people Tony finally calls ‘time’ on million mile sales journey I’Anson Bros long serving salesman reflects on 60 years around the roads and farms of the Yorkshire Dales When a 22 year old Tony Morris finished his National Service and joined a small, animal feed company he had just three colleagues and the business counted less than 100 local farm customers on its books and generated sales of little more than £100,000 a year. As he marks his formal retirement sixty years and one million miles around the roads of the Yorkshire Dales as a salesman later, the company he joined has somewhat changed. Today, I’Anson Bros of Masham, North Yorkshire is one of the leading, independent, family owned and managed animal feed producers with
annual sales in excess of £40 million, serving 2,000 farm and trade customers around the UK and exporting its award-winning equine feed to more than 40 countries worldwide. Staff numbers in the business have grown to 95 and production mushroomed from the 3,400 tons a year when Tony joined in 1962 to more than 150,000 today. During his six decades with the business, he has worked with three generations of the I’Anson family and is ‘Uncle’ to the current family members, Chris, Sarah and Will, a relationship created when Tony’s father – who also worked as a sales rep for I’Anson - married into the family. Reinforcing the family ethos within the firm, Tony’s son Paul has been with the company for more than 30 years and
another son also worked there for a number of years. He also served for some 30 years as a Director of the company and continued to visit long-standing clients until the pandemic outbreak forced him to finally call a halt to his travels.
Tony formally marks his retirement as I’Anson’s embarks on the biggest single investment in its 120 -year history with the £20 million+ development of a state-ofthe-art, new feed mill at Dalton New Bridge which will complement its facilities on the outskirts of Masham.
Donna’s getting her fundraising kicks for Rabi and Yana on Route 66 The finance director of one of the UK’s leading agricultural machinery manufacturers is getting her kicks for charity by tackling one of the United States’ most iconic road trips. Donna Hall, who works for GRIMME UK, has set off on a charity challenge, aiming to run, ride and walk the distance of Route 66. One of the most famous roads in the United States, Route 66 originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona ending in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California. Having read about a drastic reduction in donations to charities caused by the pandemic, Donna decided to do something to help the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), and You Are 90
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Not Alone (YANA), both of which support agricultural workers. When she heard about the Route 66 virtual challenge on the website EndToEnd.run Donna saw it as the perfect charity challenge and embarked on the 2,278 mile sponsored walk, ride and run. Having recorded just 190 miles on Strava in 2020, Donna is aiming to complete the challenge well within EndToEnd.run’s two year target and is looking to raise more than £2,278. People wanting to support Donna can donate uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ DonnaNewsonHall
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