New more environmental FR fabrics

I've read that the number of accidents involving fire in the UK has dropped to an all time low. This is good news, and higher safety standards, better care or design must all have a part to play.

Roller blinds have never offered a great fire risk, mainly because at a blind at a window is probably well away from most likely sources of combustion (like unattended electric fires), and a blind has little weight or volume of combustible fabric within it. However as standards have improved, the demand for FR treated blind fabric has grown.

This is all good except behind the scenes, many of the common compounds that go into making a fabric FR (usually halides or bromides) are not great for the environment.

The EU has been looking at these compounds, have banned some, classified others as hazardous to health, bio accumulative or toxic, and others are under EU surveillance. 

This concerns us at New House, so are happy to launch a new suite of FR fabrics. We must confess that some do contain halides, but the most interesting fabrics to us are ones that use a new Swedish break-through FR coating that's completely halide-free. Our idea is to gain experience of this new coating, and then extend it to our other fabrics. We think the environment will be better for this!

Grand colonial FR fabric in black (also comes in white and natural) :

Some of the new fabric on our shelves ;

Preparing our sample brochure :

 

How Caple and lots of old cars

New house works from How Caple Court, and it can be a sleepy old place at times. Yet because of it's beautiful setting and 900yr old church, people frequently get married here at weekends, and there's also a vintage car auction every 3 months. The last auction was on Wednesday (the next marriage this Friday I think) :

 

 

This is an American Huber built in 1911 with a 'lifetime guarantee'. Unfortunately the company closed in 1913, so I hope it's new owner isn't too disappointed when he makes his first claim.



 

 

 

 

 

I'm told the Penny Farthing was a Gentleman's bike made by The Coventry Machinist Co in 1875.

I don't know what it is about old vintage cars and beards, but all the true enthusiasts seem to have one. Maybe because many of the old cars have no heaters, so you'd freeze to death if out on the road in winter without a good warm layer of hair on your chin?

The people who buy these lovely old cars get bitten by the collectors bug, and often end up owning a number. They can't resist turning up at the How Caple auction in style, so the car park is packed with interesting old cars too.

This is an old Peugeot. On the back seat the owner thoughtfully left a copy of a French classic car mag where it featured on the front cover.

 

I think this old Jag is an XK140. My grandfather (who started New House) used to drive an XK150, and a few E-Types too. He had a love-hate relationship with them as they were always going wrong. Being an engineer he was always tinkering with them, and used to take them back to the factory for modifications where he'd enjoy chatting to the engineers and designers who built the cars.