Scaling it up at the London Lord Mayor’s Show.

A rainy 14th November 2015 saw Blue taking part in the 800th London Lord Mayor’s Show, with the event incredibly dating back to 1215.

London, even back then, was already the largest city north of the Alps, a bustling, rich location of 15,000 residents who were well connected but often hard to govern. During the Show’s inaugural year, King John was in trouble. He was retreating into France, running out of money and losing control of his Barons. Discontent was turning into open revolt and the King was very short of allies.

To help keep order in the capital The King was persuaded to issue a Royal Charter that allowed the City to elect its own Mayor. It is presumed that he gave his blessing to the

commune in order to keep the City on his side, but there was one important condition. Every year the newly elected Mayor must leave the safety of the City, travel upriver to the small town of Westminster and swear loyalty to the Crown. The Lord Mayor has now made that journey for 800 years, despite plagues and fires and countless wars,and pledged his (and her) loyalty to 34 kings and queens of England.

The Mayor was a power equal to any of King John’s unruly Barons, and only two months later, the first elected Mayor would put his signature to the Magna Carta.

For the next few hundred years, the Lord Mayor of London was by far the grandest position to which a commoner could aspire, and the Mayor’s journey was the celebrity spectacle of its day. Over the centuries it grew so splendid and so popular that by the 16th century it was known everywhere as the Lord Mayor’s Show. It features in the plays of Shakespeare, the diaries of Pepys and the adventures of James Bond and of course in the pantomime story of Dick Whittington, who really was the Mayor of London three times. In the 20th century the Lord Mayor’s Show was the first outside event ever to be broadcast live.

These days the parade is more of a celebration than a show of loyalty with more than 7,000 people, 200 horses and 155 floats taking part in this year’s event. One of those floats was a Terex Fuchs MHL250 material handler, converted into a sea monster, due to the ‘Maritime Theme’ of this year’s show. To achieve the look, the Fuchs machine underwent a scaly Vinyl wrap makeover and had its grab converted into a set of jaws. The work was completed by Dave Thresher and the rest of the team at Fuchs who did an amazing job which ultimately ended up wowing the crowds that lined the streets during the parade. Pat James, Key Account Manager at Blue Fuchs, had the job of driving the monster through the streets and did very well to keep the beast under control along the exceptionally busy route.

Driving alongside the Fuchs machine was a ‘Blood Bike’ which had been kindly donated by Terex Fuchs. Blood Bikes is a charitable organisation established by local volunteers to deliver essential blood and urgent medical supplies, out of hours, between hospitals and healthcare sites and laboratories across the UK, so the purchase of the £5,000 bike by Ron de Vries at the team at Fuchs will no doubt help to save lives. The bike was driven along the route by Blue Group Director, Eugene Donnelly, who, along with fellow director Brian Maxwell are also volunteer riders for the charity. Brian and Eugene’s families are close personal friends of the outgoing Lord Mayor, Alan Yarrow and his wife Gilly with their boys Max and Guy, so it meant a lot to The Directors to raise money for Blood Bikes as well as the Lord Mayor’s Charity, Mencap, which is supported by the whole event.

The team at Blue London were out in earnest, supported not only by staff from across The Group but also their loyal customers. Gary Short and his daughter Jordon from the Shorts Group in Ascot, as well as Cecil Wiggins from the Wiggins Group, based in Slough took time out of their busy schedules to walk with us, even in the pouring rain, which was much appreciated and clearly demonstrates their relationship with Eugene and the guys at London. Gary has been a Blue customer for over 20 years and Cecil bought the first ever machine from Powerscreen Equipment, later branded Blue London, in 1993. Despite the weather, the crowds turned out in their droves to cheer on all the participants. Blue was even mentioned on the BBC with the sea monster making her debut on the small screen to millions of viewers.