Retired art teacher June Rodick has collected a new microwave oven thanks to the rock band Dire Straits.
June won the oven in a competition organised by domestic appliance specialists Clocktower who are based at Milnthorpe.
All they wanted to know was, which rock band sang a song about microwave ovens.
“Yes, I’m a Dire Straits fan so it was easy,” said June, who lives at Holme village near Lancaster.
The song was Money for Nothing from the 1985 Brothers in Arms album:
We got to install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators we gotta move these color TV’s
Said Clocktower MD Tom Harvey: “We wanted to have some Christmas fun and organised the competition because so many of our customers start humming that song when they come in here.”
Clocktower is marking its 35th anniversary this year, proving that there’s still a place for local independent specialists in a world of anonymous online trading. It is the area’s biggest independent retailer of kitchen appliances, with a vast range of everything from kettles and blenders to free-standing and built-in washers, fridges and ovens.
But they have also built a 35-year reputation as experts who can advise, fit and repair electrical goods, trusted as an honest company with wide-ranging knowledge of what their customers need.
Tom Harvey’s parents began the business , initially at nearby Haverthwaite. The company moved to its current, extensive roadside home on the A6 at Milnthorpe 30 years ago.
In that time Tom, who is also a South Lakeland district councillor, and chairman of Cartmel Cricket Club, has seen the inexorable rise of online retailing while his own business has continued to grow, with a customer base that ranges from Grasmere to Lancaster, and from Barrow to Kirkby Lonsdale.
“It’s clear evidence that people want individual attention, genuine advice and knowledgeable service,” says Tom.
northwestnewsandfeatures.wordpress.com 