Many members and suppliers journeyed to the Holiday Inn Stratford on the Friday either relaxing in the Hotel or enjoying the annual Mop fair in the town. Some 45 Suppliers supported this year's show with Trade Stands set up early on Saturday morning. Many stands were showing latest product developments, particularly prevalent in Lighting, LED and Energy saving Technology. A busy show Commenced at 11:30am. Business proceeded through lunch with many orders taken before the show concluded shortly after 5pm.

AIEW
2012 Gala Dinner

David Dunning. AIEW's non Executive Chairman toasted the health of the suppliers and thanked all suppliers and members for attending.

Jason Smithen of National Ventilation, a long standing preferred supplier to AIEW members, graciously responded on behalf of the suppliers, highlighting how busy and successful the Trade Show had been.

After a fine meal in good company Milton Jones had the room laughing with his unique style of humour that somehow seemed to capture the atmosphere just right.

Milton Jones is a multi-award winning comedian who has been a panellist many times on Mock the Week (BBC2), and was recently to be seen on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Road Show (BBC1). He has also had his ninth radio series commissioned for BBC Radio4.

AIEW Managing Director, Andrew Dunning and Group Chairman, David Dunning presented awards to AIEW members; ADR Fastlec, Bilcourt, Norton Electrical Wholesale, Powerpoint Electrics and SRM Electrical who all achieved over 10 years of AIEW membership in 2012. AIEW thanked them all.

The formalities ended with prize giving and awards. Several suppliers gave prizes to members for on the day activities and competitions leading up to the event.

Andy Gardner, AIEW Chief Executive then announced the much awaited AIEW awards.

The AIEW Supplier of the Year is voted for by AIEW Members only, with all suppliers eligible. This year AIEW members were asked to vote on Price Competitiveness, Field Sales Support, Stock Availability and Product Quality.

Ansell Lighting were voted AIEW Supplier of the Year 2012 repeating last years success. Greg Buck collected the trophy, champagne and certificate on their behalf.

Europa Components were awarded second place with Robert Ayre picking up the award.

Aurora Lighting secured third place with Kevin Bell collecting the award.

AIEW
2012 AGM

The AGM on Sunday Morning started at 11:00am.

Despite the acknowledged difficulties in the market there was an extremely positive feel to the whole weekend. This was highlighted with another year of unprecedented growth in rebates to members following on from last year's impressive growth. Andy Gardner explained that this underlines members increasing focus on preferred suppliers and can only add to the Group's strength. AIEW continued to take on new members this year and has active requests to become members. With existing members opening new branches, AIEW is aiming for further growth in 2012. Independent wholesalers seeking advantage of the benefits offered by being a member of AIEW can get details from this site, complete an application form or contact the office. AIEW Distribution continues to expand its product range and members can take advantage of bulk purchasing through this central warehouse.

Andy Dunning, AIEW's Managing Director thanked suppliers for their support at this years Trade Show and in the production of Edition 12 of the AIEW Members' Catalogue. 500 copies of the catalogue are provided free to each member annually. These are branded for their business and enable AIEW members to market products from preferred suppliers in a single effective publication and are also available as an online publication.