Q - Please can you send me a brochure with your portable commercial parasols for our school thank you.

A - Thankyou for your email below. As discussed just now, we do not have a printed brochure, I'm afraid, other than the website itself which we use in its place. Regarding advice on portable commercial parasols for schools, I would suggest that you look at the following links:

1. Tradewinds Classic centre pole parasols are good quality wooden parasols used in Costa Coffee and other commercial outlets. They are sturdy and I think, very reasonably priced for the quality. I sell many each year and do so with confidence as I have never had a warranty claims so I know that the parasols are good. The Tradewinds parasols range in size from 2.2m to 4m. Obviously the bigger the parasol, the heavier the parasol and the heavier the base required to make them stable. The recommended weight for each parasol is on the product details, but if you want to do a "belts and braces" and make the parasols more resistant to wind then you can always have a heavier base again. Any parasol needs wind management - ie close the parasol when the wind gets too much and close it when no one is around to ensure that the parasols wont be blown over and damaged when left out.

Tradewinds Classic Parasols

2. Serengeti centre pole aluminium parasols are also very good. I have just been selling them since last year so they have not been "road tested" to the same degree as the Tradewinds but I do think the quality is good. The same comments re wind management apply of course:

Serengeti Orion Parasol

3. You may want to consider a Shade sail. This is mobile in that you can adjust the height and tilt of the shadesail but the 4 poles are fixed to the ground. This significantly reduces the amount of wind management required. The Shadesails itself and the poles, would be removed for overwintering. Here is the link - quite a few schools go for this solution.

Ingenua Shade Sails

Click through the images on the links above to view some in situ in a school.

Let me know if you need more information. I attach some more details brochures and guidelines

Claire Hodgson