Those that follow our blog will know that I have an online store selling my own handmade leather goods. To celebrate our project to have a totally DIY Christmas I am pleased to offer 10% discount on all of the items on my store until the 25th December for all our readers. BUT… that is not all! Anyone using the code ‘BritishFamily‘ at check out will not only get the 10% discount but will also receive an additional mystery free gift. So, grab yourself a bargain today!

Visit www.rawleather.co.uk and use code ‘BritishFamily’.

All of the items in my shop are made using quality British saddle leather and all completely hand stitched and hand dyed.

Enjoy!

– James

What you may not know about my wife is that she is a rather talented singer and she recently donated her voice to feature in the latest Waitrose advert and she was one of those selected to be featured. She is super excited about it and Waitrose is certainly a brand that we are passionate advocates for. They are one of the best supermarket for supporting British made products.

What is even better is that you can You can buy the track now and all Waitrose’s profits from the sale of the track will go to charity.

Here is ‘behind the scenes’ video of all of those that donated their voices:

If you want to find MrsB she is about 17 seconds in bottom centre in the red jumper!

– James

Jaguar Land Rover have today confirmed that as of 2016, a total of three JLR-badged vehicles will be built at their new Chinese plant with a total capacity of 130,000 units a year. Is this a worrying sign of things to come from the Indian owned company?

For the first time in their history Jaguar and Land Rover cars will be made outside of the UK. The first model to be produced in the 40,000 square metre Jiangsu site will be the popular Evoque sport-utility vehicle. However, JLR bosses have been quick to rebuke any accusations that the move undermines their commitment to their UK manufacturing operation. They suggest that the £1.9 Billion investment in China will allow them to avoid paying import tariffs, source parts more cheaply and more efficiently, and benefit from lower labor costs. Currently, JLR imports its cars into China from the UK, which they say puts them at a cost disadvantage with rivals. They have made no mention of any plans to import these new models back into the UK. Only time will tell but it if that does happen it will surly be a kick in the teeth for UK automotive manufacturing.

Production line workers packaging frozen sprouts at the Ross’s Westwick factory at North Walsham before they were taken over by Heinz.

Heinz last week announced proposals to close its Westwick factory in North Norfolk, putting over 200 jobs at risk and ending over 70 years production at the site.  Heinz’s licence to manufacture Aunt Bessie’s frozen potato products for the William Jackson Food Group nears its end in April 2015 and will not be renewed.

The community near the apparently doomed Heinz factory at Westwick is being asked to rally behind the endangered workers.
 Town centre campaigners have launched a petition can also be found online at www.jobsmeansheinz.co.uk.

The 45,000m2 factory opened  in 1948 and was acquired by HJ Heinz in 2000. It’s closure is sure to have a devastating effect on this community and the knock on effects to farming significant.

There has been no news yet as to who is likely to now be producing Aunt Bessie’s potato products but we suspect that they will likely end up being imported. We will follow this issue and report when we know more.

In the meantime please show your support and sign the petition.

The Raspberry Pi Computer is just one fantastic innovation made in Wales

Over a fifth (21%) of consumers in new and emerging markets are more likely to buy a product if the Welsh Flag is used, strongly associating Welsh products with value for money and tradition. Sounds good eh? However, that figure leaps to 64% with the use of the Union Flag, which is more likely to be associated with quality internationally.

These are the finding of a new report commissioned by Barclays Corporate Banking, which makes for interesting reading and might come as a shock for many proud Welsh manufacturers.

When labelled as Made in England/Scotland/Wales, goods tend to command considerably lower premiums than Made in Britain with only the one exception, alcoholic beverages, where the branding Made in Scotland adds a greater premium than Made in Britain in several countries.

The label Made in Britain triggers a willingness to pay of up to 7% more among customers in new and emerging markets than for products without a declared country of origin and at least 50% of respondents in all countries perceived the quality of British goods to be “good” or “very good”.

Despite recent calls for independence this perhaps proves we are better as a ‘United’ Kingdom as far as exporting is concerned. So, the advice is to drop the made in Wales, Made in Scotland and Made in England branding and celebrate manufacturing in Britain.