John Poore of Poores of Acton has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his charitable services in the New Year’s Honours List.
Mr Poore is the managing director of Poores of Acton a successful builders’ and hardware merchant in London. Mr Poore has served the National Merchant Buying Group in many capacities for over 20 years on both its Management Committee and as chairman and member of its Hardware Committee.
Through Mr Poore’s efforts and continual focus in raising cash for The Rainy day Trust, together with NMBS, he has raised over £20K a year for good causes, which amounts to over £180K in the last nine years. This, it is said, has been due to Mr Poore’s ‘can do’ attitude.
He was made national president of the then British Hardware Federation in 1986 and was instrumental in bringing the Federation through to its present position as the BHF-BSSA Group, representing some 7500 independent retailers in the UK.
Mr Poore did not sit back on his laurels after his presidency and in the last 24 years he has given freely of his time to advance the cause of his trade association and, in particular, independent retailers. He has also chaired many of the BHF committees and continues to do so.
His unstinting work for the Federation was recognised in 2009 when he was made an honorary member at the 100th Anniversary Congress of the International Hardware Association, which had chosen London for its centenary celebrations, with HRH The Princess Royal in attendance as Royal Patron.
Mr Poore was on the organising committee for that historic event and was in charge of raising sponsorship.
