Active Norfolk’s Wrap Up and Step Out walking challenge is back this year to encourage you and your colleagues to reduce stress, improve wellbeing and get active by heading out for a walk this November.
Not only are we privileged enough to live in one of the most naturally beautiful parts of the world here in Norfolk, but now just by going out and exploring it, Active Norfolk is giving you the chance to win a host of wonderful prizes by logging your activity and sending in your photographs.
Whether your walk consists of a lunchtime stroll around town, a weekend ramble through the forest or a hike along coastal clifftops, you could be in with a chance of winning the prizes, including Osprey Daysacks, Klean Kanteen drinks bottles and cinema vouchers, simply by putting one foot in front of the other.
Plus, an additional weekly prize is up for grabs throughout November for the best photos from your walks that capture the beauty of Norfolk in autumn.
People Management and Development disruptor Human Capital Department offer a recruitment service which is different to what is typically offered by recruitment and employment agencies…
“Our pricing model is different – rather than charging 10% or 15% of starting salary we charge a Fixed Fee of £995 for each recruitment assignment” said Peter Lawrence, Director of Human Capital Department.
The quality of service we provide is also assured – we are a member of the Chamber of Commerce and our consultants are individual members of the Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Development [CIPD], which is our quality mark and means we are qualified to guide employers to ensure that they adhere to rules and regulations and apply best practice recruitment and selection processes and procedures.
We go the extra mile, as well as conducting the initial pre-screening interviews and providing a short-list of suitable candidates, we can sit in on recruitment interviews if required, and can take up references to complete the process.
Once you have the right person on board we can also advise on Induction and Performance Management ensuring things go smoothly from day one.
Norwich firm of solicitors, Leathes Prior, have sponsored Jack Coxall, a teenager from Frettenham, for his sponsored 130-mile bike ride on 1 & 2 September 2012 from Norwich to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Jack suffered serious injuries to his pancreas and spleen in December 2009 and was in Great Ormond Street Hospital for six weeks. As a result of ongoing complications he is now unable to pursue his preferred career in the army and missed a substantial amount of school.
Dave Richards, the personal injury solicitor at Leathes Prior acting for Jack, is particularly impressed that he has come so far. “Jack really has made exceptional progress since I took on his case. I would not have believed that he would go on to do a 130-mile bike ride when I first heard about what happened, but it really is a credit to him and to Great Ormond Street Hospital, and it’s great that he’s decided to give back like this”.
Whilst Jack was lying in Great Ormond Street Hospital, he said to himself that once he recovered he would raise money for the hospital itself, as a way of giving something back. He has since endured a long recovery process but is now confident that he can complete the journey.
His mother, Samantha Coxall, is naturally very nervous for Jack, but at the same time has expressed how proud she is of him, after everything he has been through.
Bruno Peek’s remarkable life as a national and international Pageantmaster over more than 30 years has been brought to life in a colourful and illustrative new website from TMS Media.
It follows one of the Norfolk man’s proudest and most spectacular moments as he inspired and coordinated the lighting of more than 4,200 beacons around the world on June 4th 2012 in celebration of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Bruno had the honour of passing the Jubilee Crystal Diamond to The Queen that night to enable her to light the National beacon at the end of the BBC concert, watched by a TV audience of millions.
But the website, masterminded by TMS Media in Great Yarmouth, captures his story right back to his first key commission in 1981 when he organised Operation Sea Fire, a chain of 90 beacon fires lit around our coast to launch Maritime England for the English Tourist Board.
Since then he has guided pageants and events across the country and in Europe and Sri Lanka and is keen that all his experience and expertise should be channelled into future projects.
For the last 12 years TMS art director Nick Marshall has been chronicling those events and that personal profile of Bruno’s life forms the basis of the website. In recent years, he was a key figure in The Fly a Flag for Our Armed Forces initiative and the Great Poppy Party Weekend.
“The website simply tells an online audience who I am and what I can do – and it is something I want to continue doing to involve as many people as possible in some of the most significant and important occasions across Britain or abroad,” said Bruno, who lives in Gorleston.
TMS managing director Steve Scott added: “People are sometimes surprised that Bruno hits the headlines so often. But that is because he has spent decades at the helm of headline-hitting events which encourage thousands of people to join in and enjoy national celebrations.”
Amid renewed calls for more housing to be urgently built across the country, Flagship Group is aiming to provide more homes for people in need in Norfolk.
The housing provider across the East of England has submitted plans to Breckland Council this week for a further 49 homes and public open space in Great Ellingham.
The properties off Attleborough Road would be in addition to the 39 homes and public open space provision granted planning consent in 2016 on land immediately adjacent. These works are anticipated to commence before next summer.
The new application includes a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses and bungalows with 60% for sale and 40% affordable housing. The affordable housing will be owned and managed by Flagship and will include a proportion of shared ownership properties to assist first time buyers on to the housing ladder.
The proposal will help Breckland Council meet the current shortfall in its five-year land supply, which is a requirement of the National Planning Policy Framework. In July, Breckland announced it is unable to demonstrate a five-year land supply, with calculations ranging between 2.4 – 4.6 years.
Tony Tann, Managing Director of Flagship Homes (Development) said: “It’s great news for Flagship to be undertaking its first mixed tenure development in Breckland, enabling us to provide new homes for people in need. With recent announcements indicating that 300,000 homes need to be built each year across the UK, we’re glad we can help to meet the housing shortage. I therefore hope this will be one of many new developments we can take forward across the region in the coming years.”
We hate bad WiFi. It really annoys us, especially when we have been working on an installation all day, check into the hotel for the night and the WiFi doesn’t work. We always book a hotel on the basis that there is WiFi but its always a hit or miss experience.
A district heating project installed by Attleborough-based Finn Geotherm has won a prestigious industry trophy at the national Heating & Ventilating Review (HVR) Awards 2017. The installation undertaken for housing association Flagship Group has been crowned Sustainable Project of the Year.
The HVR Awards 2017 celebrate innovation in the building services sector. The awards recognise and reward companies across the country that demonstrate excellence in their field, outstanding technology or exceptional customer service and true innovation in the way they operate or in what they produce.
The Sustainable Project of the Year Award was presented to Finn Geotherm for its ground source heat pump system, which is delivering domestic heating and hot water for 30 flats at Orchard Close in Watton, Norfolk. The first domestic heating scheme for communal use in the East of England, it will cut Flagship customers’ heating bills by two thirds, creating annual savings of hundreds of pounds. In addition, it enables Flagship to dramatically reduce its maintenance costs and CO2 emissions. The project is expected to be the first of many for the housing association, with Flagship hoping to roll out other ground source heat pump systems to other customers as part of its plan to create more affordable and environmentally friendly homes.
Guy Ransom, commercial director of Finn Geotherm, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award for our project at Flagship. District heating offers housing associations such as Flagship a fantastic opportunity not only to dramatically reduce the cost of heating for their customers but also to have a significant impact on the organisation’s carbon emissions and green credentials. Using heat pumps in this way should be the future of heating for every housing association and we’re very pleased to be recognised for enabling Flagship to become one of the first to really harness the potential of district heating.”
Matt Smith, Compliance Manager at Flagship, said: “To win this award is fantastic news. We have worked hard to get the scheme up and running, so to be recognised in this way is a great achievement for everyone involved. We are continually trying to improve the service we offer our customers while at the same time reduce our carbon footprint, and the system in Watton has allowed us to do both.”
For more information on ground and air source heat pumps and details on Finn Geotherm, visit www.finn-geotherm.co.uk.
Atkins Gregory, Cambridgeshire-based commercial contract cleaning provider, and part of the Monthind Group, is both delighted and proud to announce that it has received the bronze award from the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), in recognition of our commitment to the scheme.
ERS encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.
Atkins Gregory’s Managing Director, Simon Biggs, says: “I am a veteran, ex-Army and a big supporter of the reservists. The Armed Forces Covenant is the nation’s commitment to those who serve in the armed forces and their families; that commitment continues after they leave the services. Reservists and veterans have a host of skills to bring to the workplace, but sometimes need a little extra support or a helping hand to during the transition to the civilian career ladder. Atkins Gregory is proud to be part of that. It’s not a totally altruistic gesture, though, as a company we benefit from the forces’ training, whether that is in management skills or general work ethics, it makes sense for us to invest in these people.
“Signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant ERS brings a host of positive outcomes to any organisation, it enhances the workforce, not only with skills but also with accredited training; it demonstrates a commitment to local community and Corporate Social Responsibility; and it gives something back to those who would give their lives for our freedom and safety.”
For more details of Atkins Gregory’s services please visit https://atkinsgregory.com/ or call 01223 438118
A new set of Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure has been published, following a fundamental review carried out by Mr Justice Underhill. Professional Support Lawyer Elizabeth Stevens looks at the main changes.
In November 2011, Mr Justice Underhill (former president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal), was asked by the Government to conduct a fundamental review of the existing Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure. This review has now been completed and a new set of draft Rules has been published, which will be the subject of a formal consultation later this year.
The new draft Rules are intended to be more straightforward and easier to understand, particularly for unrepresented parties. They are written in simpler language and are less than half the length of the existing Rules.
Some of the key proposed changes are as follows:
• Introducing a new ‘sift’ process at an early stage of the claim, aimed at identifying weak cases and dismissing them without a full hearing if they are regarded as having no reasonable prospects of success;
• Combining the existing separate case management discussions and pre-hearing reviews into ‘preliminary hearings’;
• Requiring tribunals to give reasons for all decisions on disputed issues;
• Allowing tribunals to set strict timetables for oral evidence and submissions;
• Simplifying the rules relating to default judgments;
• There will be no change to the substantive criteria for the award of costs or making deposit orders, but the new Rules will remove the current cap of £20,000, above which costs awards must be referred to the county court for assessment (meaning that tribunals will be able to assess costs above that limit themselves).
There will also be new versions of the prescribed claim (ET1) and response (ET3) forms, which will also be subject to consultation later this year.
The Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) team at Tudor Lodge Consultants is pleased to announce our recent commencement of work with James Howard Education. Offering a novel approach to private tutors and tuition for studies at all levels from primary school through to university level, James Howard Education are an Ofsted accredited agency who are revolutionising the way people are looking at the private tuition industry. Whilst traditionally, pupils would need a one on one session with a specific tutor, James Howard’s approach differs.
They are able to offer both one to one tuition for those needing specific attention and also group tutorials and study groups run in relaxed and friendly settings. Based in North West London, James Howard Education caters to students from all backgrounds. Also, rather than offering tutors who cover numerous subjects to a mediocre level, James Howard provide expert tutors who specialise in a particular field and are experienced in getting students top results. This ranges from the sciences to religious studies, mathematics and beyond.
With shining testimonials and reviews of their tutors and services, James Howard Education have received a lot of customers and clients via referral and word of mouth.
James Howard Education approached the team at Tudor Lodge Consultants with the concern that they were not receiving much attention or traffic online. They already have a website, built on the Wix platform and seeking to improve organic traffic via Google and search engine results pages (SERPs), our team have been working on the website with the team at James Howard.
We have initially reviewed their website, its architecture, content and crawling factors (how Google and other search engines actually ‘read’ and rank the site for users.) Our team undertook the necessary initial keyword research to see where the online organic traffic in the tutoring industry lies. Having provided the results and consulted with the team at James Howard, we have been optimising the crawling factors such as their onsite meta titles and descriptions, H titles and content in general.
In addition, James Howard Education have never undertaken any digital PR campaigns in the past and therefore have had little to no online presence. They also have a non-existent backlink profile. Working across our network of strong, clean and SEO-friendly websites, we are working towards strengthening the domain of James Howard and also helping them to be found by increased numbers of users via referral traffic on strong and reputable third-party websites.
We are continuing our work on the James Howard Education website and look forward to further building on the work and progress already undertaken as well as that to come.
Ashton KCJ Solicitors is delighted to announce a number of new Associate appointments from within the firm.
Seven members of staff across a range of departments have been appointed as Associates, having successfully completed Ashton KCJ’s Development Programme. This involved a structured learning programme delivered by some of the UK’s best trainers, course work and 360 degree feedback.
Congratulations go to Sharon Allison and Julie Crossley from the Clinical Negligence team in Thetford, Sue Bailey and Elisabeth Sneade from the Family department in Norwich and Cambridge respectively, Ian Barnard in the Ipswich Commercial Property team, Tom Ranson from the Personal Injury team in Ipswich and Robert Tiffen, who works within the Dispute Resolution team in Norwich.
Ashton KCJ’s Chief Executive, Simon Smith says: “We are delighted to announce these appointments, which are richly deserved. They follow a number of commercial solicitor appointments and the acquisition of franchise specialists, John Chambers & Co earlier this year. This underscores the strength and growth of the firm as we approach the first anniversary of our merger in October.”
Having succeeded in a number of hugely competitive industries online including payday and guarantor loans, bridging finance and construction, we were approached by the team at Perfect Funeral Plans who are growing their company, offering and brand. With the price of the average funeral in the UK having risen by more than 100% in the last 12 years, Perfect Funeral Plans have set up to establish a service that allows customers to afford funeral plans for the future.
Although not something most people wish to think about, funeral plans are important as set up and in place, loved ones will not need to foot the expensive bill of burial or cremation at a very distressing time. These plans cover costs including the burial or cremation, funeral director costs and other costs associated with saying goodbye to a loved one. Allowing the applicant to pay in monthly instalments as opposed to a lump sum up front, these plans are increasing in popularity and Perfect Funeral Plans have seen the need to rank strongly online to offer an important service to consumers.
What we Have Done
Perfect Funeral Plans have a WordPress website which has allowed our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) the necessary flexibility to get into the heart of the website and its functioning. Initially, we had an in-depth consultation with the client to discuss their needs and aims for their brand. From here we established a clear online strategy encompassing SEO and pay per click (PPC) advertising on Google.
Then, we have implemented SEO-friendly meta data (titles and descriptions) for the site to allow Google and other search engines to efficiently and accurately read and rank the website online. Furthermore, we have produced various landing pages, information and guide resources to engage users and to capture the longer tail searches around their industry that exist online and this has already seen the site rank for a few very good terms that are moving up Google day by day.
In addition, we have moved the website to a secure server to protect user data and information and have paid special attention to the user journey and the speed of the website. This I s to ensure maximum engagement of the customer on the website, something Google give more importance than ever. We will shortly be moving into the mobile user experience on the site, with Google’s new, mobile-first algorithm being fully rolled out shortly.
What is to Come
In order to maximise effectiveness online and to capitalise on the work already carried out to great success, we will be undertaking a strong and clean backlink and online PR strategy. This is to ensure that Perfect Funeral Plans only receive l inks and referral traffic from the highest quality sources and websites. Moreover, we are expanding the offering of Perfect Funeral Plans to allow for other websites to share the content produced by Perfect Funeral Plans to enable the natural acquisition of links from reputable and trusted online sources and websites. We will also be producing additional landing pages, guides and informative content for the website to increase its offering and expand upon the progress made thus far.
We look forward to building further upon the progress already made with the exciting team at Perfect Funeral Plans and are excited for what the future holds for this truly exciting brand and online offering.