THE TEAM

MEET THE NEWTON TEAM

Directors

Richard Newton - MD

Richard has been in the Motor trade all of his working life. He served his Apprenticeship at Morris Motors in Cowley, then spent a year at the BMC Competitions Department at Abingdon helping to prepare the Works race and rally cars. Moving then to Downton Engineering near Salisbury as Sales Manager to Bunty and Daniel Richmond, he then moved to Germany to manage the Wooding Hamburg Racing Team who ran Mini Coopers and then Ford Escort BDA’s in the European Championship. On returning to England in the mid 70’s, he spent several years with Serck Services, the Radiator people, before he and Vera set up Newton Commercial from their home in Ipswich. Richard is still heavily involved in the business and although on a sunny day he drives to the golf course rather than work, Richard's experience and knowledge in the British trimming world is second to none.

Vera Newton - MD

Vera was working as a nurse at Ipswich hospital when Newton Commercial was born and while nursing and bringing up two young children she and Richard repaired commercial lorry seats at night at their Ipswich home . This started the business rolling and before long they would specialise in British classics cars. A move from Ipswich to the Suffolk coast in 1979 allowed Vera and Richard to concentrate on the business full time and Vera became a self taught business women and ran the day to day business until only a few years ago. Over a 25 year period, Vera built up this successful business and became the leading employer in Leiston, a small market town. Vera became one of the leading female business leaders in  this once male dominated industry and still holds massive respect in the business and our industry.Vera who is now pretty much retired, still mentors Jonny and still drives her convertible Morris Minor.

Jonny Newton - Director

 Jonny worked through his school and university holidays at Newton Commercial on the factory floor. He graduated from the University of Sheffield in Politics in 1995 and stayed clear of the business and spent 3 years working in London for the Mirror Group within their marketing department. He then spent 2 years overseas as a Padi Dive instructor in Australia and Thailand before returning to London to work for Witan Jardine a financial services firm in the city. After spending 4 years setting up a Financial management division, Jonny returned to Suffolk to learn the family business having worked in different industries and business picking up valuable experience. Jonny now runs the day-to-day activities of the business and works closely with key suppliers and customers alike and is often visiting them or taking Cooper for walks.

John White - Technical Director

John has been with the business for over 20 years and is an outright expert in classic car interior trim. John has worked in every job in every department and now heads up our R&D team. As technical director he keeps an eye on the technical information in the office and factory and is always in demand for advice from the factory floor. Luckily he has a 3,000 Sq Ft factory across the road where he spends most of his time. He can be contacted for technical queries on all our products, advice on Archery or Badmington and fast sports cars.

Cooper

Comes in every day with Jonny and even has his own Kennel, when he is not under the girls desk in the office. He can be the first point of contact for most people when they come to the factory first thing in the morning. 

He strikes a close resemblance to Toby who came to work with Richard and Vera all those years ago in the small factory. In those days Toby could sleep under the sewing machines, normally on comfy MGB carpets, although he was always in the canteen for breaks.

To be fair he would not have been able to hop onto this bus seat or probably get in the door. He was a big boy!

Factory

June Todd - Production Manager

June has been with the business for over 25 years and looks after the factory floor. She keeps an eye on everyone and everyone comes to June if they need something. She runs the busy sewing and seating area and keeps the factory buzzing throughout the year. Her knowledge of seat making and fitting of the British classics is fantastic as is her now famous last day Christmas quiz... 

Duncan Goodwin - Production Manager

Duncan has been with the business 22 years and runs the factory production with June.  He is the VW expert in the business and you will see him at all the shows that Newton Commercial go to in the year. He deals with some day to day customer queries direct but is normally found on the factory floor, the bushes at Thorpeness Golf club or the local Turf Accountant.

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Gary Butler - Stores Manager

Gary has been with Newton nearly 21 years again. Gary runs our ever expanding despatch area which sends out your Newton Commercial trim. He is also in charge of buying and his time is spent overseeing the 5,000 Sq Ft stores department and buying in raw materials to feed the factory. Gary will deal with trade customer queries regarding all there shipping needs and make sure that your Newton Commercial parcel arrives safe and sound. If hem is not in his office overlooking the stores area he is normally with Mr Goodwin looking for his ball in the opposite bush or at Portman Road. 

Office

Katie Chenery

Katie graduated from Suffolk University in English Literature in 2003 and worked for the world famous Lighthouse restaurant in Aldeburgh. Working her way up to Team Leader of this busy restaurant she was then promoted and was the office manager at the renowned Aldeburgh cookery school. Since working at Newton Commercial, Katie works on the phone dealing with your day to day sales and finance queries. You will see Katie on our trade stand at the shows or near the Gerber our CNC cutter at work. Yoga is her passion though and she has become pretty good, we like to call her Master Yoga.

Lisa Moffat

Lisa worked for Fred Olsen Cruise lines in Ipswich for a number years in the sales and accounts departments. After dealing with your typical cruise passenger customer, working at Newton Commercial seems a blast. She is your first port of call on the phones and deals with all aspects of your ordering. If you want quotes, samples or simply place an order, Lisa will help you do this. Lisa works closely with Katie running the day to day operations of the office seems to go to Scotland a lot at the moment! Lisa is currently on maternity leave and will be back possibly later this year.

 Lorraine Warne

Lorraine runs the day to day accounts at Newton Commercial. She worked for Norwich Union for over 10 years in their busy accounts team  and has worked at Newton's for 10 years. Since the birth of her children Lorraine now works part time so you can catch her on Monday AM, Tuesday AM, Wednesday or Thursday afternoons. If you get the chance, ask her about football as she often talks about Ipswich Town with her husband.

Shaun Henderson

Shaun has worked with us since leaving school 5 years ago and has worked across the factory in all departments. He is kind of a go too man and just about does everything, from shows, sales, stores and handy man jobs. Some might say a dogs body, some would say he is just adaptable. He is now working in the office with the girls and doing a fine job of dealing with your sales queries and putting up with lots of girly chat. Thinking about his team in the work's Fantasy Football league, just about keeps him going!