This summer Mark Chudley was appointed president of BAR, taking over the reins from Ian Palmer at the end of his two-year stint in the president’s chair.
Deputy Editor David Jordan talked to Mark about his new job and what he hopes to achieve.
Fashionably, my meeting with Mark was via Zoom, the round trip of 380 miles or so to his office near Taunton that a couple of years ago I’d have taken without a thought, now seemed unnecessary, even irresponsible, in these work from home, post-lockdown times. I’m sure Greta Thunberg would have approved too.
For once the connection worked first time and after the usual two-way, “Can you hear me?” handshake, we were up and running.
There is no doubt that Mark is eminently qualified for his new role having been in the removals business for well over 40 years joining straight from school and even before that, working on Saturdays and holidays for a local moving company. Mark joined Exeter-based Blatchpack Group in 1977 starting out as a van boy and packer before quickly rising up the ranks to become an estimator and later moving on to the overseas moving side of the business. After only a couple of years at the tender age of 21 he moved north to manage John Bradshaw & Sons in Stockport, a challenge he remembers with some trepidation ...
Photo: Mark Chudley.