Nov 09 2021

Fundraising for Winston’s Wish 2021

SAIFInsure were delighted to accompany friends and clients earlier this year and support the SAIF President’s, Mark Porteous, with raising funds for his chosen charity, Winston’s Wish for a gentle stroll of either 25, 50 or 100km in the Lake District.

Winston’s Wish is dedicated to supporting young children who have lost parents and we are proud to have been able to raise over £13,500 for this wonderful charity. The weather was very warm and the route incredibly demanding up plenty of sharp hills but the team pushed on to ensure that we reached the finish.

Thank you to everyone who supported us again this year.

Nov 08 2021

Independence in the Insurance Industry

Terry Tennens, SAIF’s Chief Executive, has noticed that some insurance brokers are part of a large conglomerate, that was bought a few years ago and recently resold to another conglomerate. This can impact customer service, with remote and untrained customer service handlers that uniquely impacts Funeral Directors who offer a fast and responsive service, that cannot wait. With this in mind, we asked one of the UK’s leading specialists in the funeral sector to comment, Brian Hart of SAIFInsure:

“The word independent has many connotations in different industries and SAIF itself was established to preserve the very independent nature of the family funeral director.

The insurance industry uses the phrase in a different manner. You’ll see many businesses describe themselves as “independent insurance brokers” and many customers will assume this refers to their structure, ownership or culture when in fact this simply means that they have more than one insurance agency with differing insurers.

SAIFInsure is “independently owned” and this is a phrase we will utilise more and more to emphasise to SAIF members and clients that we are not owned by Venture Capital/Asset Management companies or similar like many of our competitors and is seemingly endemic of the insurance broker market.

We pride ourselves on “true independence” and personal service to our customers with your interests to the fore, not those of a corporate master.”

Jul 20 2021

Direct FCA Authorisation

“SAIFInsure are delighted to confirm our direct FCA authorisation with effect from the 19^th July 2021 under our parent company, Unicorn I B Ltd.

We have been operating as Appointed Representatives of Momentum Broker Solutions Ltd since 2017 but it was always our long term ambition to be directly authorised as we continue our growth. We will now have our own direct agency with our scheme providers, Aviva Insurance and you will notice there are some changes to our payment arrangements with new banking details which will all be made clear on our invoices.

The growth in our business continues to be sustained and we are grateful to all our customers, suppliers and introducers who have been instrumental in making the business what it is today. On a personal note, my continued thanks to the team for all their enthusiasm, efforts and energy.

The next stage begins and we look forward to building the business still further whilst retaining our culture of a quality driven service and advice from a truly independent insurance broker for SAIF and its membership, associates and the independent funeral sector.”

Brian Hart

Managing Director

Sep 15 2020

IFD College and The Matthew Gallagher Achievement Award

SaifInsure’s close working relationship with SAIF brings other (affiliated) entities close by and the IFD (Independent Funeral Directors) College is one which we are delighted to support.

Founded in November 1995, a group of SAIF members keen to see training available to the Independent sector of the Funeral profession, set up the college; a standalone organisation and an associate member of SAIF.

Christine Parker, a Funeral Director from Tonbridge, and SAIF member had experience in adult education and the preparation of training courses. Chris wrote 14 training units complete with learning outcomes and assessment criteria which were suitable as NVQ training units. After much hard work Chris obtained accreditation for these units via Open College Network. (Now re-named One Awards). Continuing the growth of this, now, accredited NVQ training centre, Chris then mentored a dozen trainers through City and Guilds assessor and verifier training. Chris, herself was the first qualified NVQ assessor and trainer and later became an accredited moderator and the first Director of Education. Chris is also the curriculum development director and has most recently written a new training unit around infant & child funerals resulting from the Scottish Government enquiry conducted by Lord Bonomy. This unit has now been part of the curriculum for over a year with several students having achieved the award.

The IFD College now has its own identity acting as an educational source for all within the funeral profession.

At the end of 2019, a much loved member and Governor of the IFD College, Matthew Gallagher sadly passed away, leaving family, friends and colleagues wondering how they could best commemorate their mischievous and fun, larger than life friend, who would light up any room that he walked into. The Matthew Gallagher Achievement Award was created.

Chris Parker said “Many years ago, somebody told me that we never completely die if our name continues to be spoken. When our beloved Matthew died so suddenly at the beginning of this year, we were all determined that he would never be forgotten. To ensure that Matt lives on we decided to present an annual award in his name. This award will be given to one of the IFD College students who has overcome a challenge to complete their training. These challenges don’t need to be enormous, although of course they might be. The challenges they have overcome might be personal, educational, professional or domestic circumstances. We will not share any of the nominees’ circumstances at any time and the only people to see the nominations will be myself and the judges, who, I am delighted to say will be Matthew’s parents, Pat and Sandy Gallagher. Matthew brought so much to this profession and to our college in particular. He understood challenge and met any that came his way head on with determination and a smile. He was a perfect role model for any student and it is right that he is remembered in this way.”

Nominations can come from employers, colleagues, family friends or College staff or you may wish to self nominate.

Closing date is now 30th April 2021 and the award will be presented at the National Funeral Exhibition (FSE) in June. Please email Chris Parker for a nomination form: parkerchristine24@gmail.com

SaifInsure are delighted to be supporting this initiative by sponsoring the design and creation of The Matthew Gallagher Award.

Sep 03 2020

26th Kee Cup 2020 – Bonnie Princes Golf Club

The rescheduled Kee Cup took place at the end of August. This was the event’s 26^th unbroken year. The Cup was re-named in 2004, in memory of the late Gorden Kee, founder of Golden Charter.

The match is between funeral directors and the trade suppliers and is played over two days; this year the venue was the famous Prince’s Links Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent.

Before play stared the players had a minute’s silence, with the top off the cup, in memory of those who had played in, or had been connected to this event: Paul Bysouth, Jamie Hawes, Gordon Ferguson, Matthew Gallagher, Susan Edwards and Welsh King, Gwilym Price.

The first day’s play saw a whitewash as the SAIF team won the Pairs, 5-0. Augustus Gloop (Brian Hart) and Snoop Bobby Dog (Bob Spittle) rallied their team in the bar and prepared for the second day’s Singles play. Unfortunately the SAIF team won the Singles 7-3, making the final result 12-3 – there were several very big wins, with some dogs licences being handed out 7/6 (in old money).

The presentation ceremony saw over £1500 in fines being collected by the Fine-Master, Augustus Gloop, with a further £1,500 being raised by Pope Gazza 1st (Gary Neill) when he auctioned the ‘soon to be famous’ Bradnams ‘bare all’ nude calendar 2021. (These can be purchased online via the fundraising page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/davidspittle. The money raised for charity will be divided between the SAIF President’s charity, Winston’s Wish and Hillside Special School for Autism.

The usual traditions took place, with the virgin newbies singing songs including Sweet Caroline from Cool Hand Luke (Allum), Sweet Chariot from Chef Heston (Alex from Westerleigh) and a rousing rendition of La Bamba from Chris from Comtecs… sung in Spanish!!

Tribute was once again paid to those lost with a group performance of the Icelandic clap and roar, once again the clear winner was golf and those fantastic charities.

Next year the event will be held at The Belfry on the 11^th May. Any funeral director or trade supplier who would like to play or offer sponsorship should please contact either Gary Neill or Brian Hart.

Grateful thanks to our sponsors this year, Open pre-need plans, Bradnam Joinery, Coleman Milne, Daniel Robinson & Sons, Donatis, Westerleigh, SAIFInsure, RNS Publications, Funeralzone and Legacy Expressions.

SaifInsure’s close working relationship with SAIF brings other (affiliated) entities close by and the IFD (Independent Funeral Directors) College is one which we are delighted to support.

The rescheduled Kee Cup took place at the end of August. This was the event’s 26th unbroken year. The Cup was re-named in 2004, in memory of the late Gorden Kee, founder of Golden Charter.

The rescheduled Kee Cup took place at the end of August. This was the event’s 26^th unbroken year. The Cup was re-named in 2004, in memory of the late Gorden Kee, founder of Golden Charter.