Horsham's has many great companies and I have enjoyed being out visiting while Parliament isn't sitting in August. This has included seeing three very different small companies but all great success stories from the very oldest of traditional industries to the most modern.
MCM Solutions operates at the absolute cutting edge of the internet age. Their search programmes can achieve remarkable results. We are all incredibly dependent on computer technology and it makes our lives incomparably easier that previous generations. However every new technology opens up new opportunities for crime: a recent visit to Sussex Police brought home quite how much of our crime-fighting resources now have to be devoted to fraud and far worse being conducted over the internet. MCM is one of those burgeoning companies providing the internet technology to help the "good guys". Their product is their intellectual property.
The same applies to Thomas Keating, a family company based in Billingshurst since the 1920's but here "cutting edge" can mean exactly that - to an accuracy within a fraction of a millimetre. Their precision engineering has travelled the world and - via satellites - well beyond it. Richard Wylde is keen to point out that his skilled workforce are at the heart of the company - it was a pleasure to meet apprentices and one former apprentice heading into retirement after a full career served with the firm.
Lastly a very different type of business, a company which is part of our "service sector" and which has been serving Horsham as undertakers for 160 years this month, Freeman Brothers and Co retains its "Freeman" connection through Peter Freeman the 5th generation of the family. Different skills apply but for grieving relatives those skills are just as important.
Three very different companies, all "SMEs" and all very conscious of the importance of the skills of their employees.