Welcome to our new liverymen and corporate liverymen

We were pleased to admit three new liverymen and a corporate member at our March court meeting.

The court meeting took place at Furniture Makers’ Hall on Thursday 5 March.

The three new liverymen admitted were Fara Hussain-Butt, Gary Rose and Claire Williams.

At the same ceremony, Belfield Furnishings, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of upholstered furniture and home furnishings, was admitted as a corporate member, with CEO Gary Lasham one of the designated corporate liverymen.

New corporate liverymen for existing corporate members Axminster Tools & Machinery and flooring group Headlam were also welcomed.

Master Dids Macdonald OBE said: “I am delighted to welcome our new liverymen, corporate liverymen and The Belfield Group as corporate member of The Furniture Makers’ Company. The Belfield Group’s support and enthusiasm will enable us to broaden our welfare message to the furniture and furnishings industry. It is fantastic that a group, which includes the iconic Westbridge and Tetrad brands, have joined.”

Fara Hussain-Butt

Fara is the sales and marketing director at Shire Beds. She is also the chairman of the Yorkshire Region that runs the Yorkshire Curry Night which and has been a great supporter of the charity.

Gary Rose

Before retiring, Gary Rose was the sales director for Rapid Office Systems. Gary served on the membership committee until 2019. Gary has recently spent time supporting his wife Gina’s brain tumour charity.

Claire Williams

Claire is the strategic business development director at OCEE International. Claire joined OCEE in April 2017 as a product specialist having previously worked for Boss Design and ERA. She is also deputy chairman of our Membership and Events Committee.

Gary Lasham, Belfield Furnishings

Gary is a qualified engineer and has spent all his career in British manufacturing, initially in operations roles, then sales, and for the last 20 years senior director and MD roles. He has several successful management buyouts under his belt and before joining Belfield was head of European business development for a FTSE 100 Group. He joined Belfield in 2018 as group commercial director and was appointed CEO in January 2019.

Charlie Cross, Axminster Tools & Machinery
Charlie Cross is the chief sales manager for Axminster Tools and Machinery. Charlie joined Axminster in 2006 as an apprentice and has worked his way up through the sales team. He was appointed to his current position in January 2020.

Darryl Price, Headlam

Darryl was appointed commercial director in September 2016, assuming operational responsibility for most Headlam’s UK businesses. Darryl joined the company in February 1994 as sales office manager at Thatcham before progressing to operations director. From 2003 to 2015, he was the commercial director responsible for the businesses in Coleshill. He was appointed to the senior management team in November 2015 taking operational responsibility for an increased number of the UK businesses. Darryl has 25 years’ experience in the floorcoverings industry.

Adrian Harris, Headlam

Adrian was appointed UK operations director in March 2019. Adrian was previously chief operating officer at Yodel, one of the UK’s largest delivery companies, serving many of the UK’s leading retailers. Prior to that, Adrian held roles in the areas of logistics, ecommerce, fulfilment and supply chain management at Marks & Spencer, Amazon, Tesco and Home Retail Group. He initially spent 10 years in the Royal Logistic Corps of the British Army, latterly as a major.