ABOUT US

OUR STORY

William Hermon Bond was a tenant of Port Eliot Estate. His farm expanded from around 30 acres supplemented by a local milk round until the family were able to move to nearby Trerulefoot in 1942 to a larger 140 acre farm. William could see that the rapid improvement in yields were going to cause over-production and told his three sons – Jim, Hermon and Martin – that they would “farm themselves out of business”. This piece of advice would lead the Bond family to become “serial diversifiers” for the next 60 years with a variety of businesses. The Bond family knew that diversification was the way forward and this started in the 1930’s when the bed and breakfast and caravan site began. A few years later, William joined forces with his three sons and in 1957, WH Bond & Sons was formed.

1957 - 1990

1990 - 2010

WH Bond & Sons is formed. Initially a family farming business, the Bonds soon develop an interest to diversify, as per the advice of Mr William Hermon Bond. The Bond family had already started to diversify prior to this with launching a bed & breakfast facility and caravan site, but with the new generation of Bonds – Jim, Hermon and Martin – on board, the family has bigger plans. This passion for diversification leads the Bond family to create and build St. Mellion Golf & Country Club (now known as St. Mellion International Resort), which is opened by Mr WH Bond in 1976. As part of this venture, in 1989 the Bond family travels to the USA to meet with Jack Nicklaus; working together they design and build the first Jack Nicklaus golf course in the UK.

 1997 sees the next generation – Jon, Chris and Alison – take over the daily running of WH Bond & Sons. Due to the success of St. Mellion and several other projects the family had completed in the past, it is decided to expand the business. Thus, the Plant Hire and Civil Engineering departments are set up. By 2003, WH Bond is turning over £300,000 a year. Having acquired Bake Sawmill as part of the land at Trerulefoot – the family decides to take over the company and re-brand it as Bond Timber. The next few years are to host large expansions at Bond Timber – with several new treatment tanks and storage sheds installed. Come 2007 WH Bond & Sons celebrated a big 50 years in business!

 

2011 - 2015

2016 - 2018

With the decision made in 2011 to relocate to larger premises at St. Ive (Liskeard), the WH Bond Plant Hire fleet can continue to grow. In 2014, the fleet reaches 400 machines. In 2015, further expansion at Bond Timber with a new drying shed built to almost double the storage facilities onsite. The WH Bond hire fleet now contains over 20 articulated dump trucks, over 120 excavators of all sizes, and the company have just purchased their 150th Toyota Hilux.

2015 Bond Timber win Treated Wood Trader of the Year at the inaugral Wood Protection Association, success followed with Bond Timber winning Wood Preservation Project of the Year for supplying Hangloose at the Eden Project & Award for Quality Excellence at the 2016 Wood Protection Association Awards. During 2017 Bond Timber achieved ISO14001 acreditation and installed an Excalibur inciser to complimet treatment facilities.

2019 - 2022

2023 - 2024

Bond Timber won ‘Treated Wood Quality Excellence Award’ at the Wood Protection Association Awards. Nearly 1,200 items sell under the hammer at the largest machinery auction of its kind in the South West. We are delighted with the outcome of the two days and all the hard work leading up to this event. The WH Bond team and the Euro Auctions crew worked seamlessly to firstly prepare and execute the auction. “The local contracting and agricultural communities in the west country bought into this event, with over 1,000 visitors attending on each day.” In 2021 WH Bond won the WPA award for treated wood trader of the year. Also during 2021 we became members of BALI, which is the UKs leading landscaping trading association. A team of volunteers headed to Poland with donated aid to support people arriving from Ukraine, we were able to support this initiative by loading one of our fleet vehicles for the trip. 

2023 brought 20 years of Bond Timber! With many more exciting opportunities on the horizon for the business. In striving to offer the best customer service in the industry, Bond Timber have invested heavily in Magento ecommerce website, digital delivery app for transport, a web-based development app for trade customers, corporate hospitality and a wide range of local sport sponsorship and training and growth for it’s team. We continue to expand our classic tractor collection with over 140 tractors for sale. We have continued to work on many variations of projects in order to support the environment, as part of our bespoke contracting. Examples include flood defence systems, waste transfer, a tidal defence scheme and many more. Up until the present day the site has continued to expand, the businesses have developed further and seen a huge area of growth in its highways treatment customer base. We love to sponsor local sports teams and the 2023/24 football season brought our Plymouth Argyle sponsorship.