Ruminating on a Ruby: 40 Years of BBAs

This January we took some time to reset, archived some paperwork, and dusted the decaf coffee jar.  In the process of this we reflected that 2024 was the 40-year anniversary of Hambleside Danelaw’s first BBA certificate for our GRP valley troughs, which was issued in 1984.

1984…just picture it:

• Apple released the Macintosh, their first personal computer, priced at $2,495 (equivalent to buying power of $7,576.08 in 2025),
• Wham’s Wake Me up Before You Go-Go is number one for two weeks in June,
• Gremlins, Ghostbusters, and The Terminator are box office hits,
• Lycra, leg warmers, and shoulder pads…

2/3rds of Hambleside Danelaw’s marketing office hadn’t yet been born.  The other 1/3 was 12.

Paul Lambert, Field Technical Support, was training to be a nightclub manager (with a rat’s tail and frosted white tips, which he assures us was cool at the time).  John Godley, Technical Manager, was spending his evenings at a theatre, changing the backdrop after productions.  1984 was the year Anne, our credit controller/accounts assistant, got married (happy 40-year anniversary!); and Sharon, purchase ledger/accounts assistant, was in college studying short-hand and typing!  Quite memorably: Ian Weakford, Sales and Marketing Director, was an official photographer for the Boomtown Rats tour in universities (he is ambivalent to Mondays).

It was a different world back then, and we have enjoyed (those of us who weren’t around) hearing about what was acceptable in the 80s.

So happy 40th anniversary to our valley trough BBA – here’s to another 40 more!  The current BBA (certificate 87/1915) for our valley troughs can be found on the relevant product pages.