FORGING LINKS WITH FENCING IN NORWAY
Norwegian agricultural fencing firm HT Gjerde Norge AS, based in Karmøy on the south west coast, is forging close links with two award winning UK fencing contractors and is looking to send a team across to compete in fencing competitions.
Mark Evans of Herefordshire-based MJ Evans Fencing and Nick Quan have been working closely with HT Gjerde in recent times and both paid a visit to the Scandanavian nation to pass on their experiences and knowledge.
Mark and Nick have combined as a team to win a number of UK wide fencing events in recent years.
HT Gjerde, a business set up in 2014 by Ragnar Vikingstad and business partner Roland Efrosina, operates across Norway delivering a range of agricultural fencing services.
Ingrid Prytz Ohm of HT Gjerde explaind: “The history behind our link to Mark and Nick goes back a few years. Our company was the first fencing company in Norway to use high tensile netting and we had to travel to the UK to learn techniques as well as purchase materials and machines.
“Whilst over in the UK we watched a few fencing competitions and that is where we met the duo. We stayed in touch and, ten years on, we have grown to become a company with 14 franchise holders covering all of Norway.
“We are putting a team together to compete in the UK ourselves and they went to England last fall to practice with Mark and Nick,” she added.
Ragnar pitched in: “Our team has no chance of competing at the level that Mark and Nick are at but if we are not competing then someone else will be last! We are very humble regarding the quality of fencing here.
“The conditions we work under are quite different and we are not able to do everything in the same way as in UK.
“We also invited them over recently to hold a best practice weekend for our franchise holders. We all found inspiration from their visit and the boys got to experience the conditions we have to deal with in Norway.
“There were even several news outlets, both local and national, that covered their visit and a video was produced to promote their ‘workshop’.
“We are waiting to see the national TV interview which will be featured very soon. The partnership is building and we are very much looking forward to competing in the UK very soon. Forging closer ties
with our friends across the North Sea can only be a good thing!” concluded Ragnar.