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Amanda Hope and her partner Graham have created a warm, caring and learning place for their clients. They have built their Day service on their unwavering ethos that independence is a right, not a choice. Based in Bawburgh, Norfolk they offer Workshop based learning, Creative activities, Leisure activities and a sensory room as a Day service for Adults with learning difficulties.  ‘My passion and drive in life have always been to help others achieve their full potential. To allow for the empowerment of every individual, for everyone to have a voice’ says Amanda, a fully qualified social worker. Her background has been a mixture of both children and adult as well as palliative hospice care in both children and adults.  Amanda and Graham are also shortly to be taking on the Quiddenham Hospice site to create a new venture called Hope House, a ten bedroomed Respite centre. We wish them every success with this outstanding new project! 

[email protected]

Independent Lives (Norfolk) Ltd Unit 1 Lodge Farm Barns Bawburgh Norfolk NR9 3LZ

East Anglian accountancy firm, Aston Shaw have been warming up and doing their stretches in preparation for Run Norwich, a 10km run through the fine city! As proud sponsors of Run Norwich, the comapny has been busy planning for this highly-anticipated annual event.

Aston Shaw has been sponsoring Run Norwich since the inaugural race in 2015. Now in its fifth year, the event has gone from strength to strength. This year, places sold out within just four days and seven hours!

Run Norwich returns to the city on Sunday 21st July 2019. And as usual, Aston Shaw will be at the halfway point to cheer on the runners. The run itself promises to be bigger and better than ever and so too does Aston Shaw’s cheer station. Music will be played by a live DJ, to help you give that much-needed boost at the 5km mark! If the music isn’t enough to make their presence known, keep an eye out for the signs, flags and balloon arches & columns!

Just as with previous years, Aston Shaw will be live streaming the whole thing in glorious HD on their social media channels, the footage will later be made available to watch on the firms website, so be sure to keep an eye out for the camera if you’re running!

Run Norwich is a major date in the city’s calendar, it attracts all kinds of people from all over. You’ll find both novice runners and seasoned professionals here, residents as well as international participants. The race itself will take runners on a scenic journey through Norwich, passing some of the city’s most iconic landmarks such as Norwich Castle, Cathedral and Norwich City Football Club.

https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/

FibreCRM has compiled a list of the Top 100 accountancy firms for digital marketing, placing Aston Shaw at number one in East Anglia and in the Top 20 across the UK.

Aston Shaw is the highest ranked accountancy firm in East Anglia for digital marketing. The firm are also within the top 20 on a national level, placed at the enviable position of 17th.

Aston Shaw states that a key part of their brand’s ethos is to be at the forefront of technology and at the cutting edge of innovation, their place on this list helps to solidify this position.

Mark Noakes, Director at Aston Shaw said “digital marketing chimes with our brand values, it’s the perfect medium for us to demonstrate that we are progressive, modern and forward-thinking. It’s great to see that our digital marketing efforts have been recognised in this way”.

In order to assess digital marketing performance, FibreCRM pulled in data from five primary digital marketing platforms:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Video – YouTube & Vimeo

As a firm, Aston Shaw are committed to leading the way for digital innovation. Whether this is through their digital marketing strategy, advocacy of cloud accounting software or proactive approach to Making Tax Digital, they strive to be ahead of the curve.

For more information on how the Top 100 Digital Marketing Performance List was created, please visit: https://www.fibrecrm.com/2019/04/23/top-100-accountants-digital-marketing-performance/

The beautiful setting of Centre Parcs in Woburn was the venue this year for three days of networking, workshops, best practice, entertainment and relaxation.

In the natural surroundings of Woburn Forest, this year’s conference had an informal look and feel. More time was built in to enable franchisees and their staff and families to enjoy the facilities and rejuvenate in between a day of meeting TaxAssist partners at an exhibition on Friday, before a busy day of attending workshops and audio pods on Saturday, rounded off by a party in the evening.

Designed to inspire and energise franchisees, Saturday’s series of events were designed to cover a range of forward-thinking strategies and ideas to improve practices. Topics covered included winning business through technology, making the most of the software estate, Making Tax Digital, tax planning, cyber security and driving local marketing.

Saturday evening was a chance for attendees to enjoy themselves at an enchanted forest themed party, with entertainment provided by dance troupe ‘LED Dancers’ and internationally renowned ‘Urban Soul Orchestra’.

Group Operations Director Sarah Robertson was thrilled with the event: “While the location and format were new, there was still everything franchisees have come to expect from our flagship event and much more. It was fantastic to catch up with so many franchisees and share an enjoyable and informative weekend together.”

Franchisees and their staff were full of praise for the event.

Luiza Polec, Senior Accountant and Practice Manager at Pudsey and Horsforth TaxAssist Accountants, said: “The set up and entertainment on Saturday evening was spectacular, so far the best most of us have seen! Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were informative, refreshing and we loved the relaxed atmosphere.” Aberdeen based Steven Mearns concurs, adding: “I just wanted to say a huge ‘thank you’ and ‘well done’ to the team for the amazing Conference weekend.

“Being our first Conference, Cameron [Allan] and I weren’t sure what to expect but the event really delivered. The highest compliment I can give is that we have already decided that regardless of the cost and logistics we will bring our whole team to the next one as we can now see the value it will add.”  

Small and medium businesses are everywhere and are vital to the success of the UK economy. There are many threats agaisnt them including being susceptible to fraud. SME’s may be vulnerable to fraud because they have to focus on other aspects of the business.

The Norfolk Against Scams Partnership (NASP) is a partnership of organisations committed to taking a stand against scams and aims to make Norfolk a scam free county. We are working together to protect and support residents and businesses in Norfolk from scams, doorstep crime and fraud.

We are encouraging as many businesses as possible to sign up to the scheme. They will get the latest information about business scams, be able to share best practice and to find support.

The attached leaflet gives information about how to sign up to the scheme.

Three of the Maids Head Hotel’s team, Jonathan Brasnett, Andrew Shorthose and Rose Taylor ran the City of Norwich Half Marathon on 8 April and raised £188 in sponsorship for our charity of the year, Break. The sponsorship has been matched by the hotel, making a grand total of £376.

Sarah Bunn, Break’s Fundraising Event Manager, joined us for Vision and Values Awards event on 23 April and presented certificates of appreciation and VIP supporter’s badges to our running team.

Paul Dickson, the hotel’s resident tour guide, was also presented with a VIP supporter’s badge for raising £147 for Break, comprising donations given at the end of his Shardlake’s Norwich tours, during English Tourism Week.

The Maids Head was also pleased to provide the venue for Break’s fundraising Prom Nation Pick a Dress event on April 11.

Break makes life better for vulnerable young people in East Anglia. The charity believes that every child and young person needs a home where they feel safe and loved, so they can grow in confidence and look to the future with hope. Break’s vision is to ensure children, young people and families reach their full potential and shape their own futures in a safe and creative environment.

After six years of consistent growth, True Traders Ltd has broken through £1m turnover for the 2013/14 financial year. A family run company, True Traders are a leading seller of temporary barrier fencing, alongside many other products ranging from garden & allotment netting, to construction safety equipment.

They have grown considerably since their inception by Michael Bezance, in his garage, in 2007. The company has now outgrown two storage facilities and moved to their current warehouse, on Caister Road in Great Yarmouth, in April 2013. The new warehouse, at 6300sq ft, is more than double the size of their previous.

Marketing Director Tom Bezance said ‘Breaking the £1m turnover mark is a significant milestone for True Traders. It has been the main target of the company since day one and everyone here at True Traders has worked very hard to achieve it. We are very proud of where we are now.’ ‘Obviously the hard work doesn’t stop here. New targets have been set so we can continue to push forward and grow. We now have two new employees starting to help us lay the foundations for a larger and more dynamic company.’

The company currently run seven online shops, each with its own particular niche. One of a number of aims for the current financial year is to combine these shops into a single superstore under the True Traders brand. This would allow truetraders.co.uk to become a one-stop shop for products from all seven shops, something which will be a great benefit to customers.

Tom Bezance added ‘We want to make the whole experience for customers as smooth and effortless as possible. This new superstore, coupled with easily contactable sales staff, will be a huge step in the right direction. 2014 certainly looks like an exciting year for us.’

City College Norwich has celebrated its outstanding apprentices and the employers who have shown exceptional support for apprenticeships, at an awards night held at the Great Hospital in Norwich.

The College’s 2019 Apprenticeship Awards followed on from National Apprenticeship Week, which celebrates apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

Eight awards were presented to individual apprentices for their achievements and progress, with an Overall Apprentice of the Year announced on the night. 

Awards were also presented to four of the college’s most outstanding employer partners.  These awards recognise employers’ exceptional support for apprentices – with categories for micro, medium and large employers – and there was also an Overall Contribution to Apprenticeships award.

City College Norwich currently has more than 1,200 Apprentices on its programmes, up to and including degree apprenticeships, and 676 apprenticeship employers working in partnership with the college. 

“These awards showcase the very best of apprenticeships”

Congratulating the award winners, Ed Rose, City College Norwich’s Director of Higher Education and Apprenticeships, said:

“As ever these awards showcase the very best of apprenticeships.  The diversity of our winners show that apprenticeships really do offer opportunities across the age groups and throughout all types of employer.  It’s a real challenge to pick an overall winner from so many outstanding candidates with such great stories.  We’ve been delighted to be able to celebrate our winners’ achievements.” 

Apprentice award winners

Oliver Holmes, a Contracts Manager with Norwich-based IT firm Osiris Technologies, was named Overall Apprentice of the Year.  Oliver is working towards the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship. 

Oliver was praised for the contribution he has made to his employer using the knowledge and skills developed through his Degree Apprenticeship.  Osiris have implemented a number of Oliver’s recommendations in relation to the monitoring of its financial and service performance. 

The Overcoming Barriers to Achievement Award went to Rob Honeyman, who completed a Business Administration Apprenticeship with Flagship Group.  After spending most of his working life in the construction industry, Mr Honeyman was forced to change career because of a severe back problem.

Joining the health and safety team, and retraining through the Apprenticeship, represented a “huge change” in his working life and circumstances.  Rob was praised by City College Norwich’s apprenticeship team for maintaining his “positive attitude despite facing a massive learning curve” and for his participatory approach and “thirst for learning”. 

He was also “brilliantly supported” by his employer, Flagship Group, who showed great belief in him.  Rob has since been offered, and accepted, a permanent position with Flagship.    

Other winners included Tony Iacovazzo, a plumbing apprentice with Anglia Gas Services Ltd, who was named Construction Apprentice of the Year.  Last May Tony took first place in a national plumbing and heating skills competition, to take the title of HIP UK Heating Apprentice of the Year 2018.  He is now passing on what he has learnt by helping to coach this year’s City College Norwich entrant to the competition.     

Overall Contribution to Apprenticeships: Gasway

The Overall Contribution to Apprenticeships award went to Gasway, who have been key supporters of the new gas engineering apprenticeship which was launched by the college in December. 

Gasway have placed the new apprenticeship at the heart of their recruitment and training strategy, taking on 14 gas engineering apprentices and providing them with exemplary support.  Gasway’s support for the new apprenticeship has gone much further, however, as the company generously gave time and labour to assist the college in fitting out its new gas engineering workshop.            

Anne-Marie Seale, Head of HR and Apprenticeship Delivery, Gasway, said:

“We are delighted to accept this award and to be recognised by City College Norwich for our contribution to apprenticeships. City College are a progressive college and Gasway are passionate about growing our talent in order to address the skills shortage in our industry. This combination has allowed us to work collaboratively to build a sustainable partnership which will continue to create new engineering opportunities within our region.”   

Full list of City College Norwich’s 2019 Apprenticeship Award winners 

• Alex Curtis (Spectra Packaging) – Digital Apprentice of the Year

• Sarah Eley (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital) – Health Apprentice of the Year

• Martha Frosdick (The Salon, Costessey) – Service Industries Apprentice of the Year

• Karl Gilbert and Eleanor Rose (Cecil Gowing Infant School) – Childcare, Education and Early Years Apprentice of the Year

• Oliver Holmes (Osiris Technologies) – Business, Management and Professional Services Apprentice of the Year

• Robert Honeyman (Flagship Group) – Overcoming Barriers to Achievement Award

• Anthony Iacovazzo (Anglia Gas Services) – Construction Apprenticeof the Year (Electrotech, Plumbing, Trowel and Wood Occupations)

• Stuart Meek (UCP Zeller) – Engineering Apprentice of the Year

• Chloe Adcock and Southlands Dental Surgery – Apprenticeship Employer of the Year (micro)  

• Pipeshield International Ltd. – Apprenticeship Employer of the Year (medium)

• UCP Zeller – Apprenticeship Employer of the Year (large)    

• Gasway – Overall Contribution to Apprenticeships 

Staff at local accountancy firm Aston Shaw have raised a grand total of £5,796.68 for Norfolk’s cancer charity, Big C.

Dominic Shaw, Director of Aston Shaw was delighted to present Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive of Big C with a cheque for £5,796.68 raised through a variety of fundraising events.

Over the course of the year the staff at Aston Shaw have a taken part in a range of fundraising activities, including a Colour 5k, Inflatable 5k, Dress Down Days, Networking Events, a Charity Pub Quiz and a Sponsored Silence by Aston Shaw’s ‘most talkative employee’.

Dominic Shaw, Director, said: “It’s a real pleasure to be able to donate such a sizeable sum of money to Big C, we’ve had a lot of fun raising it and we know that it’s going to a very worthwhile cause.”

Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive of Big C, said: “We rely on voluntary donations for the majority of our income, so support from local businesses is really important. We’d like to say a massive thank you to Aston Shaw for choosing us as their charity for the last year. It’s been a brilliant year working with the whole of the Aston Shaw team.”

Aston Shaw’s new charity of the year is East Anglian Air Ambulance, a life-saving charity delivering critical care to seriously ill or injured people in the region. Aston Shaw has stated that they aim to beat last year’s total and are aiming to raise £7,000.

www.astonshaw.co.uk

The EIT Digital Challenge is an annual Europe-wide call for the most innovative start-ups in digital technology ready to scale up. It is provided through EIT Digital- a European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation.

EU-based start-ups can apply with their innovative digital technologies in one of the following five categories:

• Digital Industry
• Digital Cities
• Digital Wellbeing
• Digital Infrastructure
• Digital Finance

The Challenge offers an international growth package worth up to €100,000 to scale up businesses. In total, 25 scale-ups from the five categories will be selected to pitch their product or service in front of an international jury of corporates and investors at the final event in October. The two best companies per category will gain 12 months in the EIT Digital Accelerator worth €50,000 to scale up their business. On top of that, the first prize winner in each category receives a cash prize of €50,000.

Applicants should:

• Be a fast-growing European technology start-up ready to scale.
• Have a product / service leverage digital technology applied to industry, cities, wellbeing, infrastructure or finance.
• Already have market traction, customers and revenue.
• Be growing at a double-digit pace or faster.
• Require support in international customer acquisition and fundraising.

The 2019 programme closes on 14 June 2019.

Further information can be found by following the link:  2019 EIT Digital Challenge Fund

Corporate Finance specialist Stephen Reed has been promoted to partner at regional chartered accountancy practice Price Bailey. Based in their Thorpe St Andrew office, Stephen joined Price Bailey in May 2012 as Corporate Finance Director, and over the past two years he has been key to the development of the firm’s Corporate Finance offering not only in Norwich but across the whole of East Anglia.

Stephen’s wealth of specialist knowledge and experience has proven invaluable to a number of local businesses, including SignsExpress whom Stephen advised on last year’s management buyout and the owners of SK Sales which was sold to SIG plc. Stephen joins Daren Moore, Aaron Widdows, Richard Day and John Warren to bring the total number of Norwich-based partners to 5.

Commenting on his promotion, Stephen said: “I am delighted to be in a position to help with the continued development of Price Bailey’s corporate finance proposition. the team and our service offering have grown significantly over the past two years. As the largest SME-focussed Corporate Finance team based in East Anglia, we’re perfectly placed to help business owners and investors take advantage of market opportunities – whether this is by helping to grow businesses through acquisition, better planning and investment or by achieving optimum value from their business sale.”

Stephen would be delighted to hear from any fellow Chamber members who are looking to develop their business to discuss how hecan help. Please call on 01603 709330 or email [email protected]

Further information about the many ways in which our Corporate Finance team can help are featured on our website at www.pricebailey.co.uk/services/corporate-finance

Now in its 11th year, East Anglian recruitment agency Cooper Lomaz have released their annual Salary Survey and Recruitment Trends report.

The report, which presents findings from over 2,800 individuals across the East of England working within the technical and professional sectors, is now available to download from their website – https://www.cooperlomaz.co.uk/salary-survey-2019/

Simon Brown, Managing Director of Cooper Lomaz, said:  “In producing this annual report our goal is simple; to provide an unrivalled and unbiased insight into recruitment trends from the past twelve months from across our region.”

In addition to salary statistics for the Accounting & Finance, Engineering, Food Manufacturing, IT, Sales & Marketing, and Supply Chain sectors, this year’s report also highlights recruitment trends and hot topics including the gender pay gap. We found an alarming difference between the amount of money earned by men and women in the sectors we operate. Shockingly, we calculated that September 19th 2019 will be the day that the average women will stop earning their annual salary compared to men.

Simon added “This year we’ve discussed in more detail some challenging and thought-provoking trends. There are insight and analysis within the report which I suspect will make some feel uncomfortable, challenged and even possibly lead to difficult conversations. However, I believe that such debate is good for business, good for employees and ultimately good for the region.”

The effect of salary on satisfaction levels is another topic which showed some interesting insight. Can money buy love? According to the data, it appears not – well, at least not on its own. The report shows that training actually plays a key role in supporting a satisfied workforce.

The strong growth seen in the IT sector shows no sign of abating and we’re seeing an ever-increasing demand and competition for skilled candidates. 2019 will also see the continued rise of Digi-Tech start-ups and SMEs with Norfolk actually outstripping Suffolk and Cambridge for growth in the sector. It’s these companies who stand the greater chance of attracting top talent as they tend to offer more flexible working hours, the latest technologies and project ownership. It’ll be vital for established organisations to remain competitive by embracing modern working preferences and by recognising the value of their current IT and infrastructure employees.

For the first time in over 5 years, nearly one in four people do not feel secure in their current roles. The reason? While it would be easy to blame this trend on the wider economic and political landscape, it’s clear that businesses should be communicating with their employees about how any changes could affect them personally. For more insights into recruitment trends, download your copy of the Salary Survey and Recruitment Trends report now by visiting https://www.cooperlomaz.co.uk/salary-survey-2019/, or speak to one of their consultants on 01284 701302 | 01603 766760 | 01206 984321