Well, Horton Brasses has had quite a year! It has been a busy year, our busiest ever. When June sales broke all records, we were thrilled. But then July broke June's record, and September came close to beating both June and July! It looks like sales will have increased 15% over last year. We are very pleased.
Our Trip to Alaska
As our regular customers know, Horton Brasses closes each August for 3 weeks vacation. Some of us travel; most of us are pretty local, enjoying families and Connecticut beaches and New England in general. Toby and I have a lust for travel and this year it was Alaska or bust.
This year's trip was unusual, in that Toby left on July 19 with his parents in our RV. We had a 29 foot RV that slept 4 comfortably. He and his parents drove to Alaska, stopping along the way at various places in Canada, enjoying the ride along the way. On August 3rd I met up with them in Anchorage. I flew into town, as I could not leave the Brassco until we officially closed.
The Brassco offices recently underwent renovations
The Brassco recently completed renovations of our showroom and offices. These last improvements have been part of a longer running program that is nearly complete.
First we rewired the entire factory, and installed lots more lighting. After that, we expanded our shipping department with all new shelving units and bins. In buffing and in shipping, we installed dropped ceilings with extra thick accoustical tiles in buffing and put more lighting in each of those areas. After that, we needed more office space. So we took our very large showroom and converted it to office space. We built some walls and stripped 40 year old wall paper and painted and carpeted.
It now houses 5 people (me, Orion, Toby and the 2 Steves). We took my old office and made it into our showroom, and gave it a much needed facelift.
Horton Brasses was featured recently in the Professional Refinishing magazine
Horton Brasses was featured in the October 2001 issue of Professional Refinishing, the magazine of the wood restoration industry.
See the article on our website: 13 steps involved in producing a single bail.
Annual review of our charitable giving
As the year winds to a close, we did our annual review of charitable giving.
Topping the list are 4 organizations who receive in excess of $500.00 each. Doctors without Borders, an aid agency who provides health to some of the most war torn areas of the world.
August in Madagascar
In August of 2001, Toby and I went to Madagascar. Madagascar is the 4th largest island on earth, and is located off the east coast of Africa. First settled 2000 years ago by Indonesians, today it is a mix of many tribes. The country is 1000 miles long and 300 miles wide, and has all types of terrain: mountains, plains, dry and arid areas, and rainforest. This is a photo of the capital city, Antananarivo, but widely called Tana (TAH nah).