Member News

On Tuesday March 4th Investors in People (IIP) accredited Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) with its prestigious Silver Award, calling the firm a “rewarding and positive place to work”.

With offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich, Pure is the only recruitment business in the East of England to have been awarded silver accreditation, according to the latest IIP records.

Investors in People is a management framework for high performance through people. This prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence. The IIP assessment recognised Pure as an organisation with a strong vision and purpose, operating within a “supportive” and “empowering” culture. Pure’s strengths were identified as: involving staff in planning and strategy; creating a culture of openness and trust; a strong social responsibility ethos; an openness to new ideas and continuous improvement; and the provision of a range of work-life balance solutions. These have all created a proud and committed workforce.

Gill Buchanan, Director of Pure, says: “The national IIP Silver Award means a great deal to us as it demonstrates that the relationships we have with our people enables them to build the long-term, positive relationships with our clients and candidates.

“In recent years, we have been very focused on employee engagement, which has enabled us to grow with our values at the heart of the business,” explains Lynn Walters, also a Director at Pure and a co-founder of the Best Employer initiative. She adds: “We have awarded many local organisations for their excellent engagement strategies, and it feels very rewarding to receive the IIP Silver accreditation, which tells us that our own engagement practices are very successful.”

Pure has been working with an IIP specialist from EMB Excellence Ltd (emb-x), the organisation that delivers the IIP service for central England.

Neil Farish, Head of Marketing for emb-x, says: “Pure is a strong business that is professionally managed by directors who strongly believe in the value of developing people and creating an open, honest and positive working environment.Pure is a good example of an IIP organisation in that they clearly see the business benefits of embedding key values that support future success.”

Pure is succeeding in digital staff engagement too. The firm has just won the first annual Jostle Award for its vibrant and engaging intranet, which celebrates its people, and reflects its knowledge and values. The firm’s intranet receives an enviable 80% or more engagement level each week.

For more information about Pure’s IIP Silver Award and its Jostle Award, contact Gill Buchanan on 01223 209888 or [email protected]

Great Yarmouth based True Traders have bought local courier consolidators Diamond Logistics Norwich after being the largest customer of the company for over a year. True Traders were so impressed with the transformation of their operations after partnering with Diamond Logistics Norwich that they decided to buy the company!

Previously owned by Kevin Baker, Diamond Logistics Norwich are a Multi-Carrier Solution for parcels. It utilises national contracts with most major courier and logistics companies, which allow significantly lower rates than can be achieved individually.

True Traders is a family run online retailer that specialise in building, garden and outdoor products. Managing Director Michael Bezance explained the investment: ‘Given how Diamond Logistics Norwich have changed the way we work, and the potential within the company, once the opportunity presented itself to us it was a very easy decision to make. For True Traders to continue our rapid growth we have to compete with the big online retailers like Amazon, Tescos, B&Q etc, and Diamond Logistics Norwich has allowed us to do just that. The business has reduced our costs, while significantly increasing levels of service both for the customer and from the courier. We liked the company so much we just had to buy it!’

New Managing Director of Diamond Logistics Norwich Tom Bezance said ‘Kevin has done a great job with the company so far, but we felt that with the resources within True Traders we stood a very good chance of growing the company rapidly. The ‘MultiCarrier Solutions’ service can benefit many local small and medium sized businesses, taking away a lot of the cost and hassle of sending parcels and allowing them to spend more time growing the business. This is already a proven formula for True Traders for both UK deliveries and abroad.

Tom and experienced Business Development Manager Chris Wilson hope to see the company flourish in the future. ‘We hope to quickly increase our customer base in the Norwich and Great Yarmouth areas to begin with, we know there are plenty of businesses out there that would benefit considerably from our services.’

For 2 years now our Operations Director Francesca de Lacey has been going on about her love of reusable nappies, and her despair over the lack of information for parents about the options available.

So imagine her delight when JMS was approached by the owner of one of the UK’s biggest reusable brands – Little Lamb Nappies – to create some professional promotional videos.

Being herself a user of cloth nappies and the brand, Francesca was the perfect choice to front the productions – a first for a reusable nappy brand – and show, ‘mum-to-mum’, how they work.Covering the 3 main types (One Size Pocket, Sized Pocket and Nappy & Wrap) the films introduce the numerous benefits, look, absorbency and fit of cloth nappies.

Filming took place in our TV studio in Norwich with one day shooting presenter links and a second day capturing the antics of 6 ‘cloth bum baby’ models for the title sequences.

The short films are a great introduction to this growing market and JMS has loved working with this fantastic brand and shooting with a bunch of funny, crazy and unpredictable youngsters! (oh, and the babies too….!)

Local insurance brokers and financial planners Alan Boswell Group (ABG) have announced they will be supporting ‘Break’ as their Charity of the Year for 2015. Break, a Norfolk based charity has been providing a diverse range of specialist residential and community based services for vulnerable children, young people and families across East Anglia for over 45 years.

Alan Boswell Group have committed to sponsoring two dragons in this year’s GoGoDragons! Heritage Trail around Norwich City centre before the dragons are auctioned off for the charity and will also be taking part in Break’s other events including the Hunny Bell Cross Country and the Great Norwich Duck Race in August.

Additionally the Group will be hosting a golf day at Costessey Park for corporate guests and hoping to improve on their own performance in the annual ‘Boswell Cup’, an inter-business football tournament held at Carrow Road in May. Various raffles, cake sales and dress down days will boost the coffers in what, the Group hope, will be another bumper year in terms of charitable giving.

Director of Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers, Heath Alexander-Bew, said: “Raising money for charity is a really simple way of helping our local community whilst building team spirit. It is a classic win-win situation and we’re really pleased to be able to support Break during one of their biggest fund raising years ever.

“GoGoDragons! promises to be an incredible event and we’re really pleased to be a part of it. We’ve chosen to take part in the Heritage trail to help highlight the incredible buildings whilst building stronger links with the community.”

Martin Green, Project Manager at Break, reiterated Heath’s comments “Our charitable events always prove immensely popular, especially the Norwich Duck Race. It’s a great way for people to enjoy a day out whilst helping others at the same time.

“We’re obviously thrilled to have Alan Boswell Group commit to their fund raising events this year on behalf of Break and are looking forward to a successful partnership.”

GoGoDragons! is a Wild in Art event brought to Norwich by Break charity. You can find out more about GoGoDragons! By visiting the dedicated website or searching GoGoDragons! on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

About Alan Boswell Group

Alan Boswell Group (ABG) is a Chartered Insurance Brokers and regional Independent Financial Planners with over 220 staff based across five locations – Norwich, Attleborough, Bury St Edmunds, Peterborough and London. Established in 1982 the company offers a wide range of insurance broking and financial services from landlords’ insurance and self-drive hire to pensions, protection and investment advice. Alan Boswell Group are proud sponsors of NCFC and look after the insurance for the Championship Club.

Visit www.alanboswellgroup.com for more information

Superman joins the Swarm Team

Swarm is really pleased to welcome Chris Reeve (Superman) who has become the newest member of the Operations team here at Swarm HQ here in Wymondham.

Chris has been involved with Swarm unofficially for over a year as he is coming to the end of his enterprise apprenticeship working with Robert Aston, the founder of Swarm. Now due to Swarm’s growth he has officially has moved over in a duel role in supporting the operations team and growing new business opportunities.

Chris Perry, Swarm’s Managing Director, said, “I am happy that Chris has joined us officially as he will be fantastic addition to the team that always go above and beyond in matching the right candidates for our employers positions.

As a Swarm apprentice, Chris Reeve really embodies the enterprising characteristics of Swarm and as such, he has already proven his ability to encourage businesses in taking on young people to support their organisations. There really is no better way to encourage businesses to take on apprentices when the person they’re talking to is an apprentice themselves.

With a name like Chris Reeve, I have very high hopes for him and I am sure that he will be dedicated to the role when he is not donning his red cape and saving the world.”

On joining the company, Chris Reeve commented, “I am delighted to officially join the Swarm Apprenticeships team. Since becoming an apprentice I’ve become extremely passionate about the brand and the direction in which the organisation is moving. I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting stuck into the role and getting to know more people in the local business community.”

Chris Reeve will be out in the business community at events so please look out for him (minus spandex) and hear his apprenticeship story. Who knows, you may just want one yourself.

Ends

It’s a pivotal year in the Ideal Home Shows more than 100 year history, with 2015 seeing the show return to Olympia for the first time since 1978. A change of venue brings a whole new set of challenges for an event of any size, not least one the scale of the Ideal Home Show. As a result, the show management team were keen to quickly assess visitor experiences and to do so, chose to partner with Zing for their 2015 spring event insights.

Zing Director, Lisa Holt said “We are thrilled to be working with award winning event organiser Media 10 on such a prestigious event in such a landmark year. Our approach incorporates our unique iPad research pods, which mean we’re able to provide daily visitor experience feedback during the show and we’ll supplement this further with post-show online research.”

Holt continued “We’ve worked with some amazing event brands since our launch in 2011 and are keen to continue to build our events portfolio. We’ve recently re-launched our website (www.zinginsights.com) to help us to demonstrate our expertise and the benefits of working with qualified research professionals.

Our very happy client base has been kind enough to spread the word about working with Zing through referral and recommendation. We know they’re happy because we conduct our own customer research which helps us to make sure that we’re delivering the best product and service possible.”

Ideal Home Show Marketing Manager, Jo Bowry said “We chose to work with Zing because of their multi-layered approach to research, which suits our need for both on site and post show surveys at the show this year. With the show in a new venue, our customer insights will be more valuable than ever before to ensure we are delivering the high level of visitor experience that the show is renowned for and we are pleased that Zing are on board to help us deliver this.’

Digital marketing agency, Bigfork have redesigned the website for the Norfolk Car Club which provides new Volkswagen cars and vans for members to drive on a pay-as-you-go basis. Norfolk Car Clubvehiclesare operated by Co-wheels – a not for profit community interest company which is establishing a network of car clubs across the UK.Norfolk Car Club is supported by Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Transportand other partners.The aim of the club is to help:

• Reduce your transport costs
• Provide you with greater access to transport
• Reduce your transport related carbon emissions

The new website is responsive to ensure that it can be viewed across desktops, tablets and mobiles and has an improved navigation to make it easy for customers to find their nearest Car Club car. You can see the site at www.norfolkcarclub.com

Bigfork – we make websites standoutwww.bigfork.co.uk t:01603 513080

A study undertaken of more than 25,000 people has deemed that drinking more than 5 cups of coffee per day can prevent heart attacks. Read more on the article detailed below issued earlier today by Sky News.

https://news.sky.com/story/1437336/coffee-prevents-heart-attacks-study-says

When new magazine OMG! needed a set of TV commercials to promote the launch of their weekly magazine for women, they turned to JMS to make it happen.

Being new to TV they wanted a company that could guide them through any potential pitfalls with Clearcast (the body responsible for approving commercials for broadcast) and produce a series of commercials very cost-effectively using a simple sonic ident and a strong call to action. The commercials needed to echo the brand, bring a smile to the viewers face and create a strong recall when it came to seeing the magazine in stores.

Incorporating images from the magazine and some eye-catching headlines, the 6 commercials will be playing out across the UK on a variety of terrestrial and satellite channels.

You can pick up your copy at all good newsagents Nationwide – OMG!

Our wind project at Ysgellog Farm in Anglesey won the category for Outstanding Green Energy Project at the Wales Green Energy Awards held yesterday. Our Ysgellog Farm wind turbines were recognised mainly because of our commitment to retain economic benefits within Anglesey during the construction period.

This is what we’d like to create the same for our two turbine project near Sporle which will be decided by Breckland District Council following our planning application submissionin February 2014.

We hope you like viewing the video for our award winning wind turbines.The Enercon turbines are 92.5m to tip, and are expected to generate electricity for over 3,000 homes.

Specialised Management Services Ltd (SMS), a leading service provider and manufacturer of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical control systems, will be exhibiting at the EEEGR event “SNS 2015: The Sea of Opportunity” held at the Royal Norfolk Showground, Norwich.

The event is held over two days, 4th& 5thMarch 2015. With 77 exhibitors and an anticipated footfall of over 500 people, the event has been deemed as the most important conference for the offshore energy industry in the East of England.

SMS will be promoting its range of offshore and onshore services as well as showcasing their products to local customers. SMS will also demonstrate its full project and multi-disciplined engineering capabilities which have enabled the SMS team to successfully secure a high number of orders in the region.

In recent years SMS’s operations department have seen an increase in the requirement for offshore labour. SMS are fully equipped to service this demand and can provide comprehensive and cost effective operations that will be delivered by fully trained, highly skilled and experienced technicians.

Gary Morrow, Business Development Director, comments, “SMS has a good reputation of delivering quality solutions and services that meet the specific requirements of our customers both internationally and within the southern North Sea. We are pleased to be attending SNS again as it is a highly targeted event which allows us the opportunity to speak to attendees more intimately than bigger oil and gas tradeshows.”

Gary continues by saying, “We look forward to discussing with our existing and potential customers how we can support them locally now and into the future”.

For more information on SMS and its products and services you can visit the sales team at stand B15 at the SNS2015 event, Norwich from 4th-5thMarch 2015.

In attendance are: Phil Turner (Sales Manager, Hose and Components), Joe Carter (Sales Manager, Operations) and Emily Phillips (Sales and Marketing Coordinator, Projects).

To book a meeting please contact Emily on [email protected]

Freebridge Community Housing has been named on the Best Not-For-Profit Organisation to Work For Sunday Times list for the second year running.

Appearing in 62nd place, the announcement was made at an event in London on 25th February where the Best Not-for-Profit companies list was unveiled for the first time.

The West Norfolk based housing and community organisation also retained their One Star accreditation, which had previously been awarded in 2014, meaning it continues to be ‘very good’ at employee engagement.

Tony Hall, Chief Executive of Freebridge said: “To find out that we have made the Best Not-for-Profit companies to work for list, for the second year running is fantastic.

“We want our employees to feel happy, supported and engaged and by appearing on this list, retaining our One Star accreditation, we can be confident that we are achieving this.

“The feedback we received from the process last year has been used to introduce some new schemes and ways of working. As an organisation we are committed to continuous improvement and ensuring opportunities are available to everyone, which ultimately benefits our tenants and the wider community.”

The Best Companies process assesses companies on themes such as Leadership, My Team, Wellbeing, Personal Growth, Giving Something Back and My Manager. As well as staff surveys, Freebridge also completed an extensive questionnaire which provides an overview of the organisation. The feedback has been analysed with new initiatives being brought in throughout the organisation as a direct result.