 | About Firebird UK Simon Murphy, who is the owner of Firebird UK, has spent his entire life trying to have fun. When leaving school he went to work in the City of London, but actually wanted to be a racing driver.
Starting in karting, he won enough races and championships to be offered a drive in a team racing single seater cars, but there was never a good enough budget to bring success, and Simon never had the exceptional ability needed to make up for shortcomings in the equipment. Although he was subsequently offered a dream drive in one of the best karting teams in the UK for 1976, it was too late - other things had attracted his attention.
Totally engrossed in the exciting new sport of hang gliding, Simon was selling flying kit within months of getting involved. Everything else went out of the window as he turned all his attention to flying. The sales blossomed, and eventually his other business interests were dropped in favour of earning his entire living from Free Flight. Financially this was a very foolish move, but it is one he doesn't regret. Well, only sometimes.
Simon flies both hang gliders and paragliders, but is still more at home with some rigid tubes inside his sails. He has actually flown for Great Britain on a couple of occasions, but more as a result of being in the right places at the right times than as a result of having any special skills.
His ideal is to be drifting off XC on his Litespeed, his Spider, or his Green and although this doesn't happen often these days, he does have the distinction of having held the local XC record continuously for the last 19 years.
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| A part-time associate of FBUK is Harriet Pottinger (formerly editor of Free Flyer and Chairman of the BHPA) who is a committed flyer, and for some obscure reason seems to like hanging out with Simon (the picture shows them during a "Patisserie" break while on a motorcycle tour of France). Harriet has a proper job, so doesn’t earn anything out of FBUK (Join the club!) but there is no doubt that she is a part of the team. |
One member of the FBUK Line up must never be forgotten. The company is based at Turfhouse in Luppitt, Devon. Nestling in the remote valley of the River Love, this is a place so beautiful that it has been known to literally take the breath of visitors away!
It also promotes a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere that has become ingrained in our business attitudes. We know that there is far more to life than trying to take all your money in exchange for our goods, and so our sales methods are laid-back.
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| It was Simon’s desire to spend as much of his time as possible at Turfhouse which prompted him to give up other diverse (and rather more lucrative) business interests in order to work from home. This was a decision to embrace a higher quality of life rather chasing higher financial rewards. Firebird UK is, literally, a cottage industry, and it is most unusual to find such an active business lurking in such a placid and secluded position. |
These days there seems to be some kind of compulsion for people to state how very green their businesses are. It is all a bit pathetic, given the "nature" of business, and the way our society is run. But we are doing our bit!
Yes, we have reduced the number of plastic bags we take from supermarkets. In fact, we buy our food locally where possible, because it is cheaper and tastes better. We recycle stuff, too - those of you who buy from us will know that almost all our packaging materials are re-cycled. Many parcels are made from cereal packets, owing to Simon having been brought up watching Blue Peter.
But surely the real problem with this planet - the ONLY serious problem - is the human race itself? Why doesn't anyone just admit that there are far too many people? Surely the best way to reduce our carbon footprints is to limit the number of children we produce. Simon has two sons, so perhaps can claim to be carbon-neutral? |
Visitors are welcome, but please get in touch before dropping by. The truth is that you will need fairly detailed instructions merely to find us. They are available on our Contact page.
Also, remember to allow for the fact that your visit might take longer than you think! Most people aren’t in a hurry to leave Turf, and if you buy enough kit we may even ply you with a cuppa in order to slow you down to our pace!
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