The British Pest Management Awards (BPMA) shortlist has been announced and Norfolk based Abate Pest Management Services has been shortlisted as Small Company of the Year.
Jon Blake, Managing Director of Abate said “We are delighted to hear the news that we have been shortlisted for a UK award. We have certainly come a long way in 20 years and the whole Abate team are very proud of this achievement. The goal now is to grow to reach the levels of Large Company of the Year and following our recent CEPA European certification and franchising plans, I cannot see anything stopping us.”
The awards ceremony will take place at PestEx, London ExCeL taking place on March 20th/21st. PestEx is the UK’s trade exhibition and conference for the pest control industry. It’s the largest get together for the pest management sector in the UK. This year Abate will be exhibiting at PestEx showcasing their franchising business, where Abate is setting up a UK Pest Management network.
Kevin Higgins of the BPCA and Chair of the BPMA judging panel said “Congratulations to all the shortlisted companies and individuals. It really was a mammoth task going through so many applications and narrowing down to this short list. Just getting this far through the process is an achievement, so I hope you’ll all celebrate your achievement. With significantly more nominations, plus the new awards – the independent judging panel had their work cut out for them.”
Norfolk ACF are looking for businesses to sponsor their Skydive Expedition to Seville in 2020. This expedition will, for the first time ever, take 20 cadets to Seville to learn to skydive!
Our goal:
Our goal is to provide a world-class introduction to the sport of skydiving for young people through a structured training programme.
Purpose:
We aim to help each cadet achieve their own personal goals, as well as learning to support each other through team training and team competition.
We work towards an increase in confidence, leadership and teamwork skills in all participants – this is of value to the cadet force as a whole, as well as personally beneficial to young people about to enter the adult workforce.
Skydiving is both mentally and physically challenging – but success at each level is hugely morale boosting.
We also aim to have lots of fun!
Some key points:
Norfolk is the first and only Army Cadet Force to run skydiving courses taking cadets to licence level.
Norfolk is the first and only Army Cadet Force to enter the Armed Forces Parachute Championships – and in addition to win medals!
This is the first time we will run a course in Seville, utilising the good climate to our advantage.
What are we seeking?
We have to raise £50,000 in total to pay for the expedition. This includes all instruction, equipment hire, insurance, accommodation, transport and subsistence. We welcome any funds, donation or sponsorship your company is willing to give us.
What’s in it for you/your company?
These are the tiers of sponsorship we offer, however all donations are very much appreciated, so if you are interested in a donation rather than sponsorship, please contact us to discuss further options.
Tier 1: £500 100mm x 100mm logo on our team clothing (hoodies, polos and jumpsuits) and photo of the group showing your logo. (Larger logos on clothing available for negotiable price.)
Tier 2: £1000 Tier 1 benefits, plus your logo at the end of our expedition’s main return video.
Tier 3: £1500 Tier 2 benefits, plus your logo on all expedition videos and updates and, where appropriate, mention of your sponsorship during publicity interviews.
I really hope that this is of interest and you are prepared to consider sponsorship (or a donation) to us. Please contact Captain John Stopford-Pickering, Officer in Charge, Parachuting – 07818 550130 – for further information.
Bernard Matthews Holdings Ltd has today announced that, it successfully completed an investment from Rutland Partners to support the growth and development of the business.
The deal brings the experience of Rutland Partners to the Board and the senior management team, and provides a strong capital injection to enable Bernard Matthews to fund its growth plans and fulfil its business potential.
“We are delighted with the new partnership and warmly welcome Rutland Partners to the business,” said Executive Chairman David Joll. “It has been well documented that we have been looking into a range of funding options to help develop the business, but we wanted a partner who understood the company and were committed to helping us grow. Rutland Partners fit this model perfectly, as from the outset they have seen real potential in the business.
“They also share our commitment to the importance of our farming heritage in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire, our staff and to the brand, which has always been at the heart of the company.”
David Wingfield, Partner of Rutland, said:
“We are excited to be investing in the leading turkey producer in the UK, which has such a widely recognised brand. We have been impressed by the energy and passion of the team at all levels of the business and are looking forward to the prospect of working with them under David’s leadership to enable the business to reach its full potential.”
As part of the new partnership agreement David Joll will remain as Executive Chairman with two members of Rutland Partnership joining the Holdings Board.
Rutland Partners is a leading UK based turnaround and restructuring investor which invests in UK companies to create stability, strategic change and improved performance.
City centre youth charity, OPEN Youth Trust (OPEN), is pleased to announce Paige George as their first business ambassador.
Paige who went to Neatherd High School, and now works as a Private Client Executive for Cozens-Hardy solicitors, is the charity’s latest ambassador, joining fellow ambassadors, Joe Crowley, Alfie Hewitt, Vicky Williamson, Sophie Wright and Iona Lake.
From the age of 11, Paige had always aspired to pursue a career in law and was determined to work hard to fulfil this. Paige started working for Cozens-Hardy solicitors in 2012 as a Business and Administration Apprentice, very much working from the bottom of the career ladder to her current position as Executive. Paige has been shortlisted as a finalist for the National Paralegal Awards as ‘Paralegal of the Year 2019’. Paige also enjoys being involved as social secretary for the Norwich and Norfolk Junior Lawyers Division and for the NewGen Committee.
Paige actively engages in the local community and enjoys meeting people from all walks of life. In her spare time, she is pursuing a passion for motivating individuals such as friends and family and also helping her clients overcome their emotional hardships and always tries to remain positive.
Her ultimate life goal is to encourage, motivate and inspire people to achieve their dreams no matter what their circumstances are or what background they are from.
Paige, from Norwich, said: “I’m excited to become OPEN’s first business ambassador and help spread the word in the community of the fantastic work the charity does. I’m really looking forward to making a difference and helping the younger generation, who feel as though life isn’t going their way, realise that there is someone who cares and has walked a similar path and managed to achieve their goals.
John Gordon-Saker, Chief Executive of OPEN said: “From the first time of meeting Paige I was impressed by her journey and the drive she has undertaken to get where she is today. We are all really excited to have Paige on board as our latest ambassador, she will be a great inspiration to other young people and living proof that hard work and determination does pay off. We look forward to working alongside Paige in helping younger children with their educational skills and behavioural issues by encouraging them to succeed and achieve their goals.”
Website design agency, Bigfork, have designed a new website for Newmarket House, an eating disorders clinic. The new website involved a revamp of the navigation system and content with new high quality photography. With the growth in tablets and smartphones the new website was designed to be mobile friendly and also has a SilverStripe content management system for the Newmarket House team to manage the content inhouse. You can see the new website here
We’re very proud of this new website we’ve designed for the leading agricultural equipment manufacturer, Richard Western. You can read the full case study here https://www.bigfork.co.uk/our-work/richard-western/
With businesses increasingly competing for top talent, Corporate Social Responsibility could be the deciding factor for a potential new employee considering applying for a role in your company.
Research from Cone Communications revealed that for 58% of employees, from all generations, CSR is an important element of consideration when choosing a job, sometimes even more so than the proposed salary. Considering how important this is becoming, are you communicating enough about the values and ethics behind your business?
As well as an official CSR strategy document, other pieces of business information also reveal a lot about the socially responsible ways an organisation operates. Here are some examples which can be showcased across websites, social media, PR, marketing assets and recruitment materials. These will all help to give potential employees a better understanding of how your organisation considers the interests of its employees, customers, stakeholders and communities plus the environmental and social consequences of its business activities.
Mission statement and purpose
Your organisation’s mission statement can communicate a wider social purpose as well as business objectives, and research by Deloitte shows that ‘mission-driven’ businesses enjoy 30% more innovation and 40% more engagement from employees. As an example, Starbucks mission statement is ‘To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time’. Here at Pure, we highlight our overall purpose, which is to contribute to the economic growth of our region and to make a difference to people’s lives. This reveals how our team get to go beyond just recruitment and be involved in added value initiatives and career development programmes which help businesses and candidates to thrive.
Company values and behaviours
Company values give a real sense of how an organisation conducts responsible and ethical relationships with its people, customers, suppliers and stakeholders. Virgin shares its values on the recruitment section of its website, which are: ‘We are delightfully surprising, red hot, straight up whilst maintaining an insatiable curiosity, giving a heartfelt service and creating smart disruption.’ It also goes on to share more information through a list of company ‘Behaviours’ which include ‘Supportive: We are a family of friendly and inclusive people who pull together and openly help each other’. At Pure, we are also driven by our commitment to deliver against our strong company values of teamwork, quality, innovation, reward, support and delivering the best results. These are at the heart of everything we do, helping us to create a great place to work in which our staff are happy, supported, rewarded and motivated to go the extra mile for our customers.
Employee development and welfare
Sharing details of how your organisation looks after its staff including through physical and mental health support, inclusive career development opportunities and fair, transparent pay, highlights your organisation as a business which cares about its workers. Social media is a great platform to share real-life examples of the ‘human’ side of your business. For example, Grant Thornton posts a case study examples of employees whose day-to-day lives have really benefitted from being able to effectively juggle work and home because of the organisation’s agile workplace culture. These posts generate lots of likes, positive comments and enquiries about joining the organisation. For us, we highlight details of our employee wellbeing policy which includes mindfulness courses, counselling, lifestyle and fitness guidance plus a trained Mental Health First Aider who works with managers to support their teams. Soon we will also be able to update people on our initiative to train a team of employees to become Mental Health Champions. They will offer support to employees struggling with mental ill-health and raise awareness of mental health across Pure.
Environmental impact
A responsible business looks to minimise the impact it has on the environment by reducing its carbon footprint and using green practices. Depending on the nature of the business this could include anything from the use of sustainable materials and local produce through to reduced waste, and energy saving. Here at Pure, our offices focus on recycling as much as possible from paper and batteries through to printer cartridges. To help reduce the combined carbon footprint of our team, as well as supporting physical wellbeing, we also offer a Cycle to Work scheme for our employees. Writing a dedicated environmental policy to be shared externally and internally will highlight how your business has considered its environmental impact across all of its operations. It will also remind both current and future employees of their own individual responsibilities and the role they can play in helping the organisation to meet and exceed its green commitments. Don’t forget to also display and promote any relevant code of practices the organisation follows, whether formal or voluntary, plus any specific industry standards it meets and any environmentally friendly focussed awards or accreditations.
Community impact
Today’s socially conscious generation are looking to work for businesses that give something back and which support them to do the same. As well as fundraising and donations, look to provide hands-on opportunities for employees to take on volunteer activities. Statistics from Employee Volunteering reveal that 76% of volunteers felt the opportunity had a positive influence on how they felt about their employer. We have seen this first hand here at Pure through our commitment to actively encouraging our colleagues to work together and give back to their local communities. We support our team with paid time off to complete charity challenges, fundraising and volunteering. Our team’s recent activities include donating time to wrap Christmas presents for Lighthouse Women’s Aid, raising money to put together packages of clothing and food to take to homeless charity The Bus Shelter Ipswich, spending a day painting and decorating with Inspire Suffolk and taking on the accumulator fundraising challenge for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. When sharing stories about your organisation’s community support, also highlight the reason why that particular charity or group was chosen. Was it chosen by employees because it had particular importance to them? Does it align with your business own social values? Or, as with our examples, are they directly within the communities you operate in?
At our latest Charity Leaders Group event, organised in partnership with PEM, we welcomed Samantha Loveday from East Anglian Children’s Hospices (EACH) and Alison Taylor of Conscious Communications, as our guest speakers.
This was our first Charity Leaders Group event of 2019. Held at Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge it provided a forum for local charity leaders to discuss issues related to the charity and not-for-profit sector. The theme was ‘How to Stand Out’ and it was run as an explorative session looking at how charities can stand out from the crowd when it comes to fundraising, employer brand and public identity.
Samantha Loveday gave an overview of the current fundraising landscape and the challenges faced by the charity sector; including the uncertainty around Brexit and the impact of GDPR regulations. Samantha also revealed that while there has been a positive uptrend in donations from individuals over the last ten years, a key challenge faced by charities is finding ways to stand out amongst millennials. Older people are becoming more charitable with money, as they are in a better position to do so, whereas younger people tend to give time. Charities need to find innovative ways to engage new generations in providing financial support, both now and in the future.
As Samantha talked through potential strategies to build brand awareness and engage new audiences within a crowded market place, we noticed how many of these also correlated with the advice our Director David Culley gave in his session on employer brand. The ways in which charities can stand out to potential donors will also help them stand out to prospective high-calibre employees; helping them to attract and retain the talented teams needed to shape and implement strategies for the future.
One of the considerations discussed was sharing clear messages about a charity’s need for support and providing more emphasis on the direct impact of donations, so that people can really see the difference they have, or could, make. These communications will also help potential employees understand how they could make a difference every day if they were to work for the organisation. While charities and not-for-profit organisations may be concerned about competing for talent based on salaries and benefits, they can compete when it comes to offering a sense of purpose. This is becoming increasingly attractive to new generations entering the workplace. LinkedIn’s latest Workplace Culture report revealed that nine out of ten millennials would consider taking a pay cut to work at a company whose mission and values aligned with their own.
Alison Taylor of Conscious Communications looked at ways charities can manage their reputation at a time when public trust and confidence in charities has dipped due to negative stories. This echoed Samantha’s advice on creating a greater level of transparency to gain confidence in supporting and donating to a charity. In turn, transparency about the culture of an organisation including its values and behaviours will also help to attract the right employees in the first place. David stressed the importance of embedding a consistent culture in the organisation and the need to be constant in all communications and actions. He also advised that employers should never compromise on cultural fit when recruiting, as skills can be developed but natural behaviours cannot.
With the challenge of new generations moving increasingly towards a digital focussed and a potentially cashless society, Samantha also discussed looking at innovative ways to increase the use of online and digital platforms. EACH has continued to find ways to generate support in a virtual world. For example, it has successfully launched a new online retail outlet through its eBay store and also used the online platform to auction off clothes donated by ambassador Ed Sheeran. Increasing social media engagement and the use of digital platforms will raise brand awareness of the charity to new generations; not only as an organisation to support but also as a potential place to work.
Ultimately, the investment charities make to reach new audiences and stand out from the crowd should also have a positive impact on the employer brand. Sharing clear messages about the purpose, impact and culture of the organisation will showcase the charity as an employer of choice and a place where employees can make a difference and have a clear purpose.
The Charity Leaders Group is a unique opportunity for charity executives in the eastern region to hear presentations on topical subjects and to have a sounding board for challenges they may face.
AnotherPay Per Click advertsing account win for Bigfork. We are delighted to be working with Windsor Waste Management and look forward to improving their Google Ads campaigns.
NORWICH, Monday 20th January 2014 – Need help planning your 2014 getaway? Norwich International Airport invites you to attend their annual Travel Show on Saturday 25th January 10am-3pm in the airport terminal building. The Travel Show is open to everyone with free entry and free parking for all visitors in the short stay car park. Come along for some holiday inspiration and chat with the experts. There will be over 20 tour operator, airline and local business representatives offering first hand destination and product advice on their departures from Norwich International throughout 2014. Historically this day has always been a huge success with people eager to book and this year any holidays booked on the day will receive free holiday parking at Norwich International plus receive a booking discount of up to 5%. Don’t miss your chance to win one of the fabulous prizes on offer in the prize draw which will take place at 3pm. Prizes include; return flight tickets, Helicopter pleasure flight, flying lessons and much more. Additional free to enter competitions will be taking place on individual stands throughout the day with many more great prizes to be won. We look forward to seeing you there!
A series of free seminars aiming to empower businesses to take control of customer experiences is set to take place across Norfolk and Suffolk.
In the eighth year of the popular Accelerate programme, 2019 looks to strip back to the essentials of multi-channel marketing to generate improved results.
Delivered by Archant, publisher of the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times, the seminars will focus on marketing buzzword “omnichannel” – a cross-channel marketing approach that helps builds brands and convert potential customers into actual customers.
“It’s all about making sure customers have a fantastic user experience, no matter what channel they use,” explains Jamie Brown, head of digital knowledge and development at Archant, who will be delivering the seminars.
“So whether it’s a high street shop, the staff who work there, the mobile-enabled website, Google reviews, social media, emails or texts, the idea is to create a cohesive approach to all the different elements so that they reflect the whole.”
It can be hard for SMEs to keep on top of all these channels, but Jamie says all businesses need to get to grips with if they want to be successful and grow.
“Even if a product or service isn’t bought online, the purchasing process still revolves around the website, the Google reviews, the posts on social media,” says Jamie. “Infrastructure has changed – businesses must have a website and they must be visible online.”
The seminars will include a presentation covering the idea of omnichannel and a real-life case study of a business customer that has completed the journey, including visuals of before and after content, and the analytical results it has achieved.
Attendees can then speak one-on-one with experts who will explain how they can take the same approach, utilising the services, products and audiences that Archant can offer.
“People attending the seminars can take advantage of our 360-degree solution to marketing,” says Jamie. “We can provide the advice, infrastructure and audience that businesses need to be successful.”
Accelerate sessions will take place on Tuesday, March 12 at the Cliff Hotel in Gorleston; Wednesday, March 13 at Carrow Road, Norwich; Thursday, March 14 at West Suffolk College in Bury; and Friday, March 15 in Ipswich at Suffolk University. For more information and to book your space visit www.archanthub.co.uk/ACCELERATE
We are very pleased to announce that the Maids Head Hotel is an accommodation partner with the new English National Park Experience Collection, which has been supported by Visit Britain and Visit England through the Discover England Fund.
More than 70 experiences, encouraging people to get hands-on in the English National Parks are featured in the Travel Trade Buyer’s Guide, which was launched at the end of January.
Paul Dickson, our resident tour guide has an experience in the collection – Rails, Trails & Sails, which links Norwich with the Broads National Park at Reedham. The tour begins with stories at the Maids Head, followed by a walking tour of the Cathedral Quarter. Then it’s a short stroll to the railway station to catch the train to Reedham, where Paul covers the story of the railway in the Broadland town and the history of the wherry trading vessel. There are also visits to Reedham Church, built on the site of a Roman fort and Humpty Dumpty Brewery.