Member News

Norwich-based business telecoms company, Comms Supply, has launched ‘Bid for the Box’: a chance for businesses to take part in an email auction to win the use of a corporate box at Norwich City Football Club for the match on 18 January 2014, when Norwich faces Hull.

Former Norwich City player, and professional boxer, Leon McKenzie will be the winning bidder’s special guest in the box: making it a truly unique prize. All proceeds from the auction – which is open until 4 December – will go to Norfolk charity The Benjamin Foundation.

The ‘Bid for the Box’ auction is the first event in a year-long charity partnership between Comms Supply and The Benjamin Foundation. The EDP Future50 company has pledged to raise at least £5,000 for the charity over the next 12 months, to support its work with children, young people and families.

Recently shortlisted in the EDP Business Awards One to Watch category, Comms Supply launched in early 2012, providing customers across East Anglia – and beyond – with a range of business telecoms services: from basic phone or broadband line rental to complete systems.

Karl Alderton, the managing director of Comms Supply, explained the thinking behind the company’s new relationship with The Benjamin Foundation. “When I launched Comms Supply almost two years ago, I knew I wanted to ensure that we contributed to our community wherever possible. Our team has taken part in various fundraising and community-focused activities over the last 18 months but we’ve now decided to take a more focused approach.

“The whole team sat down together to talk about what type of charity we would like to support and we all wanted to focus on children and young people. When we started to find out more about The Benjamin Foundation, on some level we could all identify with the work it does,” explains Karl.

Whilst The Benjamin Foundation provides a wide range of services across Norfolk, from homeless hostels for young people to affordable childcare, Comms Supply is particularly keen to support the Time4You service. Trained Benjamin Foundation support workers spend one on one time with children and teenagers in schools across the county.

“The Foundation helps young people make sense of really difficult situations and experiences; things like family break-up, bullying or abuse,” continues Karl. “With the support, care and kindness of the charity these young people are able to see a future and begin to be happy again. The average age of the Comms Supply team is only 25 so we can all remember how tough life can be when you’re experiencing hard times as a child: you feel you have no control and don’t really understand why things aren’t right. The Benjamin Foundation works hard to provide every single one of the people who use its services with hope, opportunity, stability and independence and we’re really committed to helping them.”

Over the next year the ten-strong team at Comms Supply will be embarking on a range of fundraising activities: from running marathons to baking cakes.

“We have purchased a corporate box at Norwich City Football club for the rest of this season,” continues Karl Alderton. “We’ll be auctioning this off for the Norwich v Hull game which takes place on 18th January and all the proceeds will go to The Benjamin Foundation. Local businesses, organisations or even groups of friends will be able to bid for the right to take over the box, which has space for 10 guests, and we’ll provide a hot buffet and generous bar tab. This package is worth at least £1300, but what makes it even more special is that Norwich City legend Leon McKenzie will join the party for the match.”

The Benjamin Foundation was founded after the tragic death of Ben Draper who was just 17. His parents, Richard and Vanessa Draper, wanted to celebrate his life in a way that would help other young people.

Richard Draper, founder and chief executive of The Benjamin Foundation, said; “We are so grateful that the team at Comms Supply have selected The Benjamin Foundation as their first ever charity of the year. As a young entrepreneur Karl has achieved a huge amount in the past two years through hard work, determination and tenacity: I know that many of the young people who use our services will find him a real inspiration.”

The online auction for use of the Comms Supply corporate box at Norwich City on 18th January 2014 will open at 8am on Wednesday 20 November 2013 and close at 8pm on Wednesday 4 December 2013. Comms Supply will be asking for bids to start at £400. Full details of the package and auction process can be found at www.commssupply.co.uk.

If you would like to get involved with the Comms Supply’s year of fundraising for The Benjamin Foundation, please visit www.commsupply.co.uk for more information or call Karl Alderton on 0333 2020 900.

For more information about The Benjamin Foundation visit www.benjaminfoundation.co.uk.

East Norfolk Sixth Form College will introduce a new BTEC Level 3 Engineering Course in September 2014. The introduction of the course is prompted by the growing needs of local economy. As we are very dedicated to providing the best educational opportunities to our students, improving services to the community and working with close partnership with local businesses we want to ensure our offer benefits young people and their future employers equally. This stakeholder meeting will offer a platform for dialogue, contribution and partnership about the units we should offer and areas of shortage. We ask that you recognise the value of having a say in the education provided to your prospective workforce by attending the meeting.

Book your place with Kasia Beblot by Friday 6 December Email:[email protected] or telephone 01493 662234

Staff at Norwich based Waveney Insurance Brokers wore onesies and pyjamas to work on Friday to raise money for Children in Need. Others baked Pudsey themed cakes and other assorted goodies which were sold with proceeds contributing to the £234 total raised.

Colleagues at Waveney’s Lowestoft branch joined in with a dress down day and Managers making tea and coffee throughout the day in return for donations.

Schemes Managing Director David Malone said ‘It was all a bit of light hearted fun in the name of a good cause. We’re aware of several local community based projects that have benefitted from the support they’ve received from Children in Need and are always happy to do our bit’.

Norwich International Airport is inviting all businesses in the region to help deliver greater choice of direct business flights to key domestic and European business centres from its local airport.

The aim? – Improved connectivity from their local airport, helping their business to grow more efficiently. To achieve this, business input into new route development is vital and the airport is asking businesses to engage with the airport so we can deliver the air links which local businesses and their business partners need.

To realise this the airport needs local businesses to help them inform airlines of where they need to fly to from Norwich, their local airport and to this end would be grateful if as many business people as possible could spend no more than 60 seconds of their time completing a very basic multiple choice on-line survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K8RSF7T

As a thank you for completing the survey, contact details will be entered into a prize draw for a valuable prize – 50 business lounge tickets for your company to use when travelling from Norwich International Airport. The survey will run until 22nd November 2013 and the winner will be notified on 29th November 2013 and the prize will be valid for 12 months from this date.

Bernard Matthews, Britain’s No.1 turkey producer, has today announced an exciting brand refresh, to coincide with the retailer Back to School season. Supported by a multimedia campaign that will cover national press, outdoor, online and in-store, the new food-focused look, starting with cooked meats, will begin rolling out to all major supermarkets from 8 August 2013.

The new activity includes:

• A new modern Bernard Matthews logo
• An eye catching new pack design for all its cooked meats, frozen and fresh breaded poultry products
• Innovative new cooked meat lines
• Million pound marketing investment.

The contemporary new logo and pack design gives the brand a new identity and provides excellent visibility on shelf. The new design has also been developed to reinforce the brand’s provenance and quality, its farming heritage and showcase the great taste and versatility of the products.

At the same time, Bernard Matthews is also introducing new flavours to its cooked meat lines starting with Wafer Thin Turkey Curry and Hickory Smoked Turkey Breast Slices. The first press ads will kick off in October, supported by outdoor, digital and in-store activity.

The new packaging will also include the Government’s new traffic light labelling system to help people make healthier choices.

Deborah Ewan, Bernard Matthews Commercial Director, says “Our new brand refresh gives the brand a distinctive new look, excellent stand out on shelf and a real point of difference. It also reinforces our farming heritage and product provenance, something that customers have continually told us is important to them. It is also essential that we support and create awareness of the new branding, and so we are delighted to be running a million pound campaign to showcase this new look and the launch of exciting new products. “

Petans are running a schools competition to design a new livery for our helicopter. We would like an aspiring graphic designer / artist from a local school to give it a fresh new look! In return we are offering the winning student a summer design internship and cash prizes to the schools with the top three entries.

Petans is a registered charity and one of our aims is to invest our time and resources into education and skills. We are undertaking this project to raise awareness amongst school children of the oil and gas and wider energy sector in Norfolk and Suffolk. We feel it is important that local children are aware of what industries are on their doorstep and the opportunities that are available to them for future careers. We would like the competition and internship to provide a platform for an aspiring young graphic designer to develop a portfolio for their future career.

We are inviting selected schools to fill the first 4 places, with the 5th place being offered as part of a competition at “Choose your future” on 28th November at the Norfolk Showground.

We are delighted to announce that from 1 November 2013 Cole & Co Solicitors will join forces with Leathes Prior Solicitors.

This is very exciting for Leathes Prior and by welcoming the Cole & Co team the firm will add strength in depth to its Conveyancing and Private Client teams enabling the firm to offer an improved range of legal services to its clients. For the clients of the former firm of Cole & Co, not only will they know that they are still able to call on the services of those who they have dealt with at Cole & Co over many years, they will also benefit from access to a wider range of services whether through the firm’s Commercial & Corporate, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Family or Corporate Recovery teams.

Leathes Prior will operate from its 3 offices; the existing Cole & Co office in Tombland will house the firm’s centre for the Conveyancing team, the existing Leathes Prior office in Tombland will remain its Commercial & Corporate office and all other teams will operate from Leathes Prior premises in the Cathedral Close.

Mike Barlow Managing Partner of Leathes Prior said:

The Partners and staff of Leathes Prior are very pleased to welcome David Clarke and his team into the fold. I am sure that the clients of our combined firms will very much benefit from this exciting venture which reflects the confidence that the firm has in the strength of the legal sector and the economic outlook for the region.

David Clarke, Partner, formerly of Cole & Co, adds:

I and the staff of Cole & Co are delighted to have joined forces with Leathes Prior. Not only will this further strengthen our highly regarded and successful conveyancing and private client teams, but it will also allow our clients access to Leathes Prior’s renowned expertise in a wide range of legal services. It is a ‘perfect fit’ for both firms.

Leading independent vehicle and contract hire company Burnt Tree has today achieved its target of working 1 million working hours without any reportable accidents or incidents at either its Shrewsbury head office or any of its 18 branches in England, Scotland and Wales.

Having achieved this first target of 1 million working hours, Burnt Tree is now planning to reach its second target of 2 million accident and incident free working hours across all the company premises.

Announcing details of this significant milestone, Richard Metcalfe, Chief Executive at Burnt Tree said, “Following the RIDDOR guidelines laid down by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), we have been able to achieve this impressive target by raising the awareness of hazard identification internally and proactively managing accident and incident rates, companywide.”

It was in February 2012 that the last reportable incident took place at Burnt Tree. The launch of a ‘Zero Accident’ campaign, aligned to the company’s core values, has also had a significant additional impact on the minor injuries frequency at the company, which have reduced by 34% over the corresponding period.

“This important initiative was designed to encourage Burnt Tree staff to become more aware of the consequences and impact of accidents in the workplace. By actively participating in the changing of the culture towards HS&E, our staff have been the driving force behind this marked improvement in the last 18 months,” added Richard Metcalfe.

RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 – is part of the Health & Safety Executive’s programme that puts emphasis on businesses to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).

Burnt Tree is the UK’s largest independent commercial vehicle rental and contract hire company, offering the widest range of vehicles in the industry, all backed by flexible products that put its customers in control. The company operates a 15,000-strong fleet out of 18 strategically located sites throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

Refrigerental’, the brand-new dedicated temperature controlled vehicle rental operation from leading independent vehicle hire company Burnt Tree, made a triumphant debut at this years’ leading industry specific trade show, TCS&D 2013 in Peterborough.

Visitors to the stand were attracted not only by the offer of free ‘Refrigerental’ branded tubs of ice cream but also by the news of the launch by Burnt Tree of its comprehensive range of brand-new, state-of-the-art temperature controlled rental vehicles, ranging from car derived vans and panel vans, right up to 18tonne and 26tonne rigid trucks, covering both single and multi-temperature applications.

Burnt Tree’s Contract Hire Director Mark Howell said, “Following an extensive and detailed market appraisal, we felt that there was a major opportunity for Burnt Tree to expand its vehicle rental business into the temperature controlled market sector. The overwhelmingly positive reaction of visitors to the stand proved that we are on the right road with Refrigerental and we left the 2 day show with substantial new customer interest in our refrigerated vehicle rental business proposition.”

All the refrigerated vans and trucks in the Refrigerental fleet are brand-new 63 plate models, covering vehicle sizes from small vans up to 26tonne rigids, and as Mark Howell explains, “We have carefully chosen a comprehensive range of vehicle types and models to give customers the optimum choice of vehicles covering the majority of temperature controlled applications from chill to heavy chill and deep frozen. Refrigerental vans and trucks are available with a choice of single and multi-temperature refrigeration systems, and each vehicle uniquely features Silent refrigeration kits fitted as standard, making them ideal for typical noise sensitive urban deliveries.”

After being shortlisted for Best Small Business of the Year the Naked Marketing team decided to make an evening of it. All of the team got dolled up in there glad rags and headed to the Royal Norfolk Showground ready to enjoy the glitz and glamour of our first Eastern Daily Press Business Awards.

The EDP Business Awards have been showcasing the very best of Norfolk’s businesses for over 20 years and is regarded highly within the region.

The Small Business of the Year category, sponsored by Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is open to all businesses with an annual turnover of less than £1million and businesses should be able to demonstrate a passion to grow a sustainable business, underpinned by a strong financial performance through strong leadership.

It is fair to say we were thrilled to be a finalist alongside R A Brown Heating Services and Credo Asset Finance. As the evening progressed the team became more and more relaxed fuelled by great food and wine. Whereas I think it is fair to say that as the evening progressed Directors Ben and David became more and more tense as the award category got nearer and nearer.

When Naked Marketing were announced as the winners in this category it is fair to say the whole Naked team were over the moon. Ben and David were delighted to accept the ridiculously heavy trophy from Ian Hacon president of the Norfolk Chamber before a few light hearted questions were fired their way by the evenings compare Stuart White.

After a quick foray back stage to have photographs taken with the sponsors a much more relaxed Ben and David returned to their table in time to enjoy the final award of the evening, overall Best Business of the Year sponsored by Barclays the three finalists due to be announced on the evening.

Their faces were a picture as Naked Marketing was announced as a finalist in this most prestigious of all the categories. Ben and David found themselves on the stage sandwiched between two power houses of Norfolk business in Blue Sky Leisure and Pasta Foods. This award was won by Blue Sky Leisure but for all of team Naked it was just fantastic to be in the spotlight and felt almost as good as winning.

Business telecoms mavericks, Comms Supply, attended the Eastern Daily Press Business Awards last night; one of three Norfolk companies shortlisted in the Future50 One to Watch category. The awards event took place on Thursday 7 November 2013 at the Royal Norfolk Showground.

The EDP Business Awards showcase the very best in Norfolk’s business community, honouring the achievements of individual companies and highlighting the region’s strength and depth. The Future50 One to Watch category, sponsored by NWES, is for early-stage firms able to demonstrate a pioneering approach to business and the potential to flourish and deliver impressive results. Judges look for evidence of drive, impact, vision and potential in assessing the finalists.

Comms Supply provides a wide range of business telecoms services: from comprehensive phone, mobile and broadband packages to simple line rental. Karl Alderton founded the company because he firmly believed that other telecoms suppliers simply weren’t up to scratch in terms of the service they supplied and their approach to customer relations.

Dramatic profits and upselling on individual jobs are not the focus for Comms Supply. Instead, clients are recommended solutions which meet their specific needs. The Comms Supply aim is to foster long-term relationships with clients and this extends to the total lack of automated answerphone messages within the business. When a customer calls, they immediately speak to a real person: if there is a problem the Comms Supply team ensures that clients are updated regularly. Unlike other suppliers, when wholesale telecoms costs dropped, Karl passed these price reductions on to his existing customers. “I believe that customers deserve the very best service and prices we can provide,” he explains. “That’s the only way we will secure their loyalty and have the opportunity to stay with them as their businesses grow.”

Comms Supply has been punching above its weight since day one. Karl works tirelessly to ensure that his clients have access to the best technology available; partnering with some of the world’s leading manufacturers to develop new systems that allow smaller businesses to integrate cloud-based phone systems into their operations.

The two other shortlisted businesses in the One to Watch category were Eco Classrooms based in Thorpe, which manufactures sustainable buildings, and Zing Insights, a market research consultancy located in Tharston. The award was won by Eco Classrooms.

“We were so chuffed to make it to the final of the Future 50 One To Watch category alongside Eco Classrooms and Zing Insights,” says Karl. “Even though we didn’t win this year, we’ve been really inspired to set our sights even higher: we’ll be pulling out all the stops to make the next 12 months even more successful for both us and our clients. The great news is that three of our clients won awards last night. Naked Marketing won Small Business of the Year, Blue Sky Leisure won Business of the Year and Liftshare won Outstanding IT initiative. We’re all about helping our clients to achieve amazing results so seeing them win is almost as good as winning ourselves.”

Karl explains more about the Comms Supply approach: “Many telecoms suppliers are tied to particular manufacturers. This means they have a limited number of products to choose from and can end up recommending products which suit them – and their profit margins – rather than their customers. Comms Supply is totally independent so, once we’ve spent time finding out what our customers want to achieve, we can provide our customers with the solutions that are completely right for them. Our way of working is quite different from many of our competitors but an open, honest approach is fundamental to our customers’ satisfaction and our business success.”

To find out more about the range of services that Comms Supply provides, or to arrange a free business telecoms audit, please call 0333 2020 900 or visit www.commssupply.co.uk.

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