We reached a milestone this year – 75 years of trading
We were proud of this landmark and felt it deserved to be celebrated. We had big plans including a ‘thank you’ party in the summer for all staff, past and present.
With this in mind, we expected 2020 to be a memorable year and it has certainly been a year we will never forget, both from a professional and personal point of view. But not for the reasons we anticipated.
I recall news coming out of China in January of a nasty new virus, but it all seemed a long way away and not something likely to have much bearing on our celebrations. Things changed quickly however and by February the virus had reached the UK and we became very familiar with Covid-19.
We soon realised a pandemic was coming which would cause uncertainty and anxiety for all of us and change the way we live and work.
On the 5th March, BBC Look East sent a crew to visit us to record an item for the evening news on how businesses were preparing for the pandemic. They sent their longstanding newshound, Kim Riley, to interview us and when he arrived, we shook hands and joked about whether or not it was still safe to do so. I’ve not shaken hands with anyone since. At that time there were no cases in our area. But during the interview it started to dawn on me for the first time really that something potentially really serious was on its way.
On the evening of 23rd March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced the formal lockdown but we were not on the list of businesses being asked to close as we produce labelling and print for Healthcare customers including for drug development trials, anti-bacterial gels and end-of-life drugs as well as medical devices.
I recall being concerned that staff would find the ‘Stay at Home’ message confusing, but when I went to work the next day, I was greatly relieved to find staff already in, observing social distancing measures, and otherwise getting on with work as normal.
Within a few days, we began to receive letters from our healthcare and life-science customers stating our essential importance in their supply chain. Clearly they were worried that we might close and disrupt their production, but we never did and the importance of our work was further demonstrated when at end of March we received a label for an early Covid-19 drug trial which was being rushed out.
We have since produced several orders for Covid-19 drug trials for customers in Europe as well as the UK. Some have included patient specific over-printing which is absolutely critical to get right and we are one of very few printers whose staff are experts in this work.
Our engineering business received orders for ventilator parts and we were pleased to be able to help by printing patterns for a local group of sewers making scrubs for staff at West Suffolk Hospital.
At home, my street, like many others up and down the country, began joining the Thursday night ‘Clap for Carers’. The atmosphere and sound of what seemed like the whole village clapping was very emotional. After a couple of weeks, one of the neighbours began playing Queen’s ‘We are the Champions’ each time and we found ourselves chatting, from a distance, with neighbours we hadn’t previously met.
There was a definite increase in community spirit although the inconsiderate hoarding of certain commodities, such as toilet rolls, bread and the like, added to the stress of our staff. Some would say they had tried to get shopping after work, but they were faced with empty shelves. Fortunately, these problems seem to have gone away now.
We have introduced whatever measures we can to protect the business and staff including automatic body temperature scanners on the entrances, copious amounts of hand sanitiser, social distancing or use of PPE where this is not possible and an embargo on non-essential visitors. Fortunately, these measures have so far proved effective, but we can’t let our guard down.
Our staff have been a credit to the business and to themselves. There has been some anxiety and tensions at times, but they have adapted and stoically dealt with the very difficult situation we all face.
Denny Bros has made its name over the last 75 years by rising to the challenge and finding solutions. We are proud of our history and proud to be contributing in a small way to this new battle.
The values instilled by our founders, Russell and Douglas Denny, can still be seen running through the heartbeat of the company today and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our incredible staff, past and present, for their hard work and commitment to Denny Bros. Equally, a big DB thank you to all our loyal customers.
Our success and longevity is a result of a collective effort. We may not have been able to celebrate our anniversary as we would have wished but we feel lucky in comparison to many and ‘we’ll meet again’ when we can. Here’s to the next 75 years.
