Raymond Brown are delighted to welcome Don Coates to the business as Chief Executive Officer

Raymond Brown are delighted to announce Don Coates as the group’s new Chief Executive Officer.

The appointment is a key part of Raymond Brown’s future growth strategy, which will see Don steering the business through its growth and expansion plans.

Don commented: “Raymond Brown is a well-respected business and I am excited to be joining at a key time in the Group’s development when there are many great prospects.  I will ensure that we remain committed to our employees, customers, local communities, health and safety and improving the environment, which underpins our core values.  I look forward to supporting the senior team in leading the group through this next phase.”

Don has 30 years’ experience in manufacturing, working across a variety of sectors, and has led several businesses as CEO in both private and public company environments, including 17 years with DS Smith Plc, where his responsibilities included running the UK’s largest waste paper recycler.

Don will be working closely with Chief Operating Officer, Steve Clasby, Chief Financial Officer, Wayne Roberts, and the management team.

Steve Clasby commented: “On behalf of the Raymond Brown team, I would like to welcome Don, who we are thrilled to have on board.  I very much look forward to working with Don to make the most of the opportunities ahead as we continue our success into the future.”

Secret Auxiliary Units Bunker excavated at Binnegar Quarry

An archaeological assessment has revealed how Binnegar Quarry near Wareham was the site of an underground hideout for the secret Auxiliary Units, Britain’s wartime resistance in waiting.  Andrew Joseph Associates Archaeology Services, working under contract to Raymond Brown, recognised the significance of the site as unusual, on a quarry site that also contained Bronze Age barrows and Battery Bank, a boundary marker and scheduled ancient monument.  Experts were called in to assess the site from Historic England, the County Archaeologist and specialist Auxiliary Units research group, Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART).

The Auxiliary Units were set up in 1940 in case of a Nazi invasion. Their role was to hide underground while the first wave of an invasion passed by and then emerge to sabotage supplies, transport and communications to hamper the German forces and allow a counter attack.  Made up of six to seven men in a patrol, drawn from local civilians, they were taught demolition and issued large quantities of explosives and weapons.  Each patrol had an underground hideout where they could rest and store their supplies.  It would be carefully disguised against discovery.  The men were told their life expectancy after invasion was just a couple of weeks.

The expert review revealed that the bunker was partially collapsed and heavily damaged.  As it was not in a fit state for preservation, it was agreed that it would be fully recorded by archaeological investigation prior to its deconstruction. This was done in stages over 18 months from 2017 and 2018.  CART volunteers lead the project with specialist archaeological support from Ian Meadows from Andrew Josephs Associates and the New Forest National Parks Community Archaeology Service.  Raymond Brown provided plant to assist the excavation and transport to the remote site and local residents were kept updated throughout by Councillor Barry Quinn who attended regularly to review its progress.

Very few such underground bunkers have been excavated in this way. The dig found a sturdy Nissen hut-like main chamber with an entrance shaft at one end and a short tunnel and escape exit at the other.  It revealed that it had been intentionally collapsed in the 1970s, with the centre of the roof removed and the interior filled with sand, however, some elements of its wartime use remained.  At the base of the shafts were found remains of the hatch mechanisms including a heavy concrete counter weight.  These were used to vertically lift a heavy soil covered hatch that disguised the shaft.  The dig revealed an extensive ventilation system, made from over one hundred four inch glazed earthenware pipes brought in from the Midlands.  This relied on warm air rising through pipes set in the roof which drew in fresh air through other pipes running to the bottom of the bunker.  In the base of the tunnel were found numerous inert trap switches. These had been deliberately deactivated by whoever had discarded them, the empty boxes they came in being found nearby.  Other similar devices had been found as part of an extensive metal detector survey of the surrounding area indicating that the men had been training nearby.  This survey also found a metal first aid splint and a .50 calibre bullet, evidence of the US Army who were briefly based in nearby Binnegar Hall prior to D Day.  Other finds included discarded tin cans from a meal eaten by the men who built the bunker, found in backfill outside the bunker walls.

A full report will be lodged with the County Archaeologist in due course and it is hoped to stage an exhibition of the findings in the local area next year.  Raymond Brown have donated the finds to CART to be exhibited as part of their public displays explaining the history of Auxiliary Units.  It is planned to erect a pair of memorial benches constructed from blocks salvaged from the bunker, to remember the men who received no recognition at the end of the war, due to the secrecy of the organisation.

Raymond Brown picks up prestigious RoSPA Gold Medal for 2017

Raymond Brown are delighted to announce themselves as winners at the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards 2017.

The business achieved the Gold Medal for eight consecutive Golds Awards in the prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The award was achieved during a special year for family-safety charity RoSPA, as it celebrates its centenary.

Through the RoSPA Awards scheme, which is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas, judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.

“This is a special year in the history of RoSPA, and we congratulate all of our winners in this, our centenary year”.

The majority of awards are non-competitive and mark achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels. Gold medals, president’s awards and orders of distinction are presented to organisations sustaining the high standards of the gold level over consecutive years.

For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards

Nature After Minerals Event at Binnegar Quarry

As part of a Nature After Minerals (NAM) event looking at invertebrate and early pioneer species conservation through biodiversity-led minerals restoration, Raymond Brown recently welcomed a group of minerals restoration stakeholders to Binnegar Quarry, in Dorset.

The morning session of the event considered how, in working to create priority habitats to link up with local fragmented habitats on a landscape scale, early to mid-term succession habitat evolution can also help support important pioneer species that are vital for a healthy ecosystem.

In the afternoon, event attendees from the minerals industry, local authorities, statutory bodies, minerals planners and ecological and planning consultants took part in a site visit to the quarry, where Raymond Brown employees and ecological consultants were on hand to showcase the work being undertaken on the site’s 8ha Blue Area.

This area, which is being restored with nature firmly in mind, is helping provide a refuge for invertebrates and pioneer species in the early stages of its restoration to heathland, interspersed with ephemeral ponds and bare scrapes.

Rob Westell, Raymond Brown’s Estates and Planning Director, commented: ‘We were delighted to host our second NAM event at Binnegar Quarry, to demonstrate the restoration of the site.

‘Lowland heathland is a top priority habitat in Dorset, and the site, which contains some heathland, adjoins a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), benefiting priority butterfly, reptile and bird species, and facilitating their colonization.’

NAM’s events and communications officer, Debra Royal, said: ‘At a time when research shows nature is in trouble and many species are in rapid decline, biodiversity-led minerals restoration can help. We were delighted to have an opportunity to visit Binnegar Quarry to view yet another instance of minerals restoration work helping nature on the ground.’