Birth of a Hire Company

When Sheila Samuels founded 88 Events in late 1994, she operated the company from a converted bathroom in her house.

After much consternation from her husband and three sons (the eldest, Marc later became her business partner) she moved premises.

To the spare bedroom!

The constant hive of activity was becoming too much to bear for the men of the house. After being their loving carer for so many years, Sheila had had another child.

It was called 88 Events.

For the rest of the family it wasn't all bad news.

From the mid 1990's - the time of lad culture, Sheila's husband and sons had truly learned to fend for themselves. This involved becoming experts in the ordering of takeaway food and the outsourcing of household cleaning and ironing duties.

They were truly new age men before the term had even been invented.

By the turn of the century, Sheila had built up a pretty respectable business serving some serious blue-chip companies and private clients. But the family were frustrated with the constant hive of activity in the house.

It wasn't unusual for Sheila's helpers to be turning up for work at the house sometimes before the boys got in from a late night out.

So after a family sit-down, Sheila was 'encouraged' to move to her own premises.

At this stage she was just still just doing event design and management but something was brewing. She was about to dip her toes into the (at that time) murky waters of the linen hire industry.

Here's Sheila's serendipitous story of how 88 Events' hire division came into being...

Many years ago...

"When I first set-up 88 Events Company in 1995, I was one of only a handful of event organisers in the UK focussing exclusively on the design and styling elements of an event.

In those days, people tended not to put too much emphasis on how the event actually looked.  As long as the food and entertainment was great, clients and their guests were generally happy.

But that was never enough for me. 

Prior to setting up the business, I ran a high-end children's fashion shop. I therfeore saw the events industry as a chance to put my experience sourcing designer products and creating different looks to use in an industry where there was a big gap in the market for visually appealing design.

I quickly built up a niche business.

The service I provided was regularly referred to as the 'wow factor' - an overused phrase nowadays, but a fresh concept back in the mid '90's!

Initially, companies and private clients would use me for design advice but as my reputation grew I was soon organising events for some of the top companies and venues in the UK.

I was even asked by one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies to organise an event for 1000 people in Tenerife - at 10 days notice!

A late night phone call leads to a life changing decision

My business grew quickly and I was in demand but all the while, I was continually frustrated in my attempts to create the ultimate events.

There was a distinct lack of quality UK suppliers who could help me create what I wanted to achieve.

I regularly went to the US on holiday, especially New York, and was always amazed at the sheer volume of companies that catered for the events, weddings and party industries. It really put the UK to shame.

Then in early 2001, I received an enquiry from a large American insurance company who were bringing a group of top employees over to Scotland as a reward for all their hard work.

The event manager in charge had a big budget and wanted to create a series of 'truly unique' events. 

She was also very particular in what she wanted and she was becoming irritated at not being able to find a certain style of fabric to use for one of the gala dinners I was putting together for her.

One night whilst talking to her on the phone, she said she'd had enough and would just bring the linen over from the States even if that meant incurring a large cost.

I asked her if she would give me 24 hours to find a solution and that I would call her back the next day.

The next morning, I went to a local fabric wholesaler and by chance found some fabric that fitted the look perfectly.

I had a family contact who was a retired clothing manufacturer and asked him if he would design me a sample tablecloth that would perfectly fit a six foot round table.  He agreed and went to work on it straight away for me.

That night, I phoned the client and said I was sending over a sample cloth and for her to let me know her thoughts.

She reluctantly said 'Ok' but was of the opinion that this was a last throw of the dice as the event was only weeks away.  I thanked her and finished the call by asking her to let me know what she thought.

Three days later, a fax came in from the States.  All it said was 'It's Perfect!'.

I still have that fax to this day and that phrase still permeates through everything we do here at 88 Events. 

We understand how important your event, party or wedding is to you. It simply has to be perfect.

And that is the mantra I preach to my staff day in and day out.

Why We've Been Successful

Many of those staff have been with me for a long time now.

My laundry supervisor Donna and warehouse manager David have been with me from the start of the hire division - coming up for 10 years. My daughter-in-law Kasia - one of our event managers was even working for me before her husband Marc joined the business in 2001.

All three of them plus their many colleagues understand my philosphy when it comes to quality and customer service.

I point blank refuse to settle for anything less than the best and that is the single most important factor in the success of 88 Events to date

Yes, 88 Events is a family business and that extends to my extended family who make up the rest of our fabulous team. I know everyone says this, but without them we would be nothing

I constantly preach that we are never too old that we should stop learning. Indeed, I am still discovering things about the events industry on an almost daily basis.

The day we lose sight of that and our eternal quest for qualty is the day we die as a company."