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Team come together to celebrate 70 years of success - and continued growth - with summer ‘sports day’

CambridgeHOK directors and team came together at a recently completed community development to celebrate 70 successful years in business – and a record-breaking year in 2026.

The summer ‘sports day’ staff event – at the newly built Hessle Rangers community sports pavilion – saw teams from all divisions of the business come together to not just mark the historic occasion, but to also enjoy an afternoon of fun activities, live music and food.

The event saw long-service awards handed out to staff members, with presentations from joint managing directors Patrick Harte and Louis Bradley on the company’s growth and future ambitions, as well as video reflections being played on the achievements of the business.

Mr Harte and Mr Bradley reflected personally on five years at the helm, outlining how the company has grown in that time to take on ‘bigger, ever more challenging and ever more complex projects’ -helping to establish its reputation as leaders and innovators in hi-tech horticulture and climate-controlled environments.

CambridgeHOK Project Manager Mark Kelsey also spoke about the £650,000 sports pavilion project for Hessle Rangers – telling how the club had become the envy of other local teams such is the quality of the facility, which includes a large social area, modern changing facilities, showers, WC facilities, a kitchen and office space.

A new sponsorship of the football club, which runs more than 40 junior boys and girls team, was also announced.

‘It’s great to come together, celebrate and relax’

The event was much appreciated by staff, many of whom took part in five-a-side football, rounders and bowls competitions in the afternoon, ahead of the evening’s live music entertainment.

Helen Pattinson, part of the payroll team, said: “It has been lovely and it is great to celebrate where the company has come from, and how far it has come.

“An event like today really shows how important the people are to the company, and I think the number of people attending shows how inclusive we are.

“Events like this give you a chance to come together. We are all so busy at work, so this allows you to get together, and for newcomers it’s a great way to get to know the faces a little bit better. It keeps up morale and helps strengthen that feeling of togetherness.”

Labourer and supervisor David Berry, who was recognised with a 10-year long service award, said: “I’m really pleased to be part of the business. I’ve enjoyed every minute, and I am all for events like this as I like the bonding side.

“There are a lot of people here who you don’t see very often during the year, so it’s good to get together and learn what others are doing across the business. It reflects on how well the business is doing and it’s good to celebrate together.”

Finance director Kelly Crowther-Riley, joined the business five months and said it had been ‘incredibly welcoming’

“Everybody is so lovely. I think its massively important to do things like this, and this one, being our 70^th year and in a building that we have built ourselves, it was hugely important to mark the occasion,” she said.

“It’s important to bring all our teams together as we are spread across the country week to week, and we’ve all been so busy given it’s a record year.

“At some point you have to look back and reflect at what we’ve achieved this year, and today has been the perfect way to do that, and relax and have fun.”

‘A very good place to work’

Site manager Ashley Page added: “I’ve been at the company for four years and throughout my career I have worked for a few businesses, but nothing like CambridgeHOK in the way it is like a family, we all pull together when need to.

“It’s a very good place to work, the directors are all very approachable, and it’s just full of very nice people throughout all departments and teams. It’s quite rare to find that across a business.

“It was nice to see the videos today showing all the projects we have completed as we all work on our own projects, but when you see it all together, you do realise just how impressive it is what we achieve by all pulling together.

“Coming together like this, away from work to have a drink and a chat, its priceless really.”

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