Combilift staff and friends strut their stuff

Combilift is doing its bit to put smiles on faces as Irish folk around the world celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

The Monaghan-based manufacturer has shown off the talents of its staff in a St. Patrick's Day video as part of the Jerusalema dance challenge, which has become popular in many countries around the world.

Some 200 staff members from all departments took part in the production which was filmed at head office over two days.

"Of course, this meant that production (of forklifts) had to halt for a while, but the morale boost from the staff since filming has increased output, which far outweighed this," says CEO Martin McVicar.

Staff members came together to do the production and the music. Four staff members from HR, engineering, control systems and testing formed a band to play the music for the video, a staff member in IT did the drone photography, and the marketing team looked after production and directing. In-house 'video supremo' Shona Judge is responsible for the final edit.

The team even managed to rope the company's two co-founders, McVicar and technical director Robert Moffett, into the production and the two can be spotted driving a couple of Combilifts during the truck dance.

"There was great enthusiasm on behalf of the staff to take part," McVicar tells Forkliftaction News, and that even extended to employees' families. A dance section at the end features 10 dancers from the local Irish dancing school, who are children or friends of members of staff. The production was a welcome outlet for the Scoil Rince Ní Bhrogáin which usually performs in Monaghan town on St Patrick's Day, but was not able to do so this year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The dance was largely choreographed by Combilift staff, with assistance from local teacher Lesley Goggins, who trained staff in some of the trickier moves.

To watch the video, click here.