It's Over

After months of excitement in the run up to son Paul's wedding, it's all over now. But what a lovely day it was for everyone involved. I was so taken with the proceedings that I took very few photos (and only this one of the bride and groom) but hopefully there will plenty of official photos in the next couple of weeks when the happy couple return from honeymoon in Cuba.Over a hundred guests attended the event and it was a great success. Here are a few of my snaps from the day.




Here's Marion with our close friend Jane.



Daughter Sarah with partner Duncan.



Paul's Grandmothers Flo and Ann.



My sister Julie and daughter Natasha.



My brother Peter and his wife Val.


Peter and Val's daughter Lisa with partner Brad.



Friends David and Janet.



Marion with Josephine's mum Jenny.



Being away at the wedding meant missing Northern Area Sales Manager Peter Brindle's 49th birthday. Keen golfer Peter has worked for Instanta for 19 years and is a key member of our personnel having worked his way from the factory floor where he once ran our sheet metal department through a stint as buyer and on to sales.Married to Linda, Peter is a dedicated dad. His eldest, John, married last year whilst daughters Lucy and Katie are still at primary school and are doing extremely well. A very popular man with the customers,Peter has taken on the challenge of our takeover by Zip with great enthusiasm and is determined to make a big success of it.Apologies for the delay Peter but, better late than never, I hope that you had a brilliant day.



Heartbroken on Valentine's Day.

I was really down when I read yesterday's Observer. As always, I turned first to the magazine to read Kathryn Flett's brilliant column. (I used to turn first to her equally brilliant TV review and was disappointed when that ended recently). And what did I read? Yesterday's was her last column. Why has she gone? Where is she going to? Sunday mornings won't be the same again without the humour that she injected into the day. I do hope that her writing continues. If she moves to another Sunday I'll be moving with her (as long as it isn't the Mail or Express of course).

As our retirement is approaching I had better start to think of things to do next year. How about this?

A bus man's holiday

Marion and I are on holiday at the moment but it is turning into a bit of a bus man's holiday as our new brochure is its final phase now and our print deadline is approaching very quickly. I could ignore the emails and say "I'm on holiday" but what's the point in that? This is my last Instanta brochure and I want to go out with a bang and make it the best ever. And it is looking very good indeed. Jen Hill our Senior Account Manager at Workhouse has put in a huge effort and I think we will be able to press the "print" button very soon.




I am writing this from our room in the City Inn in Westminster. Last night we stayed at the Days Inn on the M1 which, for less than £40 per night, was good value. We managed to get the City Inn on a very good deal on the Internet and for a central London hotel it is very impressive. Very close to Parliament and the Tate it is clean, spacious and comfortable and the staff are extremely helpful. The Internet is free (you even get a Mac computer to use so you don't have to bring your own) and the restaurant prices are probably better than last night's on the M1 so, pound for pound it's better value for the improved comfort level. We will certainly give it another try next time we are in London. Tomorrow we are staying in the RAC club. We aren't members but a friend in the wedding party is and he has kindly booked the rooms for us.




Before driving from the M1 to London this morning we had to go to Dorking to collect this beautiful little Japanese Satsuma vase that I bought at a live Internet auction. I thought that the auctioneer might post it for me but he felt that it was too valuable to take the risk. Good job we were in London for the wedding or it might have been ages before I got to see it. Very pleased but I have to sell something from the collection to pay for it. I now have three pieces by this artist Yabu Meizan in my collection.




Holidays mean time to read. So I just read "For Richer For Poorer" which I got as a birthday present from a friend. This autobiographical book about her life as a poker player is by Victoria Coren the Observer columnist and daughter of the wonderful but sadly late Alan Coren.I love Victoria's columns in the paper. They are always witty and well written. I never understood her poker columns in the Guardian but after reading her book it's a bit clearer now. The whole world of poker seems somehow sleazy and, however finely Victoria dresses it up with her brilliant writing, an air of grubbiness seeps from the book and permeates every chapter. Having read it though I do feel that I must give the game a try (at least once).



In the meantime I'll finish today with a self improvement video for you. Now you can all become a Navi.

Liz Iz Back (Again)

Nothing could give me more pleasure than telling you about the return of Liz Clayton to the Instanta fold. Liz first worked for Instanta six years ago and was a very popular member of staff here until she left us to take maternity leave. Liz stayed off work for a couple of years while son Sam was a toddler and she then returned to help us out part time when Natalie took her maternity leave. Now that Sam is at school and Marion and I are making plans for our retirement we felt that it was time to find another part timer to ensure a smooth transition and we immediately thought of Liz and were delighted to hear that she was in the job market. So here she is again. Liz will be working from 9.15 until 2.15 and we are all looking forward to her company. She will be involved in answering the phones and dealing with both the sales and the purchase ledgers.



We will be on the way to London for Paul's wedding on Wednesday so we won't be able to go to the local Vue for the Orange Wednesday promotion. So we went last night to see "Youth in Revolt" starring Michael Cera. Cera has been typecast as the dorky teenager in Juno, Superbad and now in this but it is a role that he carries off superbly and the film is great fun. I assume that, at 22, Cera will have to give up these roles soon but until he does, just enjoy them.




Things are running smoothly with our new colleagues at Zip. There is no real change here in the office and now that the phone has stopped ringing with all the congratulatory messages we are back to normal. We are in daily contact with Norfolk as we are getting the brochure and exhibition together and are looking forward to meeting Zip's sales force and service engineers in the near future.



One of the things that is necessary for when we retire is to have cover on the service desk. At the moment when Max is not in I man the pumps but with me going at the end of the year we need an alternative and Lee Moore has stepped into the breach. At the moment Lee and I are answering calls on speaker phone which is great for Lee but not so great for everyone else in the office. Mind you, perhaps they are all learning too so instead of having just one person to cover for Max we will now have three.

I'll finish today with Charlie Brooker's lesson on how to present the news.

Too busy to blog

It's been so busy this week with all the developments following the takeover that I didn't get a chance to write the blog yesterday. But I've just managed to take a quick break to catch up on some of the important things like blogging and completing my predictions for the Guardian Pick the Score Competition.

I've fallen behind in the league recently. I'd like to put it down to the distractions here at work but that would be a bit of a fib. It's really down to lousy forecasting. Mind you whilst my Pick the Scores predictions have been poor I actually managed to win my 8 team accumulator on Betfair last Saturday. It was an extremely cautious one but it paid off and has taken my kitty to almost £900 which is not bad as I started the year at only £100.



Tomorrow Liverpool are entertaining our neighbours Everton at Anfield. It's a 12.45 kick off and I just hope that we can move away from the poisonous atmosphere that has ruined the derby games in recent years. I can remember when reds and blues could go to the game together and enjoy a bit of banter. I would love that to happen tomorrow but somehow I just don't see it.



Marion and I actually found the time to go to Orange Wednesday this week. We went to see Avatar. We felt that with all the fuss we really had to go and see it but I am sorry to say that we just didn't see what all the fuss was about. Yes it is spectacular and yes it is good to look at and very colourful but I have to admit to nodding off a couple of times as it runs for almost three hours and it is little more than an old fashioned cowboys and Indians movie with the cowboys (the humans) as the baddies. If it had been about an hour shorter it would have been OK.

Being at Anfield tomorrow means that I won't be able to watch the wonderful Gillette Soccer Saturday. With pundits like Dean Windass, the show just goes from strength to strength.

Happy 59th Tony

Here's Tony Lowe from our stores. Today Tony is celebrating his 59th birthday.Tony joined Instanta almost nine years ago after a number of years in the fire service.Very much a family man, Tony, who is married to Janet,has five children Lisa, Steven, Rick, Rob and Kim who range in age from 33 to 18 and this has been a very busy year in the family as three new grandchildren have arrived since he was 58 making four in total.Tony is a keen computer fan and tells me that he is getting the computer game Napoleon Total War for his birthday.He supports Burnley FC (well nobody's perfect).Regular spares customers will know Tony well for his polite and friendly service and I am sure that they will join me in wishing him the very best for today.



It looks like a good game. How things have changed since I first played the computer game Pong which consisted of a couple of white blocks bouncing around a screen. Boy did we feel cool in the pub at 18 playing it all night.



I introduced Chris, David and Nick (some of our new colleagues from Zip) to the staff here yesterday.For once I forgot my camera so I will have to put a photo up next time they visit. The day went extremely well and I think both parties learned a great deal from it. The dust from the merger is just starting to settle. Marion and I are totally relieved to have been able to make the announcement.Several months of clandestine discussions and secret meetings are not easy but we think that the final result will be good for all parties involved.



Here are some of our new Australian owner's team. Bottom left, alongside his son George, is the charismatic and dynamic Michael Crouch AO who founded Zip and who has been heavily involved with me and Marion during our negotiations. Michael has been an excellent person to deal with and we are really looking forward to introducing him to everyone at Instanta. Top left is Michael Lee who we have also met.He is the Chief Operating Officer and Group Finance Director (and a Spurs fan).Also on the top row are Alan Butler Group Director (Sales and Marketing) and Brian Chertkow (Manufacturing Director).We have not met them or George yet but are again looking forward to welcoming them to sunny Southport.

I'll close today with the trailer for Tony's birthday present. It's a long way from Pong.

Instanta and Zip - - The unbeatable team in boiling water solutions

Dear Blog Reader

You’ve always known Instanta for teamwork whether it is in conjunction with our suppliers, our customers or our staff. We love working with others. We’ve got a great track record and have built up some wonderful relationships in our fifty three year history.

We are delighted to announce that we now have a new relationship. With immediate effect Instanta is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zip Industries (AUST) Pty.

Established in Australia in 1945, Zip is a world leader in instant boiling water technology and mirrors the ideals that are so near to our hearts, working closely with staff, customers and suppliers to provide exceptional quality and service. Together our two companies share over a hundred years experience in supplying boiling water solutions throughout the world – a level of experience that is unparalleled in the industry.

So what changes will you notice at Instanta?

Although we aim to retire in 2011, I will continue as Managing Director and Marion will remain in the office working as a Director and our brief is to carry on as we were. There will be no staff changes and your contacts will remain the same. So there are no sweeping alterations planned, you can still phone me up on my direct line 01704502900 or Skype either of us via our website and we will be here helping to steer the company forward on the same principles that we have done for the last twenty two years.

We know that this is an extremely positive step forward for Instanta and are sure that you will join us in supporting this move, which sees the brand - and our team - become strategically important parts of the Zip Group.

Yours faithfully


John Brassey


Now. We like Zip boilers and we like Instanta boilers. But which is better?

There's only one way to find out.

You didn't read my earlier post

If you did read today's blog a little earlier, please ignore it as I have just received an email asking me not to mention my lead story until March. And if you didn't read it you won't have a clue what I am talking about. Nothing unusual there then.


Northern Area Sales Manager Peter Brindle is smiling today. Our sales figures for January showed an increase on 2009 so that is two months running when we have moved forwards in our current financial year. The year can sometimes be like a big game of snakes and ladders as some months have more days in them than others and, as we tend to sell from stock rather than advanced orders, those working days can make a big difference.For example there are 23 working days in March and just 20 in February and that's a difference of 15%.



It's the first of the month and I'm delighted to say that we paid all our bills this morning. We always like to pay promptly because it would be somewhat hypocritical if we started chasing our own customers for payment when we hadn't paid our own outstanding accounts. So now we can start chasing with a clear conscience.



Our South African agent Vin Meagher is going to use the World Cup to promote a "Warm Cup" by featuring our super Heated Cup Carousels. Vin tells me that even though we always associate South Africa with hot weather, the tournament is being held in the winter and some of the venues in the higher areas can be bitterly cold. Good idea Vin. Hope it's a success for you.

We had to miss Orange Wednesday last week as Marion was not well. I wonder if this new release will get to Southport?