millennium. St. John Ambulance is slightly older, having a long and detailed history dating back over 900 years to “The Crusades”
