Tony has this to say about the success of his business; “I look at future-proofing my business and this begins with educating the local kids, We work with the local schools and get them in,we show them the business and how it works. I answer any questions they have, which normally boils down too  how much money do you make, but it’s about inspiring them and showing what they can achieve with hard work. We open up our business warts and all to the business people of the future so that we can inspire them to be as great as they can be.

Future-proofing also means looking at getting greener, we’re investing strongly in the future and looking at installing our own wind turbines to power our bottling plant next year, where we plan to bottle over 100 million bottles in 2011.”

Looking at what makes Tony a winner, he has this to say; “I can’t afford to  be a one trick pony, you must have more angles to your business, you  have to think like an entrepreneur and constantly innovate. I know my business will look completely different in 5 years time,  most importantly I instill that it’s got to be done right and this resonates throughout the workforce, we all care.”

Tony is a member of David D’Arcy’s Vistage group and he credits David with being a great mentor, offering good advice, which is always essential in driving his business forward. To find out how Vistage can benefit you visit our website

Why not find out how Vistage can benefit both you and your business?

Jenny recognises that Vistage has contributed to her success. “Vistage has helped me the focus the business, and encouraged me to get new ideas into practice faster.  Over three quarters of our business is professional indemnity insurance, and we are the independent experts in this area.”

Recognising that the insurance industry can come across as a little ‘boring’, Jenny has introduced a lighter note in a novel way, by also launching the PIE Expert website.  This site – www.pieexpert.co.uk – is the home of fun, facts and exciting things relating to pies and pastry confections.  It also provides Jenny a humorous way of introducing her team.

On the PI Expert website Jenny says “we are emphatically not a call centre”.  If you visit the ‘fun’ PIE Expert site you won’t need any convincing about the truth of this statement!

Nick Heaton has been a member of Peter Chambers’ group V24 for nearly three years and his Vistage membership is also supported by membership of his key staff in the Key Executive Programme. To find out how Vistage supports Nick and Envirovent take a look at the testimonial. If you want to learn more about how Vistage can help you and your business visit our website

The Prince of Wales has ordered the nine carriage train for a five-day, 1300-mile “green tour” of Britain, which started in Glasgow yesterday. His trip is aimed at promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles and ethical modes of transport and he has boasted that the train will run on biofuels.

Charles is going to be criss-crossing the country on his five-day jaunt. It started in Glasgow, before travelling to cities and towns including Edinburgh, Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham.

The Green Party said: “We admire Prince Charles’s passion for the sustainability agenda.

“His support for progressive projects such as cutting fuel bills by installing solar panels is laudable.

“But when people are facing cuts in public services, the idea of a private train costing £90,000 more than ordinary first class tickets might seem a bit insensitive.”

Green Fuels of Gloucestershire, who supply the biodiesel for the train, claim its carbon footprint was “significantly” smaller than if it ran on fossil fuels.

In the past year, the train was used on 19 occasions, covering an average of 751 miles, at a cost of £1million.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: “The prince has not done a tour like this across Britain before. It is not practical to use scheduled trains in such a busy programme which has 10 locations in five days. On this occasion the Royal train was the best solution.”

He pointed out that the train would also be used for business meetings and as a working office, and emphasised the train’s footprint would be lower as it was powered by waste cooking oil.

Watch the video clip to see James

B Hepworth & Co Ltd were ranked 26th in the first annual International Track 100 league table supplement, published in The Sunday Times on 11 July 2010, with title sponsor HSBC.

 The league table ranked companies’ international sales growth over the last 2 years. The UK Midlands-based company manufactures windscreen wiper systems for trains and ships, such as the cruise liner QE2 and her latest sister ship, Queen Victoria, and Hepworth are very proud to have supplied over 1500 systems to Bombardier for the entire Electrostar fleet, and fit wiper systems to Delhi’s new fleet of 40 Metro trains, a bespoke order that required the British company’s specialised manufacturing skills.  Export growth has been driven by the acquisition of its main British competitor in 2004, which enabled it to rationalise its product range and consolidate overseas distributors, thus simplifying its route to market. Hepworth manufactures in Britain and exports to 54 countries, including China and America; overseas sales have grown 96% a year, from £2.6m in 2007 to £10m in 2009, with Hepworth’s ranking in the league table as 6th largest exporter to China.

 Jonathan Eddy, CEO, stated “this is a fantastic achievement and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for their hard work and dedication. We have a great team of people here and we look forward to the next stage in our improvement plan to further enhance the growth of the business”.

PMW Communications

Peter said: ” Matt, Luke and Jo astonished me with their creative idea they called ‘Beat the Pros’. It involved students taking on the profesionals to see how the quality of their work compared to the professionals work.  For example, holding an art event where accomplished artists work would be mixed in with that of students and seeing if judges could tell the difference.

Another surprise was sprung on the students when they went to present their stunning audio visual presentation in the PMW corporate boardroom when their headmaster Mr White appeared. Said Mr White ” This was one of the best student presentations I have ever seen in all my years as a teacher and I am truly impressed with the ideas and presentation skills that the students have developed over the past week.  I liked their ideas so much that I am even considering introducing some of them into the school.”

It’s a great example of working with local schools to really give students in the area the chance to experience business in practical terms and their enthusiasm is fantastic to see. We hope to hear more about Vistage members working with their local communities.

Alex’s group has a diverse look and feel, something which he believes provides a wider range of valuable experience when members are discussing individual business challenges and opportunities.  The members include:

-       Affinity Select Insurance Services Ltd, an expert in insurance for businesses such as Professional Indemnity.

-       Perrys Chartered Accountants, providing audit, accountancy and tax services to a client base in the South East.

-       PMW Communications Ltd, a highly creative full service Marketing and PR company.

-       St Catherine’s Hospice, dedicated to providing specialised end of life care in the local community.

-       White Rose Group, a Vauxhall and Nissan motor dealership offering a wide range of sales and after sales services.

If you wish to find out more about this new group and how you can get involved contact please contact Alex Kent  – alex.kent@vistage.co.uk mobile: 07887917657

The mowers will manicure the pitches at 10 stadiums including the 95,000 seater Soccer City Stadium in Soweto Johannesburg where the final will be  played on July 11th.

Managing Director Ian Howard said “I’m absolutely delighted to have won this contract. We have previously supplied machines for Euro 2008 but South Africa will be our first World Cup.  It’s a very proud feeling to know that a worldwide audience of a billion people will see the the distinctive ‘Dennis stripes’ on the World Cup pitches.”

We at Vistage would like to congratulate Team Dennis on their prestigious order and all the hard work that went into fulfilling it and hope that our England squad do the pitch justice!