14th October 2011

CREWKERNE: Inventor gets busy in Crewkerne

NEW Crewkerne resident Peter Manning hopes to bring new business to the town and is already putting his head together with Graham James, of James Hardware, to get things moving.

Mr Manning moved to Hurle House with his wife Karen, three months ago from Bristol.

He is a professional design innovator and worked for many years for major design companies in London. Fifteen years ago he started to develop his own product innovations which he licensed in royalty agreements and has had six products on the market.

In 2009 he secured investment in his new company, with five of his new product concepts, from two business investors via a business angel network which he described as “Dragons Den without the TV”. In 2010 Mr Manning went to India to set up production of his first product Wellitop.

Wellitop is a clip on cover for wellies so that you can leave your boots outside and it stops the rain and creepy crawlies entering. It keeps boots in pairs, stops them falling over and you can carry and hang up the boots with it.

The inventor was delighted to see a traditional hardware shop in his new home town and offered Mr James the chance to sell his product which was already running off the shelves elsewhere.

Seeing it as an immediate good idea in the rural community, Mr James was happy to trial sales of the Wellitop in his shop which he has just expanded into the adjacent premises.

Mr James said: “I thought it was really good, one simple idea is all it takes and everyone has had spiders in their wellies. I think the fact you can stand them outside and keep them dry is brilliant too. I think it’s nice for Crewkerne to have new people with new ideas.”

Mr Manning is already working on other ideas and said: “Ideally I would love to come up with something that can be made here on the industrial estate and sold in Graham’s shop.

“James’ is a fantastic traditional hardware shop which has everything - DIY advice and plenty of cheerful, helpful staff.”

The two men are already kicking around other ideas for useful items and have planned some major brainstorming over a pint.

Mr Manning’s company 4 Leaves Innovation has sold over 100,000 Wellitops in the last 12 months in UK and Europe with new retailers coming onboard for next spring.

His second product RainCan is being produced in the UK and will be on the market in spring 2012. He described RainCan as an eco-designed watering can that collects the falling rain, has a frog escape ladder and stacks like buckets which reduces the carbon footprint on transport.

He designs and makes all his own models in his studio and is currently working on an exciting project with a business partner in America.

Mr James said the new Wellitop product had tied in nicely with his expansion plans. He had been waiting for the lease on the next door shop for some time and has applied for planning permission to knock down the small dividing wall between the two shop doorways creating face to face entrances under cover. The hardware and DIY products are in the new shop and gardening and household in the original premises, giving both room to grow.

PICTURE: SIMPLE IDEAS ARE THE BEST - Innovator Peter Manning with his Wellitop and hardware businessman Graham James

CREWKERNE: Inventor gets busy in Crewkerne

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