Here are a series of 6 vids taken at Ledzy's surprise 40th birthday bash; I apologise now for the quality of some of the vids but the lighting wasn't that good I'm afraid and so there wasn't much I could do about that.
Now, for those of you who do not know Ledz, here's a rough guide to what the real man is like but before I do that, I think it might be expedient to flesh the man out [Mind you, nature has already done that .. and then some
] in terms of what makes him tick and how he's regarded within the industry and sport.
I wanna make one other thing clear too, I'm in a really lucky position within our sport whereby I don't have to blow smoke up anyone's ass; if I say something or describe someone, you can I hope, rely on its authenticity and to be free from any sycophantic drivel .... that ain't really my style.
I do however declare a bias because Ledz is a good friend of mine and maybe this will become apparent in my subsequent character assassination of him.
Ledz, with his partner Julian own Planet, a hugely successful UK company that began its success trail with the E-Blade after market addition to the cocker.
It revolutionized the company's fortunes in terms of international perception and put them firmly on the map of the world.
Following in the success of the E-Blade, Ledz oversaw the development of the Ego as designed by his long term friends and colleagues, Jack Wood and Flash.
The Ego had landed ...and it certainly did... this marker quickly established itself as one of the best, and some would argue, the best marker in the world .... not bad for a a small UK company like Planet but more was to come.
A few years ago, the Geo hit town with its new valve system and the fortunes of Planet went from strength to strength with world sales of the Ego and Geo surpassing all reasonable predictions, in fact, sales surpassed all unreasonable predictions.
As for Ledz?
He's special, and I mean real special !!
He's now a very successful businessman but to meet him, you would never in a million years guess as much.
This is not in any way a criticism of the man, in fact, it's a genuine compliment.
Ledz has manged to remain completely and utterly unchanged from the man I first met 20 years ago.
Now that could be a problem if you are an ******* but he ain't, far from it.
He's a genuine man and friend, who is generous, funny, kind, loyal and honest - an utter fackin gem
of a man.
There really ain't many people like him, especially when you factor in what he's done in the sport both in terms of business and the sport itself.
He was a great player and when I created Nexus in 2002, he was first on my list to captain the team and to be my right hand man.
His playing ability was immense, he might not be the skinniest person in the world but boy, can that guy move, as many times I have seen him go on bunker runs, gunning the cr@p outa schmucks as he raced past them.
He was a true leader of our team and when he had to leave Nexus, it never recovered and never, even to this day has managed to accomplish the world standing of the team with him in it.
He took our team of amateurs and novices, and in our first year, helped catapult us to the 7th ranked in the world, and that was when English teams could compete with all the top American teams and so that 7th position actually meant something in real world terms.
Ledz is a larger than life character and our sport is all the better for having him within our midst and as a final testament to the man himself, and I think, no better way of getting you guys out there to appreciate what he's like, in all my years in paintball, I have NEVER heard one person say a bad word about him .... not one.
How many men can have that said about them???
Not fackin many, I know that much for sure.
Anyway, I hope and think, Ledzy's character comes across in this series of vids and all you guys out there can appreciate the larger than life character that is Ledz, the second greatest UK ambassador of our sport
Here, Elidh, Ledzy's girlfriend, gives us all, an intro to the night's events.
[youtube]UYfrK6sU5lg[/youtube]
And here we have Ledz thanking everybody on stage :-
[youtube]ACcGD1U8MhU[/youtube]
Here's Ledz getting into the swing of things and dancing his ass off :-
[youtube]39znqutW3bw[/youtube]
Here is where I manage to nail his ass down and ask him how the night's proceedings were sprung upon him :-
[youtube]kVxDf1X5wV4[/youtube]
Here is where Bowen [one of the original Nexus guys] kidnaps my wife [dark hair] and Jack Wood's wife for a dance, he never gets to dance with any chicks normally and so my wife felt sorry for him:-
[youtube]bDh4rCRHW_Q[/youtube]
And this last vid is a bit gay really, in fact, it's well frikkin gay if you ask me cos it has Ledz and Bowen dancing together with Jack Wood and Stoney behind them also locked in a dance embrace ... I think it's a northern thing .. us guys darn sarf ain't like that ya know :-
[youtube]Zp29CkDYgAM[/youtube]
Now, for those of you who do not know Ledz, here's a rough guide to what the real man is like but before I do that, I think it might be expedient to flesh the man out [Mind you, nature has already done that .. and then some
] in terms of what makes him tick and how he's regarded within the industry and sport.I wanna make one other thing clear too, I'm in a really lucky position within our sport whereby I don't have to blow smoke up anyone's ass; if I say something or describe someone, you can I hope, rely on its authenticity and to be free from any sycophantic drivel .... that ain't really my style.
I do however declare a bias because Ledz is a good friend of mine and maybe this will become apparent in my subsequent character assassination of him.
Ledz, with his partner Julian own Planet, a hugely successful UK company that began its success trail with the E-Blade after market addition to the cocker.
It revolutionized the company's fortunes in terms of international perception and put them firmly on the map of the world.
Following in the success of the E-Blade, Ledz oversaw the development of the Ego as designed by his long term friends and colleagues, Jack Wood and Flash.
The Ego had landed ...and it certainly did... this marker quickly established itself as one of the best, and some would argue, the best marker in the world .... not bad for a a small UK company like Planet but more was to come.
A few years ago, the Geo hit town with its new valve system and the fortunes of Planet went from strength to strength with world sales of the Ego and Geo surpassing all reasonable predictions, in fact, sales surpassed all unreasonable predictions.
As for Ledz?
He's special, and I mean real special !!
He's now a very successful businessman but to meet him, you would never in a million years guess as much.
This is not in any way a criticism of the man, in fact, it's a genuine compliment.
Ledz has manged to remain completely and utterly unchanged from the man I first met 20 years ago.
Now that could be a problem if you are an ******* but he ain't, far from it.
He's a genuine man and friend, who is generous, funny, kind, loyal and honest - an utter fackin gem
of a man.
There really ain't many people like him, especially when you factor in what he's done in the sport both in terms of business and the sport itself.
He was a great player and when I created Nexus in 2002, he was first on my list to captain the team and to be my right hand man.
His playing ability was immense, he might not be the skinniest person in the world but boy, can that guy move, as many times I have seen him go on bunker runs, gunning the cr@p outa schmucks as he raced past them.
He was a true leader of our team and when he had to leave Nexus, it never recovered and never, even to this day has managed to accomplish the world standing of the team with him in it.
He took our team of amateurs and novices, and in our first year, helped catapult us to the 7th ranked in the world, and that was when English teams could compete with all the top American teams and so that 7th position actually meant something in real world terms.
Ledz is a larger than life character and our sport is all the better for having him within our midst and as a final testament to the man himself, and I think, no better way of getting you guys out there to appreciate what he's like, in all my years in paintball, I have NEVER heard one person say a bad word about him .... not one.
How many men can have that said about them???
Not fackin many, I know that much for sure.
Anyway, I hope and think, Ledzy's character comes across in this series of vids and all you guys out there can appreciate the larger than life character that is Ledz, the second greatest UK ambassador of our sport
Here, Elidh, Ledzy's girlfriend, gives us all, an intro to the night's events.
[youtube]UYfrK6sU5lg[/youtube]
And here we have Ledz thanking everybody on stage :-
[youtube]ACcGD1U8MhU[/youtube]
Here's Ledz getting into the swing of things and dancing his ass off :-
[youtube]39znqutW3bw[/youtube]
Here is where I manage to nail his ass down and ask him how the night's proceedings were sprung upon him :-
[youtube]kVxDf1X5wV4[/youtube]
Here is where Bowen [one of the original Nexus guys] kidnaps my wife [dark hair] and Jack Wood's wife for a dance, he never gets to dance with any chicks normally and so my wife felt sorry for him:-
[youtube]bDh4rCRHW_Q[/youtube]
And this last vid is a bit gay really, in fact, it's well frikkin gay if you ask me cos it has Ledz and Bowen dancing together with Jack Wood and Stoney behind them also locked in a dance embrace ... I think it's a northern thing .. us guys darn sarf ain't like that ya know :-
[youtube]Zp29CkDYgAM[/youtube]