Naidex Round-up

Hi there, My names Austin, I’ve been Blue Badge Co.’s product developer for just over a year now but I’ve been working for the company for 2 years This year I was asked if I could help run our stand at Naidex. I’m definitely one to rise to a challenge and the next thing I knew, the pallet was being packed at our studio in Bristol and I was driving up to Birmingham’s NEC to set up the stand with my colleague Holly. Exciting stuff!

The next morning after a successful but long day setting up the stand with Holly, I met with Blue Badge Co.’s Operations Manager Tom, who would be joining me for a day of sales. I think the shear scale of the show only sunk in this day as I walked to and from the stand and had a peek at the other businesses showcasing their products. This year our stand was facing two really neat looking demonstration areas one was an area for scooter demonstrations from family-run company TGA who are a respected specialist in award-winning mobility scooters since 1985, and the other stand opposite was the Naidex sports arena, which included demonstrations from Para Dance UK, Adaptive Martial Arts to name a few, and we managed to catch a glimpse of the Goalball UK Team playing a match which was pretty incrediBALL. (see what I did there?) It was my first time at Naidex and I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I really wasn’t disappointed at all, I managed to speak to some really inspiring and incredible people who also love what we do. I briefly had a chat with Martyn Sibley who was a headline speaker at Naidex. He told me about how every project he works on empowers disabled people, supports businesses, and advocates societal inclusion. He really liked the Blue Badge Co. as we are committed to employing those with limited work options, over 40% of the Blue Badge Co. team is either disabled or a primary caregiver. I sent Holly off to have a look around some of the stands to find some interesting products we could cover in our round-up.

My experience at Naidex was very interesting. The people I met were very inspiring, I loved the products on display! I found the amount of scooter suppliers incredible, I found a few very interesting fun designs one of which was modelled after an old fashioned car from eden-mobility.co.uk. Another brand of scooter which was adorably pleasing on the eye, was from Scooterpac. They had a few brightly coloured scooters on display all of which can get up to 8mph for 25 miles.