Surely all wine is vegan friendly – I mean it’s just grapes, right?
Wrong.
As the JMS Group recently discovered!
We were asked by Broadland Wineries to create a social media video exploring this very subject.
We learnt that there are actually a number of wines that use animal-based products during the production process. However, Broadland Wineries brand of Proudly Vegan wines use plant-based alternatives – without compromising the quality and flavour. In fact, the brand is 100% vegan friendly, right down to the ink and glue on the label!
The video gave us the opportunity to film at Erpingham House – the fabulous vegan restaurant in Norwich’s Tombland. The owner Loui Blake, a passionate vegan spokesman, is filmed extolling the virtues of the Proudly Vegan brand. The restaurant also specially prepared some dishes to pair up with the vegan Merlots, Rosés and Sauvignon Blancs.
It seemed appropriate to be making this video in January – it is Veganuary after all! It’s very interesting to be spreading the message about one of the biggest growing food trends – and despite the abundance of wine on the shoot our team was still safe to drive the van back to base, but then our team are consummate professionals! Now get pouring!
Want to see more? Look out for the finished video – coming soon!
Today the Workplace Wellbeing Research Team at the University of East Anglia and RAND Europe launch: www.evolveworkplacewellbeing.org
The new website provides a toolkit of free, evidence-informed workplace wellbeing resources to help businesses evolve their workplace wellbeing approach and thrive.
A business case calculator – The calculator gives benefits and costs of different types of wellbeing initiative in pounds and pence, allowing a direct comparison to aid decision making.
Short case studies – Find out what other businesses are doing in the wellbeing space as new case studies are researched and uploaded.
Videos of previous events – Make use of our back catalogue of webinars and videos on workplace wellbeing topics. See new videos here after future events.
Contact us – Keep up to date with the latest workplace wellbeing research findings by signing up to our newsletter, or send us a query about workplace wellbeing!
Join us at Evolve Workplace Wellbeing and take the next step on your organisation’s workplace wellbeing evolution.
Norfolk astronomer Mark Thompson – Pic credit JMA photography
Norfolk astronomer Mark Thompson talks about why East Anglia is perfect for stargazing in a new episode of Greater Anglia’s Life on Rails podcast.
Mark, a One Show and BBC Stargazing Live regular, reveals how he became interested in astronomy and science thanks to a visit to Norwich Astronomical Society as a ten-year-old boy.
In the episode, Life on Rail hosts Juliette Maxam and Lucy Wright, from the rail company’s PR team, chat with him and then recommend somewhere astronomy-related for him to visit on the Greater Anglia network.
The podcast also includes an interview with Greater Anglia’s managing director Jamie Burles, who talks about what it’s like to run a big train company and how bad he feels whenever there is disruption on the railway.
Jamie has driven improvements in performance over the past few years, with the company now regularly achieving record-breaking punctuality, as well as overseeing the replacement of every single train on the Greater Anglia network with new trains.
Network Rail’s head of communications for the Anglia region, Kate Snowden, talks about engineering works on the railway – why they are crucial for safety and performance and factors determining when they are carried out.
Other slots on the podcast cover how Greater Anglia is making stations more energy efficient in an interview with head of facilities management Mark Ellis, and tips on travelling for less with the company’s fares guru, Ken Strong.
Network Rail’s head of communications for the Anglia region, Kate Snowden, talks about engineering works on the railway – why they are crucial for safety and performance and factors determining when they are carried out.
Other slots on the podcast cover how Greater Anglia is making stations more energy efficient in an interview with head of facilities management Mark Ellis, and tips on travelling for less with the company’s fares guru, Ken Strong.
ASAMS will be exhibiting at Subcon 2022, the UK’s premier subcontract manufacturing supply chain show between 7th-9th June 2022 at NEC, Birmingham. We are looking forward to being part of this large scale in-person event, now in its 45th year, which brings together the best suppliers within the manufacturing and engineering industries to share the latest innovations and build new partnerships and business strategies.
You can find us at Stand D80 across the 3 days – please visit us there to learn more about our range of materials testing services, or contact us beforehand to schedule some time to chat.
Above: A new train at Lowestoft Credit: Greater Anglia
People in and around Lowestoft are invited to board a brand-new Greater Anglia train on Saturday to have a look round it and see the new layout and features during a special event to help people travel with confidence.
The event has been organised by the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and Greater Anglia as part of a national ‘Community Rail Week’ with the theme ‘Give the train a try’ and in celebration of the 175th anniversary of the railway reaching Lowestoft.
One of Greater Anglia’s new Stadler bi-mode trains will stand in platform 4 from 11am until 3pm on Saturday 28 May.
The public is invited to come along and experience the train and its improved features – such as more seats, dedicated cycle areas and spacious wheelchair spaces which are clearly signposted on the outside of the train as well as accessible toilets and an accessible seating area with room for friends and family.
The trains are better for the environment too with an energy-efficient, aerodynamic design and regenerative braking which delivers energy back into the electrical supply network rather than waste the energy, through heat, as conventional brake systems do.
Greater Anglia staff and volunteers from the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and the Lowestoft Central Project will be on hand to answer questions and receive feedback.
At the same time a new exhibition ‘Last Train Gone’, by acclaimed railway photographer David Pearce, will be open at the station’s Parcels Office.
Community Rail Week, organised by the Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, runs from Monday 23- Sunday 29 May.
The ‘Give the train a try’ theme is aimed at encouraging people to try train travel, to increase travel confidence and support a shift to greener journeys that don’t add to traffic and pollution, as the country begins to recover from the pandemic.
Martin Halliday, Rail Development Officer for the Community Rail Partnership, said, “We’re delighted to work with Greater Anglia to have one of their brand-new trains standing at Lowestoft for people to come and see the transformation in terms of comfort and accessibility. It’s amazing to think how far the line has come since the railway reached Lowestoft 175 years ago!
“We hope that people who have not used the train before, have not yet seen one of the new trains, or people with accessibility needs will come along and have a look round the train to see how its improved features might help them to use rail safely and confidently.”
Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Community rail partnerships and station volunteer groups across Britain – including the many in the East Anglian region – have long played a vital role engaging local groups, young people and families to boost rail travel awareness and confidence, increase access to opportunity, and break down barriers. It’s increasingly important for environmental reasons too, to reduce local traffic and pollution and help tackle the climate emergency.
“Community Rail Week aims to shine a light on our growing grassroots movement working tirelessly alongside our railway partners, and get the message out to more people about the benefits of rail travel. More than 70 activities are taking place nationwide, and it’s fantastic to see this important initiative coming to Lowestoft’s sunny shores – raising awareness and exploring how we can enable and empower more people to feel confident and able to travel by train.”
MENTA has announced it will continue to hold Coffee Means Business on a monthly basis during 2019. The informal business to business networking events are popular with small business owners who gather at different locations across north Norfolk to meet new contacts and make new business links.
Coffee Means Business gives delegates the opportunity to circulate throughout the morning and talk over coffee and biscuits.
Leanne Castle hosts the events and commented, “Coffee Means Business is very apealing to business owners as there are no joining fees or membership requiremnts, just £5 payable on arrival. We’ve introduced two new venues for 2019, The Feathers Hotel at Holt and the Hawk and Owl Trust near Fakenham. These locations have been added to our regular venues of Scarborough Country Inn Hotel at North Walsham and Fakenham Racecourse.”
“The events have a friendly, informal ‘vibe’ and we encourage people to speak to as many of the delegates as possible. Networking is such a useful way to make new contacts and find out about other business services available.”
The next dates for Coffee Means Business are Tuesday 19th February, from 9.30am until 11.30am at North Walsham and 19th March at The Feathers at Holt from 9.30am until 11.30am.
For more details go to the event tab at www.genix.org.uk or call 01284 760206.
Eagle-eyed youngsters have the chance to win a prize for finding hidden jewels in their nearest East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) shop.
The charity has 44 stores, providing vital funds to support families and care for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex.
Now, to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, EACH is planning a fun community event called the Queen’s Quest.
It will run throughout next week, from Monday (30th May) to Sunday (5th June), and there will be three main activities – a treasure hunt, a colouring challenge and a free children’s book with every purchase over £5.
The treasure hunt gives youngsters the chance to help the Queen find her lost crown jewels in time for the Jubilee.
Three sets of jewels will be hidden in each store throughout the week and children have the task of finding the complete set.
If successful, they will be rewarded with a chocolate coin.
Harri McBride, EACH retail central support manager, said: “Everyone’s looking forward to next week’s celebrations and this is fun, community activity to engage with children and get them in the mood.
“In addition to finding the jewels, we’re also inviting youngsters of all ages to take part in our colouring challenge and the top designs will be displayed in our shop windows.”
EACH has three hospices – The Nook, near Norwich, The Treehouse, in Ipswich, and at Milton, near Cambridge.
*Image one taken in our Angora Park shop, in Colchester and the other two show Platinum Jubilee displays in Whittlesey.
We are delighted to announce that Vincent Kamp is donating his talent and time to BarbersRide’s annual fundraising road trip for the second year running.
Inaugurated and hosted by Captain Fawcett, Key Sponsor of BarbersRide, this competition gives one lucky winner another phenomenal opportunity to own a bespoke work of art by the extraordinary Vincent Kamp, one of Britain’s most exciting and distinctive artists.
The subject of the painting will be none other than the competition winner who will be invited to sit for their own portrait and be forever immortalised in Vincent’s magnificently imagined world. we are delighted to announce this phenomenal opportunity to own a bespoke work of art by Vincent Kamp, one of Britain’s most exciting and distinctive artists. The subject of the painting will be none other than the competition winner, who will be invited to sit for their own portrait, forever immortalised in Vincent’s magnificently imagined world.
HOW?
The Competition closes 12th August, 2022 at 11:59pm GMT. Winner to be decided by raffle.
Only 1,000 tickets will be made available at just £10 each.
There is no limit to how many tickets you can buy, so more tickets means more entries and more chance of winning!
All monies raised will be donated to Make-A-Wish.
Vincent Kamp will pick the winner out of a hat live on Instagram TV (date TBC).
WHERE?
This astounding competition is open to all, across the globe. However, the initial photographic studies for the painting will take place at Captain Fawcett’s HQ in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK.
WHY?
All monies raised will be donated to the 2022 BarbersRide Charity Make-A-Wish
By entering the prize draw, you will be generously supporting the excellent work of Make-A-Wish and helping make dreams come true for seriously ill children and their families.
To help inform the new Local Plan, the Council is now undertaking a ‘Call for Sites’. This is an opportunity for individuals, landowners, developers, Parish Councils and other interested parties to let the Council know what sites may be suitable for inclusion in the new Local Plan for development. These could be sites for potential housing development, gypsy and traveller accommodation, commercial development, renewable energy or other types of development.
As part of this process the Council is also inviting ideas on which sites should be protected from development and designated as Local Green Spaces within the new Local Plan.
Sites can be submitted using the interactive form available on the Council’s website.
Sites can be submitted until 8th July 2022.
Sites submitted through the process will assessed as part of the preparation of the new Local Plan and will help inform what sites should be allocated for development or protected from development and also help inform the overall distribution of development across the Borough. All sites submitted will be subject to public consultation at subsequent stages of preparation.
Norwich based Pippa Shaw, who started her business, Pink Spaghetti PA Services Norwich, last year has proved she has the talent to succeed by being picked as a winner of the Twitter ‘Women on Wednesday’ campaign.
Women on Wednesday, or #WOW, was started by Jacqueline Gold CBE (CEO of Ann Summers) in 2011 to promote women in business. She is passionate about using her success to promote other women entrepreneurs, and each week encourages female business owners to tweet her using the #WOW hashtag with details of their business. She then picks her three top entries for that week, choosing businesses she feels have a unique offering and the potential to grow and succeed.
The extra publicity from the #WOW win, including re-tweets and sharing details of Pink Spaghetti with Jacqueline’s 57,000 plus followers, will help Pippa develop her fledgling business and reach potential new customers. Pippa also gains access to the WOW Facebook group of previous winners for business advice and tips, and a winner’s badge to display.
“Winning #WOW has given my business a new year boost and is the start of things to come in 2019. The opportunities for growth in the Personal and Virtual Assistant industry are phenomenal, with more and more local businesses seeing the advantages of using a ‘pay as you go’ service. It’s wonderful that Jacqueline is helping to spread the word about what women in business can offer.
“I am very proud to be one of three winners out of the more than 200 businesses who tweeted using the #WOW hashtag, and am looking forward to seeing my business go from strength to strength this year.”
Greater Anglia has commemorated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by adorning five of its new trains with the official emblem celebrating Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne.
Crests featuring the official Platinum Jubilee emblem are now in place on five of Greater Anglia’s new trains and will be seen across East Anglia, along all the lines run by the train operator.
The emblems have been applied to one regional bi-mode train, which runs on Greater Anglia’s local routes, one intercity train, one Stansted Express train and two of the new commuter trains.
The crests were fitted at the operator’s depots in Ilford and Crown Point in Norwich.
Jonathan Denby, Greater Anglia’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said: “We are proud to mark this once in a lifetime event by placing the Platinum Jubilee emblem on some of our new trains.
“The five trains involved cover the full range of routes that we operate, so customers and communities across our network will have the opportunity to see the trains with their special emblems over the coming months.
“We were keen to play our part in celebrating this historic milestone and continue a tradition that has seen trains in our region receive special nameplates or crests to mark both the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
Her Majesty the Queen has always been a great supporter of rail travel and has visited our region many times by train during her reign, both on the Royal Train and on normal scheduled services, so it’s very appropriate that the Platinum Jubilee emblem has been applied to some of our trains.
“Anyone who spots one of our special jubilee trains is encouraged to take a photograph of it and post it on Twitter or Instagram, tagging Greater Anglia. It will be great to see them recorded out and about across the region, as we help mark this very special event.”
The crests have been carefully positioned on the bodyside at both ends of the trains, close to the front, ahead of the cab doors. Each train has four emblems, one near each cab door on each side of the train.
Greater Anglia staff and community rail partnerships across the network have also decorated stations to mark the jubilee with bunting, Union Jacks and pictures.
No major engineering work is planned to take place during the Jubilee bank holiday weekend – but customers are reminded that bank holiday timetables will be in operation on the Jubilee bank holidays on Thursday and Friday, so they should check before they travel.
A respected British food processing equipment manufacturer has bolstered its engineering department with the appointment of an experienced technical and project management specialist.
Fabcon Food Systems, which manufactures and installs handling and processing equipment for the snacks sector, has appointed Bobby White as Technical Manager as part of their new Technical Support department which also includes existing staff and a new Sales Engineer.
A respected technical expert, Bobby joins Fabcon after an 18-month consultancy role which saw him successfully leading on a major project and innovative product launch for a large UK based snacks producer.
With almost 40 years’ engineering and management experience in the food processing sector, Bobby brings a range of technical and project management expertise to the Fabcon sales and technical support team and its global client base.
Trevor Howard, Managing Director of Fabcon Food Systems said: “Bobby is a big appointment for us given his design and processing credentials and experience working with a range of manufacturing systems.
“He is well known in the industry and joins us during our continued growth across a number of continents as more manufacturers look to British-built systems for their factories.
“To continue that growth we need first-rate technical experts and Bobby is already proving to be a tremendous support to all our customers and internally across our teams. I am delighted to welcome him to Fabcon.”
Bobby White added: “Fabcon is a business which is widely respected across the industry and I like that it has a huge potential for further global growth.
“I have many years of experience working with companies in the sector, helping them to grow and develop. That will be a key part of my role here at Fabcon, also offering the technical support our sales team need and being the link with our engineering department.
“Alongside Trevor and the team, I look forward to contributing to the success of Fabcon in the months and years ahead.”
Fabcon Food Systems design, manufacture and install handling and processing equipment for the food industry – including frying, distribution and seasoning systems, all built at the company’s factory and design hub in Norwich. The company supplies systems and machinery to customers in the UK, mainland Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Africa.