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2021 Awards 03 I ’m delighted to address you as the new HAE EHA Chief Executive Officer and welcome you to the Digital Roundup for the 2021 Hire Awards of Excellence. First, I would like to place on record my thanks and appreciation to Graham Arundell, my predecessor, who led the association for many years. Graham’s leadership delivered a real and lasting change for the sector and I will carry on those ideals and principles. The nature of the unprecedented worldwide Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on our lives. It has been a very challenging year for many within our sector. The one thing we all know about hire and rental is its resilience. Nothing gets built, maintained or events delivered without each and every one of you being on your game. Despite being unable to meet up in person to celebrate the successes of the sector, we felt that it was essential to recognise the efforts, the new product innovation from suppliers and the safe and efficient processes that the sector utilises to deliver a high-quality service to clients and customers. As your association, the team has worked with our member-led board to continue delivering a high-quality service. I’d like to place on record my thanks to all members of staff who have worked tirelessly during this period. From the outset of the pandemic, we developed communications and guidance, sometimes daily to help you keep up to date with events and how to plan ahead. We developed best practice guidance documents and supporting literature, ran a whole series of webinars, secured funding to deliver training, created an online learning portal and continued to offer vocational qualifications remotely. Through our public affairs work, we lobbied Government(s) and helped ensure that hire and rental was deemed as essential retail. We also need to recognise the challenging time for those of you involved in the events sector. We have continued to work hard to represent your interests. This has included liaising with various agencies and bodies, including the campaign to establish an all-party Parliamentary group on weddings. It has again been pleasing to see that many new members have joined us over the past year. A number of organisations have used the past year to establish new businesses and sought out membership of the Association to develop their offerings. Going forward, it is essential that we all work together to continue to raise standards and deliver a high- quality service to our customers. We really are stronger together. Finally, my sincere congratulations go to the 2021 finalists and we will return to the annual London spectacular at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on Saturday, May 7th 2022. << Paul Gaze CEO “The one thing we all know about hire and rental is its resilience. Nothing gets built, maintained or events delivered without each and every one of you being on your game.” WELCOME ADDRESS FROM PAUL GAZE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HAE EHA