OUR COMPANY
Who We Are
We pride ourselves in being able to source and supply our customers with cutting edge medical equipment at incomparable prices.
Here at Sandhill Procurement Services, we value our customers and go above and beyond to make sure they are satisfied with their purchase. We are fueled by our commitment to customer satisfaction and strive to exceed our clients’ expectations.
Paul Ableson
Managing Director
Our History
Sandhill Bullion Ltd ( SBL) has its origins going back some 40 years. The company was originally founded by Leila and Malcolm Ableson as a partnership in 1962 and was formed into a Limited Company in 1974.
In 1978 Paul Ableson joined SBL. The business in the early days developed the coin collector market in the UK and expanded over the next 25 years into being the largest supplier of coin presentation packaging to the many of the worlds leading mints and Treasury Departments including, The Royal Mint UK, Singapore Mint, New Zealand Treasury, Russian State Mint , India State Mint , Isle Of Man, Tonga , Falkland Islands, Jersey and Guernsey Treasury ,the list is endless, together with all the UK high street banks for the issue of Royal Mint Commemorative Crown Pieces.
SBL manufactured limited edition medallions for Royal and State occasions many on an exclusive basis from 1969 -1985 , including the Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, Queens Silver Jubilee of 1977 of which we sold some 1.6m medals the largest ever mintage of a privately struck medal. We produced medals for all of the Royal Marriages and notable celebrations.
As bullion and precious metal dealers in the UK from 1962-1985 in both physical metal and futures we dealt with all of the London Bullion Houses, numerous Swiss Banks and all the UK high street banks.
1985 SBL purchased from Cunard the original pair of propellers that were fitted to the ocean liner QE 2 in 1967 . The two propellers weighed some 65000kg of Aluminium Manganese Bronze. Our initial ideas were to produce collectable souvenirs that could be sold on board ship.
By 1986 golf was becoming a boom market world wide and we thought to manufacture Limited Edition sets of golf clubs for world wide distribution with the golf club heads being cast from the propeller metal .We put together a joint venture company with Swilken Golf co of St Andrews , the home of golf and one of the last golf club manufactures in Scotland .
Sandhill Swilken Corporation ( UK) Ltd announced the Q2 golf club project to the national press In December 1987 which immediately captured the imagination of the media as how do you turn a ships propeller that weighs 32000 kg into a golf club head that weighs 300grams .
By 1988 we had launched the Q2 sets in the UK and European market at £1000 per set and sold some 2500 within 15 months. At the time twice the price of a set of Ping clubs which were the market leader.
In late 1988 we were approached by the Mitsui Corporation of Japan after a worldwide press launch that had created interest in the Q2 sets .
A deal was completed within 6 weeks for 2000 sets with the balance of 500 sets to be sold through their offices in Hong Kong , Singapore and Australia.
After having signed the contract with Mitsui at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews in conjunction with the Scottish Development Agency and the national press , we were asked to procure a theme park type submarine and a Dinosaur Egg ! No problem we said.
As the launch of the Q2 sets was going to be on board the QE2 in Yokohama harbour on the Easter weekend of 1989 we had some 4 months to find a Dinosaur Egg and the Submarine . The Egg was the bigger challenge and by February 1989 we had an 65 million year old fossilised dinosaur egg authenticated at the National History Museum in London.
Once the verification had been completed, we contacted Mitsui to inform that that we would be carrying the egg from Leeds to Osaka on our visit to Japan for the launch of the Q2 golf clubs. With an insurance value of some £50000 covered by Commercial Union free of charge to obtain national publicity we gifted our Egg to the president of Golf Promotion inc. who were promoting the Q2 sets with Mitsui.
It quickly transpired that the egg was the oldest fossil in Japan and caused a media frenzy at Osaka Airport. All areas of the media were full of the story for the following few days and even upstaged the arrival of the QE2.
The launch of the Q2 sets took place on board the QE2 in front of the top 600 Japanese business leaders. We had the British ambassador to Japan present the mayor of Yokohama with the first set and as they say the rest is history. Mitsui and JGPI went on to sell their allocation at £ 6300/ set which they sold out in 12 days, some £12.6 Million. In the USA we sold the balance of the allocation over a two year period .The most successful golf club equipment export ever from the UK.
We also manufactured the Putter Royale, from the metal of the second propeller a single putter that sold at approximately £ 500 in Japan and $ 355 in the US and £199 in the UK.
By 1992 the project was completed and we started looking for the next challenge.
In late summer of 1992 we were looking to purchase a large wooden framed garden umbrella and the only ones we could find locally were either too expensive at about £800 or too large to make them a carry home item.
We decided to look into this product and sourced the world and ended up with samples from numerous suppliers. Finally we ended up in Indonesia in November of 1992 and purchased a 40ft container of 3m diameter parasols with a cotton canopy , the traditional colonial parasol.
We entered the Garden Furniture market in spring of 1993 with the brand
” Paul Reef ” selling a 3m diameter wooden framed garden parasol with a split pole system so that you could put them into an average size family car to carry it home at a retail price of £99.99.
Our initial target market was the garden centres. We produced an A2 poster, obtained a mailing list and started to market the ” Paul Reef Parasols”
From our previous dealings in the Bullion business and Japanese market numerous principals had been taken on board and developed for our business strategy and product marketing for the ” Paul Reef Parasols”
By 2000 we were supplying a full range of garden furniture to the UK retail trade, major high street retailers and to the corporate market place including many of the national hotel, brewery and leisure groups including Whitbread, Six Continents , Marks & Spencer and Do it All, together with 100’s of leading garden centres in the Uk . Product was exported to the USA, Hong Kong, Dubai, Sweden, Barbados, Cayman Islands and numerous overseas locations.
In July of 2000 the Paul Reef Division of Sandhill Bullion Ltd was sold to Swan Hattersley, part of the Hartman Groep NL who were major manufacturers of Resin, Teak and Aluminium leisure furniture with a view to developing the contract and corporate market place for Swan Hattersley.
From 2000 – 2015 Sandhill Bullion was involved in numerous overseas projects in supplying Ambulances and Emergency vehicles for overseas Health Authorities. We developed Mobile Mammography / general clinics for use in isolated regions in Pakistan which could be used in disaster situations as a mobile Hospital.
From 2015 to date we have been supplying Medical and Non Medical supplies to our UK and Overseas Clients with OEM and unbranded products.
For Hospitals, Care Homes, Dementia Units, we supply specialist foods, Hallal and Kosher frozen Meals. Uniforms, Kitchen Equipment, PPE, A & E and Operating Theatre Consumables, Medical Instruments, Beds , Patient Handling Equipment, the list is endless
We supply specialist equipment for Airports, Fire & Rescue Services – Uniforms, Patient Handling and Diving Equipment.
We can supply just about anything that is manufactured today from any location around the world. If we can source 65million year old Dinosaur Eggs then we look forward to hearing from you with your requirements.