The LSA is the leading sustainability network for law firms and the UK legal sector. It is a collaborative network which allows its members to share best practice and to work together to ensure law firms play a full part in tackling the climate crisis. The LSA provides members with access to a range of tools, resources and advice to help firms become sustainable.
Howes Percival has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and its dedicated Environmental Committee has already embarked on a series of initiatives to reach this target which include reducing the use of paper, optimising recycling across offices and reducing the volume of marketing materials.
“As the COP26 Climate Change Conference shines a light on global environmental issues, we are really excited to do our part and push forward in our sustainability journey by joining the LSA. Reducing our environmental impact is a key priority for Howes Percival and we are really pleased to join a network of like-minded organisations”.
Find out more about a career in construction – Pathway into Construction – Featuring CV, employability, and guest speaker workshops in partnership with local industry experts.
These free accessible 6-week introductory courses offer you the chance to learn a trade or explore a career in the construction industry. Come and learn the basics, whether you are considering a career or want to make some home improvements; these courses will get you started.
2021 has been an exciting and challenging year for all of us, the success of the NHS vaccination programme ramping up has seen the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.We have been working together with district and New Anglia LEP colleagues to support the businesses in our region through the everchanging climate and build better foundations for the future.
Norfolk County Council’s long term business plan, Together for Norfolk (TfN) continues to be implemented, our challenge is to respond to the current economic conditions in the context of TfN. Focusing on inclusive growth and improving social mobility, investing in benefitting people’s lives and delivering outcomes that will create the impetus for our future economic and social wellbeing. We have pledged as a council to work with all our partners to help as many businesses as possible to survive, and as many people as possible to stay in work or secure alternative work or training through our skills and employment programmes. This document outlines some of the council’s achievements in 2021, as we continue to invest in infrastructure, people and businesses. It also touches on our role to support the care sector and achieve better IT connectivity across the county as well as future opportunities and key developments taking place in Norfolk in 2022 and how we will continue to support new and existing businesses. If you would like to find out more about any the initiatives in this briefing document or ask any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on [email protected].
The Witans are a small group comprising of eight local businessmen who have come together for a simple common goal, to raise money and assist those in need. This may sound like your standard charity organisation however what differentiates the Witans from their larger more bureaucratic brethren is their commitment to helping those in need directly.
By casting aside the pen pushers and applications forms the Witans are able to quickly, and effectively help those whom need it the most. There are no waiting lists, questionnaires or requirements, they simply hear about someone in need and they help them. Like Robin Hood’s band of merry men but instead of stealing from the rich they buy from each other.
Each business auctions a service or product from their company to which the others bid with the accumulative total then being divided into two lots of £300 contributions every quarter or more for exceptional circumstances to those that need a helping hand.
The evening was commenced by Mick Whitman better known as Captain Mainwaring from the Dads Army Museum and by bidding on such items as a season ticket for Thetford Football Club, a complimentary chimney sweep or dinner for two in your own home prepared and cooked by Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef Tony Liddell it was as one member said “Great to see local businesses working together to improve the lives of the local community.
On the 16th July The Witans raised an astounding £1665 which will go directly to those that need it most. If you, or someone you know is in need, you can apply for this unique contribution by emailing [email protected] and simply state your reasons and circumstances.
The Witans “Making the world a little better one Auction at a time”
The list is based entirely on recommendations from thousands of solicitors across England and Wales who were asked to choose which law firms they would recommend for a number of categories covering business, public and private-client fields. Solicitors are not permitted to choose their own law firms or vote for any category more than once.
This is the second time Howes Percival has been featured in the list, which has now been running for four years. The firm was commended for its expertise in commercial property, insolvency & restructuring and planning.
‘We are really proud to be featured in this influential list for the second year running. Our listing is testament to the quality of work being produced across the firm and it’s fantastic to see the calibre of our people and their expertise being recognised by our fellow legal professionals.’
The Alan Boswell Group Charitable Trust continues to deliver on its commitment to make a difference to charitable causes in the areas that we operate in. We wanted to share what our donations mean to some of the charities who have been given funds.
The current Charitable Trust sub-committee have assessed 111 applications made to the Trust, sent feedback to dozens of charities and have been the driving force behind the £460,000 of grants awarded in the last 12 months.
Here are some of the amazing impacts that our grants have been making:
East Norfolk Riding for the Disabled
The Trust donated £4,000 to the charity and they have put the money to excellent use. They have been able to purchase all of the following:
Specialised saddle which features a deep seat to support riders.
A set of ‘Bunny ears’ handles for riders who have difficulty with traditional reins.
Instructors booked onto First Aid and Safeguarding training
Training sessions for volunteers – these are much needed as no sessions have been able to run since the first lockdown and the charity are looking forward to welcoming back their volunteers and riders.
COVID safety products such as hand sanitiser pumps and cleaning products.
The remainders of the donation will be used to support activities and events taking place for service users in the future.
North Norfolk MacMillan Centre
MacMillan Cancer Support invested £2.2 million in the North Norfolk MacMillan Centre to help thousands of people access cancer treatment and support closer to their homes. They relied on grants such as the £10,000 donated by ABG to cover the costs of the build and despite an unprecedented drop in income of up to 50% during the pandemic, the building is now complete & the first patient has received treatment! The new centre includes:
Six chemotherapy treatment chairs with capacity to treat up to 36 patients a day.
Three new clinic rooms and two new minor procedure rooms, creating an additional 10,000 outpatients’ appointments annually and space for new cancer diagnostics including prostate biopsy.
A Macmillan cancer information and support centre.
Eating Matters
Eating Matters are a Norfolk based charity which offers counselling for people age 11+ with mild to moderate eating disorders in the community. They applied for a grant of £2,500 back in March 2020 to support their services throughout the pandemic, meaning delivery via online/telephone counselling. At the time of writing, they supported 264 clients, 134 of which were under the age of 25.
‘’The funding received from The Alan Boswell Group Charitable Trust has supported counsellor fees for 100 counselling sessions. The average number of sessions a client requires to aid recovery is 18. These sessions take place on a weekly basis for an hour over a period of between 4 – 6 months. Our counsellors and support staff will liaise with GP’s and NHS tier 3 eating disorder services for medical monitoring where necessary to ensure client safety. We currently have 18 part time counsellors working at Eating Matters, one of which is a third-year student who is completing her placement hours with us.’’
The organisation has since resumed face to face counselling sessions, as well as continuing the online/telephone sessions for service users with more mild symptoms, or live in remote parts of Norfolk.
Arthur Rank Hospice
The hospice ran the ‘Help Us Be There’ appeal back in 2020 where they aimed to raise £100,000 to fund the recruitment of two full time healthcare assistants. The new colleagues were needed to meet the demands of people wishing to receive end of life care in their own home, overnight, during the last two weeks of life. The appeal was a great success and raised a total of £140,000 in the end, of which the Charitable Trust donated £6,608.00.
Our funds directly funded 14 nights of care supporting 11 patients. The care staff were briefed each evening in readiness for their visit which involved understanding medical conditions of the patient, the family dynamics, if loved ones were present, and information about the patient which would help to ensure the patient to feel well supported by the staff member caring for them. Here’s some feedback from a family member of a hospice at home patient:
‘’We just wanted to write and say a huge thank you for arranging the lovely nurse Anne to help us with our Mum on her final night. Anne was so sweet and caring and she cared for my mum so well. My mum passed just before Anne was due to leave. We so appreciated her help and kindness. Thank you for all the wonderful work you all do.’’
The hospice were also delighted to share that during their appeal they entered conversations with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and have secured significant funding to provide a daytime service which has expanded the Hospice at Home service to cover day and night.
Nancy Oldfield Trust
The Trust offers accessible accommodation, canoeing, sailing and motor cruising on the Norfolk Broads and put together an ‘Enhanced Accessibility’ project to improve the accessibility of their premises. They were given a grant of £3,746.48 to purchase an automatic door system. Since the installation of the system in May 2020 approximately 180 visitors have benefited. The visitor numbers were significantly impacted by Covid-19 and various lockdowns but in more normal years in the future we would expect around 750 to 1000 visitors to enjoy the convenience of the new system each year.
‘’The automatic door system has made it immeasurably easier for our visitors to move between rooms in our residential bungalow and this has been of particular benefit for our visitors with wheelchairs. It has also made the bungalow much safer as visitors were known to prop open fire doors with chairs despite advice and warning notices.’’
For those in the corporate world, the festive season brings with it invitations to parties with an expectation that alcohol will be freely consumed….and you will be involved! How do you navigate these events if you’re sober? Mark and James welcome the ‘Sober Exec’ Chris Anthony to chat about navigating the corporate drinks culture.
Chris talks about what life is like at the top of the corporate world; with over 25 years’ experience in the tech sector, Chris is now the Vice President of U.S. Consumer Goods at Salesforce Marketing Cloud. He stands out not only for his expertise and experience, but for his 15 years of sobriety. He offers inspiration and guidance for others struggling to navigate their way through the drink-heavy culture that exists in the competition for corporate management roles.
On the morning of New Year’s Day 2020, Chris realised that he had been sober for 15 years but had not shared this information publicly. He quit drinking after it became a problem for him back in 2005 – wrecking his career path and marriage, but he kept it secret because he was ashamed that it had become an issue, and the world he lived in thrived on wining and dining, ostracising anyone ‘not playing ball’.
Chris shares insight into how he navigated through his career without a drink in his hand, and how his sobriety was key to his success and happiness, leading him to discover his true purpose in life “to be of service to others”.
Fast forward to 2020, Chris realised he could make a difference by speaking out about his sobriety, which prompted one of his fellow execs to ask him for help. Chris knew then that he had a new purpose and launched Sober Force, and his role as ‘The Sober Exec’, which sees him working as a motivational speaker and consultant for businesses who want guidance on how to structure their seasonal and social activities.
Chris also observes how sobriety health is now good for business, using football as an example, where in rejecting the pub culture of the 70s, the modern Premiere League acts as proof that good health can maximise profits!
Chris is also extremely passionate about his philanthropic work; holding advisory board roles for several non-profit organisations including Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, and is an active mentor supporting US Navy SEALs transition into successful business roles. He talks us through how his work for them have both inspired his personal recovery and motivated his work with others.
This episode explores the power of resilience, how to combat peer pressure at work, how to be prepared instead of reactive, what businesses can do to embrace EVERYONE in their team and why making healthy decisions don’t need an apology. His personal journey and professional insight make for inspirational listening, especially as we head into the Christmas season and the inevitable ‘social’ pressures this will bring.
You can read Chris’s public LinkedIn statement about his sobriety, that sparked his new journey in life, here.
Show notes
The Sober Exec – check out Chris’s work here
Follow Chris on Instagram for daily inspirational posts! @Thesoberexec
LinkedIn – Sales Force – Chris appears on this podcast as a representative of The Sober Exec and not Sales Force, his opinions are his own, and not those of Sales Force. If you would like to know more about Sale Force, you can visit their site here, and connect with them on LinkedIn.
Top tips – James and Mark summarise the chat:
56:03 – recognising in order to help others, look after yourself first
57:33 – never be afraid to ask for help!
59:00 – be ready, and practice/prepare for questions on a sober night out
You can get in touch with James and Mark on [email protected], we would love to hear your feedback on this, or any of our episodes!
Fine Arts students took inspiration from landscapes surrounding the Wherry Lines railway thanks to a collaboration between Norwich University of the Arts (NUA), The Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and the Water, Mills and Marshes Landscape Partnership Scheme, led by the Broads Authority.
Five students from NUA travelled by train from Norwich to Berney Arms for a walk around Halvergate marshes to see the Halvergate Mills trail which is currently in development by the Water, Mills and Marshes team.
Berney Arms is the region’s smallest and least-used station offering access to a unique landscape of marshes, windmills and grazing animals that offers many beautiful walks.
Wherry Lines Ranger tickets were provided by the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership to enable to students to reach the station, which is only accessible by foot, boat or train.
For the students, the trip was an opportunity to discover how art and the community can collaborate together on projects and also find inspiration from the surroundings.
Martin Halliday, of the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, said, “We were delighted to support the work of Norwich University of the Arts and their students to come and see the stunning scenery that is so easily accessible by train from Norwich.
“It’s a short journey but you feel a world away and I hope that in turn, the students’ artworks will encourage even more people to take advantage of the great value Wherry Lines Ranger tickets and come and see these unique landscapes for themselves.”
Roisin Delaney, Intern Water, Mills & Marshes, said, “The walk aimed to inspire and provide students with the opportunity to step outside their usual surroundings, exploring the environments and communities they are a part of during their studies.
“I’m pleased to see that the students found stimulation and a sense of peace during the walk; giving them a thoughtful break from their studies.”
Andrew Farrell, Programme Manager Water, Mills & Marshes, said, “The Wherry Lines are a vital part of the Broads and have been for more than 175 years.
“We are grateful for the support offered by the Community Rail Partnership and the National Lottery Heritage Fund to show these students that this gorgeous, world-renowned wetland is so easily accessed by the railway.
“We hope that they continue to be inspired by this unique landscape and that more people will leave their car at home and take the train to visit the Broads National Park and all that it has to offer.”
Greater Anglia has made its website a ‘Safe Space’ for survivors of domestic abuse.
Online ‘Safe Spaces’ are untraceable web pages with information on specialist domestic abuse support services, national helplines and other resources developed by the charity, UK SAYS NO MORE.
The train operator has added the charity’s ‘Safe Space’ widget to its home page at greateranglia.co.uk to enable those experiencing domestic abuse to discreetly access support and information while carrying out daily online tasks.
The ‘Safe Space’ webpage does not appear in internet browsing history and has a quick exit function.
It can also be read in most languages using a quick access translation tool.
Greater Anglia’s Commercial, Customer Service and Train Presentation Director, said, “Christmas can be a time of year when incidences of domestic abuse increase. As charities prepare for an increase in cases, we want to use our services to help those affected to escape abuse.”
In addition, Greater Anglia, along with train companies across the country, offers free train travel for survivors of domestic abuse who are travelling to refuge accommodation. This is done through the ‘Rail to Refuge’ scheme, a partnership between the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, and Women’s Aid Federation England, Welsh Women’s Aid, Scottish Womens’ Aid and Imkaan.
Survivors of domestic abuse who would like to access the Rail to Refuge scheme, or need other support, can get in touch with Women’s Aid through their Live Chat service, open Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 6:00pm, Saturday and Sunday 10:00am – 6:00pm: https://chat.womensaid.org.uk
We managed to get five minutes with busy Kathryn Horton, Chief Executive of our Stratgic Partners, Turning Factor. We asked Kathryn, ‘What are the positives your business has seen in 2021′?
In 2021 we have had considerable growth in our own business. We have opened a new office and also launching a new arm of the business which is aimed at improving the standard of trainers through the UK. WE have seen many positives with other businesses, growing and innovating and also exploiting new markets. There is a real energy especially with technology and for those businesses that have survived COVID, there is a real sense of ambition for 2022 and beyond.
What does 2022 look like for Turning Factor?
We are excited about 2022! There is a lot of funding to support businesses with skills and training. We are currently heavily involved with recruiting new people to join the business and also we have new partnerships which will expand our business further and product range.
Why is your Strategic partnership important to you?
The importance of being a strategic partner for the chamber, is that we are passionate about making a difference for businesses performance in Norfolk. It is key that working with the Chamber we may have opportunities to work with companies to improve their performance and fortunes by improving the skills and leadership of those companies.
Last Thursday another highly successful Future of Women in Business Network (FWB) event took place, the last of these before Christmas! Despite it being the festive season, we were delighted to see lots of new faces as well as those who had previously attended.
We were lucky enough to host a panel of three brilliant guest speakers; Jeanette Wheeler and Julie Gowland joined us from Birketts, alongside Nova Fairbank from the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce. The panel covered a wide variety of topics that regularly impact women in the workplace. These included juggling a career and family, finding a relevant mentor and how to improve mental wellbeing. All answers provided were raw and honest, creating a thought-provoking night.
The event was a huge success thanks the fantastic engagement from our members and the panel. We look forward to the next event which will be hosted on Thursday 20 January; please feel free to get in touch if you would liek further information or are interested in attending. We hope to see you there!
Can you help support Globally Onward’s mission to break the employment barriers for skilled immigrants and refugees and integrate them into the professional workforce?
Globally Onward is a newly formed Community Interest Company set up to provide practical support through our mentoring and coaching programme to help professionally qualified immigrants and refugees to overcome the hurdles they can often face in finding and securing career opportunities in the UK that match their skills and qualifications.
