SYDENHAMS Ltd, the family-owned timber and builders merchants with branches throughout Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and on the Isle of Wight, has just imported the first cargo of softwood from the Black Forest into Britain - according to their shippers in Germany.

The MV Anmar-S discharged over 600 packs at Poole and these will be distributed throughout their various branches.

Sydenhams has been trading from their site next to the lifting bridge in Poole since 1874.

The present owners, Charles and James Sherborne, are the fourth generation of the family which acquired the company in 1920.

Although the company has its history firmly in timber importing, it can now supply everything required in the building industry, including design and manufacture of timber-framed buildings, kitchens and bathrooms and now has its own plant hire business.