IN D U ST RY N EW S Chairman celebrates 25 years Midlothian schoolchildren show off their art inspired by The Black Arrow rocket LIFT-OFF FOR SCHOOL PUPILS A group of Edinburgh schoolchildren has been given a front-row seat for the unveiling of a space rocket. Scottish space company Skyrora Ltd recently returned The Black Arrow, the UKs first and only rocket to successfully place a satellite in orbit, back to Britain. A section of the three-stage rocket landed in the Australian outback after its final flight almost 50 years ago. On completing the 10,000-mile journey home from the other side of the world, the rocket was unveiled at the Penicuik storage facility of Bishops Move Edinburgh. The winners of an art competition, run by the removal company along with Skyrora, and assisted by Midlothian Council, were given the best view in the house. Developed during the 1960s, The Black Arrow was used for four launches between 1969 and 1971. Its final flight was the first and only successful orbital launch to be conducted by the UK and placed the Prospero satellite into low Earth orbit. Pupils at schools across the Penicuik region were challenged to enter the art competition by doing drawings of space, featuring rockets, planets, stars and aliens. The winners and runners-up were chosen by Kenny Janczyk, Bishops Move Edinburgh Branch Manager, and Becky Morris, Business Development Executive at Skyrora. Derek Harris, Business Operations Manager from Skyrora, said: Skyrora is delighted to have been able to work with Bishops Move on this exciting project. Kenny Janczyk, from Bishops Move Edinburgh, added: I thought it was a joke when we were first approached about storing a rocket at our facility! However, we are honoured to have been entrusted with storing such a historic piece of space travel. Neil Bishop, Chairman and Business Development Director at Bishops Move, is celebrating his 25th year at thecompany. He was 19 years old whenhe started there as a porter, supporting European drivers, and is nowChairman of the family business the UKs largest family-owned removalscompany. As a packer, he travelled across Europe, mainly working in Germany, France and Spain, before gaining experience at Canada-based Williams Moving International. Operating out of Vancouver, Bishop was mentored by one of the removal industrys well-known names Hans Martens. Back in the UK, he joined Bishops Move Tunbridge Wells as a trainee sales consultant and then moved on to the Horsham depot to oversee sales responsibilities and to look after operations at the Leatherhead branch. He took on further roles as assistant manager of the Bristol branch and then as London branch manager. In 2001, he moved into the corporate department, where his role was to develop new business. He later took on the additional responsibility of overseeing the business relocation division. Since then, his role has been to support the business development function covering the domestic and international corporate sector, as well as trade relationships and the vehicle fleet. Latterly, in the past two years, his role has expanded into the role of Chairman of the Board. The Black Arrow space rocket 16 FF290 pp16-17 Industry News.indd 16 WWW. F I D I . OR G 13/03/2019 11:32