member

Leading East Anglian chartered accountants, Larking Gowen, has changed its name to MHA Larking Gowen, with effective from today, 9 April 2019.

The change is taking place because the firm has decided to take on the branding of its professional national association, MHA.

MHA was founded in 2010 and is made up of regional accountancy firms with over 45 offices across England, Scotland and Wales.

The association members share resources and expertise, which helps them deliver a wide-reaching and stronger service to their client base.

MHA is a member of Baker Tilly International, which has an accountancy network across 145 territories, giving their own members access to a wide range of international resources.

Jon Woolston, Managing Partner of MHA Larking Gowen, said that by strengthening its affiliation with MHA and Baker Tilly International, the firm was securing its future and independence for years to come.

“We see this as an essential step to take now to ensure that as MHA continues to evolve, we can be at the centre of that development,” he said.

“As a founding member of MHA, we have been working closely with the association for a number of years. Closer affiliation with their branding gives us enhanced credibility in some key specialisms, which we can demonstrate on a national and international level.

“With all the issues around Brexit, what better time to show that we have a well-respected international offering. Having the tenth largest global network on tap is a great regional unique selling point for the firm,” he continued.

“We would like to reassure our clients and professional colleagues that the firm will retain its level of independence, local knowledge and high standards of service that people have come to expect from us.”

Benefits of MHA membership include sharing knowledge, technological and systems support, better buying power, recruitment and training initiatives, shared marketing resources, business referrals, access to outside expertise, secondments at national and international level, benchmarking and the ability to pitch for business at the highest level.

Creative Media students at the College of West Anglia (CWA) were recently welcomed to an inspiring guest talk from Ian Harding, a talented stop motion animator based in King’s Lynn.

During his visit, Ian shared insights into his career within the animation industry, offering students a behind-the-scenes look at the creative and technical processes involved in stop motion animation. With experience spanning short films, advertising, and independent projects, Ian provided a valuable real-world perspective of working within the creative sector.

Ian spoke to students about his journey into animation, explaining how his passion for storytelling through stop motion began locally and how his roots in King’s Lynn continue to influence his work today. He highlighted the painstaking nature of the medium, bringing characters and ideas to life frame by frame through detailed models, sets and precise movement.

As part of the session, Ian showcased clips from projects he has worked on, giving students an insight into the level of creativity, patience and dedication required to succeed in animation. The talk also explored the balance between digital and physical creativity, encouraging students to experiment with a range of techniques and approaches.

Speaking about the importance of stop motion and the role it plays, Ian said: “Stop motion gives students a hands-on way to create something away from screens and apps, encouraging them to use their imagination and express their personalities through their work. Bringing characters to life with care and attention to detail helps keep this traditional form of animation alive, while giving the students the freedom to explore their creativity in a meaningful way.”

The visit forms part of the College of West Anglia’s commitment to enriching the student’s experience through industry engagement, helping learners gain insight into creative career pathways and develop skills aligned with the demands of the sector.

The Aviation Skills Partnership are very pleased to support one of our training partners, Rusta UAS and their upcoming course. We are planning to run a 2 day CAA Approved drone course at the Academy between 21st and 23rd of May. 

RUSTA is one of the original drone and UAV acadamies in the UK and has been in operation since 2014, and have trained over 1000 individuals and entities. 

This course is designed to help commercial drone operators obtain their Permission for Commercial Operations (PfCO) approval from the UK CAA.

The course is aimed at people looking to set up a commercial drone operation and/or companies who already utilise drones in their daily business or are looking to utilise this technology to enhance their business offering. 

If you are in the following sector, this course may be of interest to you. 

• Agricultural businesses
• Surveyors and Estate Agencies
• Photographers
• Film / TV / Media companies
• Civil Engineering businesses
• Facilities Management Companies

All RUSTA instructors are former aircrew instructors from aircrew instructors from the RAF and Army Air Corps with thousands of hours of flying experience.

Click here to book your place today 

Vision Va va voom! 

Whilst running an independent, family run busy Coleman Opticians David Tuthill and his amazing team found time to collaborate with us, and host an open evening to share and celebrate how fantastic their patients, team and community are. 

Recent winners of the Family Optician of the Year 2019 – there is alot to celebrate! 

With an important message from David on the damaging effects of blue light, a tour of the inner workings of the practice, and a stunning array of Neubau eyewear glasses – it really was a fantastic evening.  The delightful Spring evening was toasted with sparkling fizz and delicious canapes from The Feed.

Whilst blue light may be the sabre of choice of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, the blue light that emanates from every single electronic device we use, has as we discovered on Thursday far more serious repercussions.

What is blue light?

As technology advances, so our working day evolves to incorporate the latest  gadgets and gizmo’s, all to make our jobs themselves easier but it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, need to be at the cost of our health. The impact of blue light on melatonin production was only confirmed in 2001, when scientists discovered that light in the blue spectrum-the 415 to 445 nanometer range-disrupts melatonin production.

Because it’s so bright, blue light is used widely in pretty much all LED devices, including phones, tablets, laptops and TVs.

It’s also very hot, and it appears to be wreaking all sorts of havoc on our eyes, melatonin, and consequently, on our health!

Anyone who uses a device is at risk, regardless of age.

Being in the presence of light at night disrupts the body’s natural circadian rhythms by suppressing the production of melatonin, a sleep hormone. But melatonin does more than just make you sleepy, it’s also an antioxidant that appears to play a pivotal role in slowing the progression of diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even cancer. 

Findings from latest research

Research shows an undeniable link between blue light exposure and migraine headaches. In some cases, optometrists are even seeing high levels of retinal stress in children that could lead to early onset macular degeneration, which can lead to near blindness!

What doesn’t need research: 415-445nm is super-hot light, and if focused and brought up close, say a tablet screen 6 inches from a child’s face, the long term damage will be significant.

An ophthalmologist says he’s recently seen a few 35 year old patients whose lenses, which are typically clear all the way up until around age 40, are so cloudy they resemble a 75 year olds.

A consultant says children as young as 2 are suffering from chronic insomnia, which in turn affects their behaviour and performance at school and day care.

A scientist finds that women who work night shifts are twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those who sleep at night.

Blue light is considered a ‘carcinogenic pollution’ that in mice correlates with higher cancer rates. A lack of melatonin is linked to higher rates of breast cancer, while blocking those blue rays with amber glass or a ‘blue blocker’ is linked to lower rates. Exposure to blue light in people seems to have a direct link to depression. Blue light exposure, along with poor UV protection compliance, may be playing a role in the higher incidence of cataracts and macular degeneration seen today. Too much exposure can cause retinal toxicity.

Follow these hints and tips to minimise the damage For those using DSE, occupational lenses are available to help the eyes focus at an intermediate and near range for prolonged times, available with a blue-light filter to reduce exposure and drastically reduce the harm done to your eyes and health.

Clean your screen: A dust, smudge free screen reduces glare. Dim surrounding lights: To reduce the amount of light competing with your screen. Increase font size: Try increasing the text size to help better define screen content and to make reading more comfortable. Limit screen time: Especially for children and especially within 2 hours of bedtime! Blink more often: Staring at a screen can effect the number of times you blink, causing dry eye.

No matter your age, vocation or occupation, limiting your exposure to blue light and protecting your eye sight by making a few slight adjustments to your day will ensure that you enjoy many more years of vision health.

Producing a robust business plan with a good chance of achieving success!

Join Rachel Blackburn on Tuesday May 7th at 18.30 for an opportunity for entrepreneurial women to develop their business plan in a supportive master class environment.

Rachel is the Director of US2U Consulting Ltd, a forward thinking Management Consultancy offering an enormous range of key solutions to develop and manage your organisation. 

This event is free to attend, please register your space here

The Agenda for the evening event is as follows, beginning at 18.30 and ending at 20.30: 

• Producing the vision, values and your unique selling proposition

• Identifying clear goals

• Deciding priority actions for the short term, medium term, long term

• Review of the external environment

• Compiling competitor analysis

• Understanding your company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

• Producing the marketing plan

• Developing your elevator pitch

• Creating key job descriptions and processes

Please bring pens/paper/tablet etc so you can develop your own strategic recipe during the 2 hour session

The event will be held at No.8, 8 Thorpe Road, Norwich NR1

This event is kindly sponsored by Sarah Daniels at No.8  Please note this event is Free to attend 

Join us for our 2019 Employment Taxes workshop, as part of our On Top of Tax series.

The workshop will focus on recent changes to key areas of Employment Taxes together with an analysis of the areas commonly reviewed and challenged by HMRC. This will include; termination payments, proposed new rules in respect of off-payroll workers, and common National Minimum Wage pitfalls.

Additionally, we will focus on key international employment tax and social security matters which employers need to consider.

​Agenda

• Off-payroll workers
• Payments in respect of Termination of Employment
• National Minimum Wage
• International matters
• Other news and key Employment Taxes changes

This is being held on May 16th at our office, 2nd Floor, Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1RY. From 4pm – 6pm.

To register for this event please click here. 

This event is free to attend

The Maddermarket Theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time in September 1921. Originally a Roman Catholic Chapel, the building was discovered, derelict and abandoned, by Nugent Monck whilst searching for a permanent home for The Guild of Norwich Players, a troupe he had founded in 1911. The conversion of the Chapel, into a working, Elizabethan style theatre took six weeks and the opening production of ‘As You Like It’ was a great success, with even the playwright George Bernard Shaw sending his best wishes. By 1933 the Norwich Players had become the first amateur company to produce all of Shakespeare’s plays under one director.

Almost one hundred years after our foundation the Maddermarket Theatre and the Norwich Players continue to produce a full programme of high quality and engaging theatre for audiences throughout the region.

2019 sees us staging ten main house productions from family favourite The Secret Garden to the regional premier of Tristan Bernays modern, brutal telling of Boudica; and a double-bill of plays for solo performer from the visionary theatre-maker Samuel Beckett performed in the intimate setting of the Emmerson Studio.

In addition to the Norwich Players programme, the venue welcomes a variety of touring professional shows ranging from popular music tribute acts to celebrity speakers, and provides a performance space for other local companies.

Through the Mad Red Theatre School, our education programme, we aim to provide the opportunity to experience, participate and be trained towards live performance.

Sponsorship Opportunities

An ongoing challenge for us at the theatre are the costs involved in producing each play. From performance rights to wardrobe expenses, the costs are in the region of £3,000 per play.

With this in mind, we are reaching out to you and the business community, to share our creative journey, and support on a local, regional and national level. With your support you are helping us continue to offer a rich, diverse cultural showcase, and we in turn offer a sponsor package that we believe is excellent value combined with corporate responsibility.

We would love to welcome you as a sponsor so please contact Alice Wright (General Manager) on 01603 62650 to start the process.

Our Sponsors Experience

You and up to thirty guests will be met in the foyer by your host and escorted to The Emmerson Studio where refreshments will be available and the Theatre Trustees will be available to answer your questions.

For the performance you will take your seats in the upstairs gallery which will be closed for your exclusive use. (Up to 50 tickets worth £600)

During the interval pre-ordered drinks and ice creams will be served in the Emmerson Studio and you will have a chance to meet the theatre’s professional staff.

After the show members of the cast will be available to meet the members of the Sponsorship group in the Emmerson Studio.

Marketing Package

• Your logo in our twice yearly theatre brochure (48,000 printed annually, 14,000 direct mail)
• Inclusion on our Sponsors leaflet rack for a year
• Your logo on our external Sponsor’s board.
• Your logo on every poster and leaflet for the Sponsored Show.              
• Programme adverts for the run of the Sponsored Show
• Your marketing materials at the theatre from the first night of the Sponsored Show to the start of the next play
• Two promotional posts on our social media channels (6K Twitter followers, 3K Facebook likes, 1.2K Instagram followers)
• Inclusion on our promotional emails for the Sponsored Show (10K subscribers)

Kicking off with Paul McVeigh as guest speaker at the Royal Norwich.

Join us and our guest speaker, Norwich City Football Club
legend turned executive coach Paul McVeigh, as we discuss what it takes to
reach our elite performance potential

When: Wednesday 26 February, 2025, 7:15am –
10:15am

Where: Royal Norwich, Norfolk, NR9 5JZ

We were thrilled when Tiger Eye Consulting contacted us earlier this year to let us know they had decided to raise money for our charity by completing a ‘Tiger Trek’.

This 46 mile coastal walk took place from the 17th to 19th May and saw the determined team – Karen, Richard, Kev and David – walk from Hunstanton to Cromer, finishing at the historic Cromer Pier to raise a brilliant £500. They were joined on their Trek by colleagues Hanna and Aaron on Day 1, and Peter and Dave on Day 2.

We caught up with the team (once they enjoyed a well-deserved rest!) to hear all about their fantastic fundraising challenge.

How did the idea for the Tiger Trek come about?

“Last year, a few members of the Tiger Eye team supported Martyn Wells, IT Director at Wright Hassall, on his charity walk across Wales. He is one of our customers, who had cancer and was raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. A few of our team here are keen walkers and have walked various pathways across the UK and further afield, so the idea came naturally to them. The concept of ‘netwalking’ wasn’t a big trend at that time (when the idea of Tiger Trek was first conceptualised back in October of last year) but we felt that taking networking outside, into our beautiful countryside, was a great idea.

Once we heard the term ‘netwalk’ and realised that networking, combined with exercising, was becoming quite popular, we came up with Tiger Trek. We encourage walking meetings and physical exercise here as part of our PAWS for Health wellbeing scheme, so we loved the idea of getting outside and encouraging other businesses to exercise their bodies, to in turn exercise their minds. We always play with puns around Tigers, because of our company’s name, so Tiger Trek didn’t take too long to come to mind.”

Why did you decide to support The Benjamin Foundation?

“We then chose a range of charities – some local, some international – and decided which felt closest to our hearts. The Benjamin Foundation was unanimously voted for as the one we were going to support with the Trek. Working in our community, battling homelessness, youth disadvantage and more, we felt your charity was vital for Norfolk and Suffolk and we all felt that knowing we were raising money for your fantastic cause would encourage the team to keep on going throughout the Trek. A video really helped us to understand the work of your charity.”

What was the toughest bit of the trek?

“The shingle was pretty tough!”

What was the most enjoyable part of the trek?

“The most enjoyable part was seeing the awareness we raised for your wonderful charity. We have supported your charity for a while, and we hope to continue to do so through volunteering at The Assembly House for your Flight for Youth campaign later this summer.”

How did you feel when you finished?

The team were elated once we had finished – although, at that time, I think we were too tired to feel anything (especially our toes!) It was wonderful that even days after we had finished, the donations kept rolling in to the Virgin Money Giving page from our supporters, and the feeling of pride kept growing with every donation that came in!”

Thank you so much to the Tiger Trek team!

But the fundraising doesn’t stop there. To be in with a chance of winning a £50 voucher with Dynamic Fitness, just donate £5 or more to the Tiger Trek fund at Tiger Eye’s Virgin Money Giving fundraising page. One lucky donor will be chosen at random to win the Tiger Trek prize. For any queries regarding the Dynamic Fitness competition, please contact Georgina, Marketing Assistant at [email protected]

A great job at the heart of marketing in a busy company producing national TV commercials. You’ll help implement our marketing strategy, arrange campaigns, run a database, and organise other team-members (including the Directors!)

You’ll be researching leads online and by phone, and making full use of social media. Plus you’ll be part of a creative and amazingly friendly team.

You’ll have confidence, a creative imagination, strong planning and time-management abilities, plus good presentation and people skills. If you’ve experience in advertising or TV production, have marketing qualifications or a degree, so much the better. But as long as you can demonstrate these skills, your enthusiasm, and can sell yourself to us, we’d like to hear from you.

Send a CV, salary expectations and any supporting materials to: Francesca de Lacey, Director, JMS Group Ltd, Hethersett, Norwich, NR9 3DL or e-mail Francesca de Lacey.

Closing Date: Monday 14th September 2015.

We love an after hours event at The Norfolk Chambers! Last Thursday we got together at Redwells Brewery for our annual Pub Quiz. 

It was the perfect venue for drinking beer, eating pizza and enjoying an evening with your colleagues!  We had a mix of companies competing against each other for the prize of Office tea-time goodies.  With the entire Brewery at our disposal, the evening kicked of with wine and beer, and thanks to the amazing chaps at Brick Pizza on the premises, we didn’t have to wait long for the delicious food! The quiz kicked off with five rounds of questions, and over the next two hours we really made the brain cells work.  It was a close call on who the winning team would be, but coming in at first place were the reigning champions – The Return of the King Quizzard and the Lizard Wizards, the brain box team from Tiger Eye Consulting Ltd. Thank you to everyone who came, it was a fun, noisy evening with a fantastic atmosphere! Enormous thanks to Harley at Redwell’s for loking after us, and to Emiliana and George at Brick for providing pizza to soak up the beers!