I, like many across the UK, have been reading today about the 70th Anniversary of the D-day landings and the events talking place in Normandy over the next few days. All the pictures of the veterans in their uniforms and reading about their heroism fills me with absolute pride – but then one quote I came across filled me with a different set of emotions. Here it is:

From the Daily Mirror 6th June – One 94-year-old, Neville Foote, tells the paper: “One of the reasons it’s wonderful to be here is because everyone is interested in you. Back home, nobody is interested in us. We’re just old people. I am sometimes asked to go to schools to talk, but the children don’t know about the war.”

I am not an emotionally charged person, Mrs B will be the first to attest to that, but the tragedy of this statement hit me hard. Commemoration is great but continued respect is far better. I have been trying to think about what we can do to ensure that these veterans do not feel that our interest and continued admiration for their efforts is fleeting. Unfortunately we have little influence and not much to give but here is a copy of an email sent to the Normandy Veterans Association.

To the Normandy Veterans Association

Dear General Secretary,

I am sure that this is a busy time of year for you and the veterans but I felt compelled to extend an invitation to you and the members of the Normandy Veterans Association.

I was reading today (6^th June 2014) an article originating from the Daily Mirror in which one of your members made the following quote. “One of the reasons it’s wonderful to be here is because everyone is interested in you.Back home, nobody is interested in us. We’re just old people.” The tragedy and injustice of this statement is the reason I make contact now.

We are a normal family that includes me, my wife Emily and son Lucan (who is 3). I have been trying to think about what we can do to show you that we are ‘interested’ in your veterans and that most people do not just think of you as ‘Just old people’.

Unfortunately, as you might expect, we have neither the means nor influence to make any grand gesture, as we would like. However, we do write a blog whose activities have allowed us to put on an event called the British Family Fayre (www.britishfamilyfayre.co.uk). The event is a family day out in Westerham, Kent (former home of Sir Winston Churchill) and is expected to attract over 6,000 people this year. It is a celebration of British manufacturing featuring some well known British brands, great entertainment and fantastic food & drink.

My family and I would like to invite you, with your families, to join us on the 30^th August 2014. We will orgainse transportation and accommodation for any of your members wanting to join us. We will also provide food and drink for you and your families throughout the day and try to arrange anything else within our power to help you attend and enjoy the day.

We have no desire for you to be ‘on show’ during your time with us. We would simply love your members to join us as our guests and have a great day out with their families.

I, by no means, expect an immediate response from you and I will follow this email contact up with a letter in the coming weeks outlining further details. We will not be offended if your members are not able to take us up on this offer, for whatever reason, but hope that our small gesture goes some way to extending our continued gratitude and respect.

Yours Faithfully,

James, Emily and Lucan Bradshaw

What can you do to show the veterans that you are ‘interested’ in them?

– James

A survey of 2,000 British adults has suggested that most people (75%) have not got a clue what fruit and veg is grown in the UK and when it is in season.

The survey commissioned by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) concludes that many consumers didn’t know that British farmers even grew foods such as aubergines (19%), blueberries (63%), sweetcorn (62%), iceberg lettuce (37%), cauliflower (29%), carrots (21%). These findings sound totally crazy to me! What is even more shocking is that 1 in 5 people – remember these are British adults – did not realise that we grow apples in the UK.

The survey goes on to highlights that less than 6 in 10 people knew that strawberries were a summer fruit and 1 in 5 did not even know that British farmers grew them at all. Winter produce fared no better, with nearly half of consumers (46%) unaware that in December you could buy British brussels sprouts, a vital part of a traditional Christmas dinner.

The research also showed that those born in the 1990s have significantly less knowledge than previous generations. Meanwhile, many adults born in the 1990s also thought that the UK commercially grew oranges (16%), bananas (8%), kiwi fruits and mangoes (both 5%).

When there are increased calls within the farming industry for consumers to buy more local food, it shows there are still alarming gaps in knowledge about food provenance. I would never have guessed some of the results of this survey but it is clear that this issue is one limited to the last two generations.

– Emily

A report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recently revealed that the UK is now the cheapest place to manufacture in western Europe.

The BCG found that not only was the U.K. the cheapest location in western Europe but that eastern European costs were on a par with the U.S. Brazil is now one of the highest-cost nations, while Mexico has lower costs than China. 

A spokesman for the BCG states “Many companies are making manufacturing investment decisions on the basis of a decades-old worldwide view that is sorely out of date,” he said. “They still see North America and western Europe as high cost and Latin America, eastern Europe, and most of Asia – especially China – as low cost.” This is certainly not the case any more.

This news is obviously a great headline for British manufacturing but producing your goods in the UK should not just be a cost decision. Increased quality control and a better supply chain should also form the basis for any manufacturing businesses reason for producing in Britain. There is perhaps one more reason too –  supporting your local economy and giving your community jobs. For those that have continued to manufacture in the UK over the past 30 years this has been a real consideration, and those businesses should be saluted.

The recent resurgence of the re-shoring of manufacturing to the UK is fantastic, likely driven by the lowering costs this report mentions. While we are keen to welcome these businesses back to Britain it is important that they make a renewed commitment to Britain in the long-term and not just while the going is good.

Hopefully this time they will be back for good (hence the tenuous link to the featured image)

– James

We have been wrangling with the Charity Commission since January but we can now confirm that we are a charity. Registered Charity Number 1157235.

Our aim is to use our fayre (www.britishfamilyfayre.co.uk) and other activities to raise funds which will allow us to help a number of young people each year to pursue education and entrepreneurship that will allow them to ‘make it’ in Britain. With the rise of manufacturing in the UK there are already serious concerns that there is a lack of skilled labour. Hopefully we can do our little bit to sort this out.

What can you do you support our new charity? Simple, come to the British Family Fayre 2014!

Businesses – please support us by taking a workshop at the fayre.

Joe public – travel, by whatever means, to join us for a great day of celebration… and bring your family!

More information about the British Family Foundation is here: www.britishfamilyfoundation.org

The iconic British designed and made lava-lamp defined a generation and is now celebrating it’s 50th birthday. I would like to guarantee that there is not a single person reading this post that has not owned at least one.

Here is how they are made:

I just had an unfortunate meeting with Micheal Fallon MP, who is not only the member of parliament for Sevenoaks (our local council) but also Minister of State for Business. I thought, logically, that he might be interested in what is going on with our fayre (the biggest in the region), our charity (helping young people in British manufacturing) and our work with the Made in Britain Mark…. It would seem I was quite wrong.

This is a difficult post to write because we always want to be positive and we also try to avoid the debate about politics. This said, I feel moved to vent my frustrations following our rather brief exchange. I was not sure what I had hoped to get out of meeting Mr Fallon but I certainly had not been prepared to be presented with someone who I found extremely impolite and more than a little patronising. There is really no way to sugar this pill… he seemed to feel the need to belittle and undermine our efforts from the start.

I tried to explain what we were trying to do with the fayre and the charity, and also tried to get his view on the Made in Britain marque. All points were met with disinterest and an air of arrogance. It got to the point where I quickly felt that I was wasting my time and, as politely as possible, said my goodbyes.

Mr Fallon has been the Conservative representative for Sevenoaks since 1997. I can only assume that those that vote for him year on year have never actually met him. Needless to say I feel that he is going to be as useful as a chocolate fire guard in our efforts to promote British Industry.

In a couple of weeks, as part of the board for the Made in Britain marque, I am meeting Ian Wright MP who is labour’s shadow minister for industry. I will report back as to whether I have a little more faith in this guy than Mr Fallon.

– James

Is your PC or laptop at home or work made in Britain? Chances are that it is not. Indeed many believe that such things are not actually made in the UK, but you would be wrong. There are loads of companies that build great quality computers in the UK and they are often far cheaper than those we import. In a recent survey, undertaken by PC manufacturer Novatech, they concluded that 41% of the SME businesses they asked would be willing to buy British…. that is if they knew of any companies that made them here.

Novatech Founder and Managing Director, David Furby, said: “There’s very little technical difference between a global brand’s PC and a British-built PC – we all use the same high quality components – so if you took them apart they’d look almost identical inside.”

This is all well and good but you can read this statistic in two ways:

1 – Only 41% of business would be ‘happy’ with a PC made in the UK, or;
2 – There is 41% of the UK SME market willing to buy British but don’t know the companies that make them.

Being a glass-half-full kinda girl, if I owned a UK computer business, I would look at these results as a major opportunity. The problem is they do not seem to help themselves. Go to any UK computer manufacturers website, including Novatech, and see if you can find any mention of being made in Britain. Not even a Union Flag in sight.

– Emily

Here is a video which will tell you more about Novatech:

The British Hops Association have suggested that there has been a 100% rise in the price of US grown hops in the wake of the recent trend for craft beers. The aromas provided by American hops are apparently highly prized by UK craft beer makers and this, combined with an increased interest domestically, is likely to result in shortages in the coming years.

The BHA is, quite rightly, calling for UK breweries to not forget about their own hop growers and asking them to buy British. Living in Kent, a famous centre for hop production, it seems illogical that we would import such a readily available crop from the States. However, even in the UK the 2014 hop crop is reported to already have been ‘sold out’. So, does this mean that the pumps may soon run dry? I very much hope not.

It would seem our demand for good beer is driving a farming sector that was once reputedly on the verge of dying out. This must be a good thing. I also hope that we start seeing some more hop crops growing around the UK to meet this demand. They do look stunning.

– James