Adrian's school report wins him a Stokbord® accolade

Adrian Sutton, the manager of the Uttoxeter branch of large agricultural goods merchant and distributor Wynnstay, knows a good product when he sees one. He knows a good story too, even when it involves animals and children.

Adrian (left) receives his prize from Jonathan Pearce

He was recently able to put these qualities to excellent use when he, along with other staff at the 30 branches of Wynnstay - whose trading area includes all of Wales, the border counties, through much of the middle counties of England, from Cheshire and Staffordshire to Worcestershire and Oxfordshire – he was invited to take part in a competition organised by Centriforce Products.

Centriforce challenged the branches to come up with the best application for its Stokbord® embossed general purpose, value for money board, made from 100 % recycled low-density polyethylene.

Stokbord® is a very well established brand, and one that most of the branches have great confidence in. However, the increasing interest that is being shown in products that are more environmentally beneficial – and they do not come more sustainable than Stokbord® - has meant that the product's uses are being expanded beyond conventional agricultural structures into all manner of building and landscape management projects.So the competitors had a lot to go on!

Adrian delved into his order book, and soon noticed that the Thomas Alleynes School just down the road from his branch in Uttoxeter had bought a quantity of the product. He decided to return to the classroom and do some investigation.

What he saw convinced him that children and animals aren't always bad news. The school's Rural Science Department, who provide pupils with knowledge and skills on all aspects of farming and agriculture, play an important role in the school's science curriculum. They even have their own farm, where pupils can learn about beef cattle, lambs, pigs chickens from birth to slaughter, and which sells its own eggs and pigs.

More importantly, from Adrian's point of view, the Department has lined the farm building with Stokbord® for all kinds of practical as well as environmental reasons, as Adrian says:

"They were certainly taken with the fact that it is made from recycled plastics, but equally impressed when we told them that it is rot proof, very easy to maintain and long lasting, and hence excellent value."

Put all these facts together, and Adrian believed he had the ideal entry for the competition. And so it proved, as Centriforce Product's Sales Manager, Jonathan Pearce, explains:

" We are very used to seeing our product on the farm, but what impressed us in particular is that the farm is part of a School, and the school itself had made the decision to install Stokbord®."