The week that was 3rd May

My Word. The sheer pathos of last week on all fronts …. For it was a bitter-sweet week in which the newly titled “Dame” Deborah James, otherwise known as “Bowel Babe” announced that sadly she was moving to hospice end- of- life- care at home, and yet this beyond- incredible woman then went on to raise what at the last count was over £6 million pounds to help fellow sufferers and received her new and very deserved title from HRH Prince William.

Then on Saturday, Europe took a stand in crowning Ukraine the winners of the annual cheese-fest that is Eurovision (although our very own Sam Ryder did us proud too) and yet just days later, members of the winning group are back fighting again on the frontline!

On which subject, our own Simon Holdsworth is now back in the UK after spending a month on the other front-line in that region, on the Polish -Ukraine border. Simon’s account of his experience is very moving and instructive and you’ll find it on Mortgage Strategy’s website before the day is out. It’s truly awesome just what some folk will do for others and his efforts and those of his group really do render other geo-political news stories right now pretty meaningless.

And finally after all the health issues of late, her Majesty the Queen made a surprise appearance at the Royal Windsor Horse show looking very happy indeed!

Alas; that’s where the motivational & inspirational behaviour ends; to be followed by the more vacuous world of “c-lebs” and the “Wagatha” case sh*te which rolls on into what feels like its 50th year as it was revealed that Ms Vardy has a bit of a penchant for small sausages (amongst many) and Mr Rooney was reduced to the role of bag carrier (although it was Chanel) for wife Coleen. < why wasn’t he holding her hand I ask ??? weird . no doubt still in the dog house >

And stop press finally here in Darbados it looks like DCFC may have a buyer who thankfully isn’t Mike Ashley!

MORTGAGEFORCE HEADLINES

Moving across to our own headlines and in Week 18 things were just plain sweet as you completed a staggering £46,741,369 across 119 deals. The strongest week in 5 weeks.

Top of the charts this week was Mr Ian Broadrick with £14,905,988 !!!!!!! of lending across 4 cases; his £8,251,999 deal with Barclays rightly also earning him the “Big Time Brodders” Award this week.

Then in second place this week was Ron Walton who completed a hefty £3,451,145 of lending across 5 cases and then from sunny France came Laura Sayers with £2,586,772 of lending across 4 cases. Laura is on a real roll right now ….

Other winning performances (of the non spursie-gooner variety! ☹☹☹) this week then came from Zak Abdul Karim (who completed 7 cases), Rachel Vernile, Mike Atkinson, Claire Hutchinson, Nick Harris, Rhys Forrest, Chris Taylor and James Newton.

On the lender side you completed the most cases overall in Week 18 with Barclays totalling 13 for £18,258,889 of lending.

Protection – Week 18

Not the most showstopping of weeks across on the Protection side of the business in Week 18 with just 20 policies completed this week but Nick Price still put on a sterling performance by completing 13 deals, followed by Sophie Evans with 3.

Nick also secured the highest policy amount this week of £500,000 with HSBC and Will Townsend was runner up with his £302,499 policy with Zurich Assurance. It’s a massive week for William and ‘Gers fans everywhere.

Overall you completed the greatest number of policies this week with L&G totalling 5.

Birthday’s and other Parish Notices

Feliz cumpleanos / Many Happy Returns to Adriana Rocha for tomorrow, Paul Oglesbyfor Thursday and Suzanne Bunting for Friday. I hope you all get to celebrate in style and eat lots of cake!

Club Notices For Members

Not much this week, as the team in HQ are thankfully now completing their RMAR returns for all and sundry . Our thanks go to Martin and Chris once again. Herculean efforts from both.

• We had some interesting Zooms with lenders this morning, and these were a few useful headlines folks;

• The market is definitely cooling slightly, but it is not about to crash! A rising base rate market is generally good news for brokers! 😊

• June may see a further rise in the Base rate, so all the more reason to lift some prose and disturber-techniques from our recent Newsletter?

• Santander put rates up recently, but because of that their service levels are actually amongst the best right now; remember, it’s not always about the cheapest rate, especially as …..

• Transaction cycles have lengthened from circa 120 days to almost 160 days! We share your pain re the Conveyancers who have a great deal to answer for right now!

• CONGRATS to Spencer and Pauli O who both completed nice cases with MT Finance recently. Seen above enjoying the fruits of their labour! hic ….

• And please don’t forget that if you do not wish to advise on Protection arrangements yourself, then the very skilled Sophie Evans and Nick Price at Zest would be happy to assist. The Gaffer was given a tour of John Lugsdin’s back garden in Wales yesterday and there’s no doubt that the grass is indeed greener down there, especially on any Life cases which are complex and need nurturing …. 😊

• Ffl; Martin has not forgotten about the monthly winners and these will be cashed-in shortly. 😊

That’s all folks, other than to pitifully plead for a miracle in Norfolk on Sunday at about 6pm …… Let’s be ‘ avin ya, says DELIA 😊