The week that was 1st March

Afternoon all,

Well; We have sadly spent another week of witnessing the most unbelievable of atrocities in the Ukraine with so many heart breaking stories yet again covered in the media. Please do all try and support them in any way you can. < p.s. The Gaffer is arranging a concert in London after the July 7th broker meeting (called UKR-AIDE) at which he’s managed to get a selection of tribute bands to perform as well as the Ukrainian orchestra from Bradford; more details on that to follow 😊. Proceeds to the young orphans >

And one of the most poignant images you may have seen this week was of pianist Irina Maniukina playing Chopin on her beloved, ash covered piano one last time before fleeing her home.

As the quote says “ the only truth is music”……..

Or maybe not so for Ed Sheeran whose copyright battle over “Shape of You” continues in the courts as music’s golden boy is taken to task!

As you know, I love my showbiz stuff, and finally on that front it was a case of ‘another week. another red carpet’ as Lady Gaga (she loves a good night out!), Emma Watson and Co. got another opportunity to strut their stuff at the BAFTA’s ceremony on Sunday where it was a very mixed bag of winners but the very musical “Encanto” deservedly won the award for Best Animated Film. They did remind me of our lovely lady brokers who once again continue to strut their stuff on The Key.

So. Over to our own winners this week and as a number of you have started taking some much deserved and long overdue breaks , we saw a slight dip in this week’s figures which still nonetheless saw a very respectable £28,316,778 of lending completed across 116 cases.

Top of the charts was the “always nice”, “super suave” and “still that Bond in waiting! ”, Mike Atkinson with £3,915,818 of lending across 8 cases, one of which earnt him this week’s “Big Time Bafta” Award for his £1,660,995 deal with NatWest.

Then runners up were the always red-carpet ready ladies Heather Wall with £1,940,774 across 9 cases and Sarah Norman with £1,838,663 across 6 cases.

Then the following all made the nominees list for their high value and volume cases – Sean McGeough, Zak Abdul Karim, Steve Hankins, Michelle Barraclough, Jo Zeff, Phil Lyle, Nick Harris and Lee Power.

On the provider side the spotlights were on the NatWest this week as you completed 13 cases with them for £4,466,379 of lending.

Protection – Week 9

Another productive week over on the Protection side of the business with 27 deals completed this week of which Sophie Evans and Adriana Rocha each secured 6 and were followed by Runner Up Nick Price with 5.

Colette Hall secured the highest policy amount this week of £298,500 with Royal London and on the provider side you completed the greatest number of deals overall with LV totalling 7.

Birthday and other Parish Notices

Many Happy returns to Mike Atkinson for the 18th.

Club Notices For Members

1. Clearly , whilst some of you are starting to book some much deserved Sun 😊 time away from it all, Michael Atkinson (007 designate) and Heather Wall (Bond girl designate?) decided that after writing a scorchio 17 cases between them last week that they deserved …….. 2 days in an office in Darbados!

But Congratulations to them both and indeed to all of the motley crew who converged on HQ this week (and last!) for what was a valuable 4 days of accreditation. Apart from going away with some very valuable items from the Derby County FC shop (… I say , WE ARE STAYING UP, WE ARE STAYING UP, EH UP) , they have now achieved a status which can only help boost their earnings in the months and years ahead as we all grow old together with our asset rich / cash poor clients! 😊 We hope to run another such course possibly in October.

2. The Mortgage Lender (TML).

Well done for attending the Newcastle call this morning; they are a progressive lender, no doubt. We also had a very constructive review this week with TML . They can’t help on every complex / adverse case, but since since Sarah Mac joined them they have really improved their standard terms. I will send all a note on that shortly. Sara Palmer is also now joining us with her gaffer in Cannes (Oct 5th! STD if you haven’t). Silvia will be checking that everyone has registered with them, and if you perhaps don’t have time, then we will do that for you at HQ,. Well worth a look.

3. Scotland Expansion for MF.

Our own Gaffer didn’t waste his time away last week wherein he concluded a deal in Spain to take on a team of up to 5 newbies in Scotland . One of Scotland’s standout units. Identities have to be veiled for now, but look out for some exciting developments on that in the weeks ahead. It is a really crack outfit and will be based in Dalmeny on the banks of the Firth. Anybody with distant or fledgling introducer connections or clients that just need a local bit of TLC in Scotland on your behalf (you obv. keep the client etc!), please feel free to get in touch.

4. Adobe sign; If you haven’t experimented with this already, check it out; For just £14.99p a month it’s a helluva time -saver. Just ask the ladies in the top quartile of the league tables who are all using it now. 😊

That’s it for now folks; have a great week .

Kerry. 😊