HRH The Duke of York to visit Checkmate Flexible Engineering in Melksham
Wiltshire and Kent based manufacturer The Checkmate Group has been honoured with a second prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation, four years after receiving their first award, for export achievement. This second award has been given for the development of a new type of rubber air bag, which is used to secure cargo in the holds of ocean going ships. The Checkmate Group are delighted to welcome HRH The Duke of York to their factory in Melksham where he will be given a guided tour of the factory and present the Queen’s Award to Richard Berry, the longest serving member of staff at Checkmate UK with 45 years of service.
Also attending the presentation will be students from the engineering department at Wiltshire College who have been invited to see first hand, this industry leader and be inspired by their award winning achievements in manufacturing. They will be able to see how Checkmate engineers adapted the unique properties of rubber into this award winning and globally successful cargo restraint system. They will also be among the first members of the public to be briefed on Anaconda device and meet the project team.
Tom Roach, Director of Checkmate Flexible Engineering LLP said: ‘This tremendous news is of great credit to the skill of our staff and their dedication to quality. We have a company culture which thrives on finding innovative solutions to problems. As a consequence our order book is in a good state and the whole team is proud to be part of British manufacturing.’
HRH The Duke of York will also be given a preview of Checkmate’s pioneering Anaconda Wave Energy Converter which is being developed as a new source of renewable energy. Anaconda has been developed at the Melksham site and HRH The Duke of York will see a scale demonstration of the bulge tube. Identified by the Carbon Trust as having the potential to deliver breakthrough reductions in the cost of energy and that it could represent the next generation of marine renewable energy. Based on a study from the Carbon Trust Marine Energy Accelerator the projected costs of Anaconda could represent a step change for the industry and a significant improvement over the best current renewable energy devices.