Calvin Higginbottom, GLIDE Chairman's Award Winner and Sales and Business Development Manager for PMS Diecasting, recently spent a week in the USA

1. Visit to Gripple USA
GLIDE Award Visit July 2015
Virgin Atlantic from Manchester on
an early Sunday morning………
arriving to a hot and humid Sunday
in Chicago several hours later

2. Checked in at the Hotel Baker, which sits on the side of the
beautiful Fox River running through the town of St Charles.
The Hotel Baker was first opened in 1928 and
is a registered historic building of the USA

3. Visited the Gripple USA facility in Auroro,
Illinois, approx. 1 hours drive out of Chicago
Officially opened by Hugh Facey &
Roger Hall in December 2008

4. Gripple USA is certainly colourful and
has some great paintings hung around
the walls, and even, actually painted on
the walls
….what a great idea!

5. With the GLIDE values written all over the
walls and some great product feature points,
a lot of thought has obviously gone in to the
work environment….
…and a massage chair is something we
could definitely use at PMS from time to
time. A great ‘GLIDEA’ as Lionel would say!

6. The following day we travelled down to the South….Atlanta, Georgia.
To visit the new home of the Atlanta Falcons
that is now under construction……
……and using some Gripple
products that started life at PMS

7. The new stadium is being built next to the old stadium and is an incredible size!
….and then it was back in
to Lee’s pick up truck,
(nice number plate!) to
go to the next site, a new
Walmart store.

8. Yellow is very fashionable these days on construction sites around the world….
….but it does then allow you
to see the Gripples in action.
From Rotherham to Atlanta
via Sheffield if I am not
mistaken!

9. …and then it was off to the forests to find some wire that needed testing.
Elise and Lee convinced me that my life was not in danger…
but they didn’t tell me that my hat wasn’t on straight
(not the best of ‘looks’ I know!)

10. …the things you have to do to test a Gripple!
….actually this was ‘high wire’ zip lining through the Atlanta forests and no,
they weren’t Gripples……..not yet at least…….but we did try to sell them
some bracing products for the trees (don’t forget the PMS commission!)
I checked first to make sure that Gordon hadn’t made these,
….and then I took the jump!

11. …with a fellow Englishman now living in the US and now
unfortunately nicknamed ‘Horizontal Brian’ due to his strange
rappelling technique…..(no he is not dead in these photos!)
and not forgetting Gripple regional sales manager….
Lee ‘U-Turn’ Christian, who kindly drove us around
and organised a great visit to Atlanta
….Thanks Lee!
He will be displaying his
skills at the next Gripple
exhibition apparently
….and don’t worry
everyone, he is
certainly not a
Yorkshire man!

12. Finally had some great food at a famous Atlanta restaurant called Paschal’s,
together with Lionel Gatinet of Gripple EU. The restaurant was apparently often
frequented by Atlanta’s famous son, Martin Luther King himself!
This is not exactly a quick ‘fried chicken sandwich’
in my book, but it was delicious washed down
with Iced Tea and Lemonade (also delicious!!)

13. Then it was off back to Chicago for a tour of the ‘Windy City’….
..where nothing can exactly be described as small!

14. A boat trip down the river and out on to Lake Michigan

15. ………for some spectacular views of the city!

16. Then it was time to stop for a proper Chicago deep pan pizza
…and that meant eating all of it!

17. Finally a trip up to the top of the 2nd tallest building in the city…
Hancock tower….where we actually found some Gripples
hanging the sound system can you believe!

18. In the end it was time for me to say goodbye after
a fantastic week, together with Lionel from France.
We were both extremely well looked after and we
both learned a lot about our American colleagues
and the efforts they make on our behalf every day.
Thanks to all the team at Gripple USA, too many
people to mention I am afraid, but special praise
and A VERY BIG THANK YOU should go to Head of
Marketing, Elise Balsamo, who truly lives and
breathes our GLIDE values. She went above and
beyond to ensure our trip was both memorable
and worthwhile!
If you see this lady buy her a beer!
(and she will drink it believe me!)
..and yes Elise you were right……….
ELISE BALSAMO

19. America is AWESOME!
Thanks to the GLIDE Board for organising the
trip and good luck to the next lucky winners,
you will have a great time believe me!