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Food Safety Level 3 Course

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Breakwater IT, a leading IT support and technology solutions company, has announced the promotion of John Gostling to Operations Director. John joined Breakwater in 2012 as a senior engineer before becoming Service Desk Manager and most recently Operations Manager, a position he has held since July 2013. The move to Operations Director will reinforce the Executive team at Breakwater, helping to deliver the company’s commitment to high levels of customer service and reliable IT solutions.

Commenting on the news Peter Davies, Chairman of Breakwater IT said “I am very pleased to confirm the appointment of John Gostling as Operations Director. John has worked for Breakwater for 2 years now and has a great mix of technical knowledge and practical business experience. He is popular with our clients and staff alike and has the strategic vision to take the company to the next level.”

Prior to joining Breakwater IT John held a number of positions within the IT industry, both within the East Anglian region and in London. John brings 16 years of experience in IT support and solutions, including a wealth of technical knowledge and account management. His move to Director will provide the platform from which to drive Breakwater’s pledge to provide customised solutions for their clients, using a mix of tried and tested and, where appropriate, new technology.

As Operations Director John will also address the growing issue of security problems that all companies now face. Breakwater sees security as a key focus and is dedicating resources to find reliable solutions for their clients; John said “security problems are growing and we need to be in a position to mitigate these, Breakwater will be using cutting edge security technology to manage passwords to applications, whether they are Cloud based or on premise.”

About Breakwater

Breakwater was founded in 2005 and has established itself as an efficient and highly reliable IT services provider for both the SME and corporate market place. Their experienced team of analysts and account managers are based at the Meridian Business Park in Norwich. Breakwater’s services range from IT consultancy and support to bespoke technology solutions and a dedicated business telecoms division.

Brent Council did. UEA graduate Leeana Pitt contacted UEA’s Research and Enterprise Services to help with a customer service training need in 2013.

Leanna was put in touch with *Cast, UEA’s role-play services company, who were asked to deliver a series of 22 role-play sessions aimed at improving the communication skills of Brent’s social workers.

The resultant training was such a resounding success that Brent Council saw an increase in ‘excellent’ customer experiences from 58 to 73 per cent with no poor customer experiences recorded at all after the sessions.

The Customer Service training, which received consistently positive feedback from the delegates, was based on a review of the current performance of a group of 200 social workers, care assessors and contact agents. The review highlighted the need for a more reflective social care practice when communicating with customers, and the importance of a diverse ability to adapt communication styles depending on the needs, age, and culture of the client.

*Cast works with businesses to deliver communication, presentation and customer service skills training by providing realistic, simulated customer-service environments. The commercial company, led by Val Taylor of UEA’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, employs students, graduates and professional actors to perform scripted role-play scenarios built around each company’s specific needs.

“Cast were professional, flexible and co-operative to work with. They delivered an excellent quality of service and talented actors, who worked hard to meet our specific requirements to ensure the sessions were as successful as possible.” Leeana Pitt, Team Manager, Brent Council.

*Cast is just one area where UEA has been able to help an organisation find a business solution, to find out how we can help you, contact business@uea.ac.uk, or +44 (0)1603 591578 or visit our website.

Following on from our auction of a rather unique piece of memorabilia signed by Brian Blessed, Norfolk at the Pictures was also selected to be our July Charity for our monthly #ESECharityDay.

Receiving 5% of our online profits on the last Friday of July the charity was presented with a cheque for £420.00, Marc Atkinson was kind enough to give us a tour of the cinema whilst he told us what the money raised will be used for.

The project aims to collect and preserve memories of cinema going in Norfolk as well as offering an educational aspect, both to schools and the general public. The funds will be used to renovate part of the building offering better facilities including a lift offering much improved disability access to their premises.

You can keep up to date with the charity by reading their blog,or following them on twitter and facebook.

We are set to expand our reach in the southern regions of East Anglia by opening a second office in Bury St Edmunds.

Serving clients nationwide, we have been supplying commercial insurance and risk management solutions from its Norfolk headquarters for over a century.

Having seen significant recent growth in our East Anglia client base outside Norfolk, Peter Foster, Managing Director, explained that a second branch was needed.

He said: “We have been keen to develop a base in Bury St Edmunds for some time so that we are nearer to our clients in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and can be more effectively integrated within their business communities. This is the right time to make the move.” With the new office set to open this September, the first new recruit at the Bury St Edmunds branch will be Joanne Hocking, who will join the company as an Account Executive to support the continued growth of our Community Broking division.

Joining the team from the Suffolk division insurance intermediary Towergate, Jo has spent her career in Bury St Edmunds and brings with her a wealth of local industry knowledge and connections. Commenting on her new role, Jo said: “I am very much looking forward to co-ordinating the growth of Hugh J Boswell’s Bury St Edmunds office and the exciting opportunities ahead.

NORWICH, Tuesday 4th November – YEAR ROUND SUNSHINE FROM YOUR LOCAL AIRPORT Leading package holiday specialist Thomson Holidays is once again offering year round holidays to Tenerife from your local airport. With a sub-tropical climate ensuring temperatures averaging 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. The first flight of the season departed on Sunday 2nd November and will operate weekly, including the festive period. Get away from the stresses that the festive season usually brings and escape on a flight from Norwich International on Sunday 21st December with Thomson holidays. . Christmas in Tenerife is always a very special time of year and a great alternative to celebrating at home. A great Christmas celebration can be achieved with many hotels and restaurants offering a traditional Christmas dinner and… you are guaranteed to see snow too, on the peak and slopes of Mt Teide. Andrew bell, CEO of Norwich International said:”Tenerife is one of the most popular destinations and offers everything the British holidaymaker looks for. We are very pleased Thomson is offering Tenerife as a year round destination from Norwich, giving passengers even more choice from their local airport.” For further details on holidays through the winter season including Christmas and New Year holidays in Tenerife from Norwich International contact your local travel agent or call Travel Norwich Airport on 01603 428700 or visit them at the airport or Norwich Castle Mall.

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Innovative Norwich chocolate maker Gnaw is challenging the general public to come up with four exciting new flavours for a brand new range of 50g chocolate bars.

Gnaw owner, Matt Legon, said: “Our chocolate is fun, original, and we have created a host of imaginative flavours such a Lemon Meringue, Banoffee Pie and Chilli & Lime! We want the new 50g bars to be just as enticing – so we thought we would run a competition to ask the region’s chocolate-loving public to put on their creative thinking caps and come up with some funky new flavours.”

Since it opened its creative kitchen in 2011, Gnaw has been phenomenally successful, and become globally recognised as one of the most innovative creators of fun, new chocolate ideas and the leader in its field. And, of course, it’s all handmade in Britain. They now have over 1000 outlets in the UK and export to 25 countries. Gnaw was also the winner of the EDP 2012 Best New Business Award.

With its compelling, colourful packaging and dedicated workforce of ‘squirrels’ who love their craft, Gnaw’s values are simple, but very effective – chocolate should be fun; only the finest ingredients will be used; and they will lead the way in terms of chocolate creativity and innovation.

“This competition is the chance for everyone – young and old – to indulge their wildest chocolate fantasy,” explains Matt Legon. “Maybe people dream of chocolate that tastes of their favourite dessert, or an exotic fruit, or something sweet from their childhood that they loved? We want people to imagine intriguing flavour combinations – so the call to action is; be creative, be innovative, make it fun, delicious and quirky.”

The four winners will each receive a hamper of Gnaw chocolate worth £50. They will also be invited to Gnaw’s creative kitchen in Norwich to see their new flavour being made into chocolate.

Matt Legon adds: “We’d love the public to help us continue to create the most exciting chocolate and be part of our success.”

To enter, send flavour ideas (one per email only) to chomp@gnawfolkchocolate.co.uk. For inspiration, go to www.gnawfolkchocolate.co.uk. Closing date 31 October 2014.

On the 18th of September, a joint celebration marked the official start of the Swarm Apprenticeships into Suffolk and the Fresh Aspirations Forum, an initiative helping young people fulfil their potential.

Addressing an audience that included councillors, youth leaders and EADT editor Terry Hunt, Robert Ashton and Chris Perry, of Swarm, explained their aim to offer young people entrepreneurial apprenticeships in a business setting “It’s fantastic to bring Swarm back to the place where for me the original idea of Swarm was conceived. It was during an apprenticeship focus group right here at the Framlingahm Technology centre that the concept of was born after hearing the feedback from the businesses taking part in the group.” Robert Ashton said.

Robert Ashton then went on to talk about the Swarm journey so far and introduced Chris Perry who had been recently appointed as Swarms new Managing Director. “Being a Swarm apprentice is about showing innovation, ability, aspiration and desire – not just following orders. said Chris Perry. “We coach our Enterprise apprentices to develop an intrepreneurial mind-set by encoraging them to want to stand out from the crowd, be proactive and think creatively about their approach to a task”,he added.

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Kinnerton Confectionery Limited is expanding its Fakenham factory to meet growing demand for its chocolate products. As a result, its satellite site at South Creake in north-west Norfolk is surplus to requirements. Roche Chartered Surveyors and Pearson Commercial have been appointed as joint agents to handle the sale.

The property extends to approximately 40,900 sq ft on 4 acres which includes production and storage space, along with ancillary offices. The overall site includes two houses and there is further land of approximately 22 acres that is potentially available. Kinnerton plan to vacate the site in early 2015.

“The availability of Kinnerton’s premises at South Creake provides a relatively rare opportunity to purchase extensive food-grade premises that have been comprehensively refurbished in recent years and which comply with the stringent requirements of a number of the UK’s largest food retailers”, commented James Allen of Roche Chartered Surveyors who is dealing with the sale of the property.

James Allen Tel : 01603 756332 (DD) Fax : 01603 665096 e-mail : james.allen@rochesurveyors.co.uk

www.rochesurveyors.co.uk

NORWICH, Tuesday 11th November 2014 – Norwich International supports local students. Norwich International Airport was delighted to provide a group of travel and tourism students with an insight in to the aviation industry during a visit to the airport on Friday.

The students currently attend The Open Academy which offers a course aimed at pursuing a career within the travel and tourism industry.

The visit was hosted by the airports customer services team who gave a presentation and introduction of their roles within the airport and escorted students on a passenger journey through the airport to enable them to experience the various elements involved and observe the importance of good customer service throughout.

Gary Blake, Customer Services Manager said: “We were delighted to facilitate the request from The Open Academy and deliver an informative visit to the airport which enabled the students to gain an insight into working within an airport environment. We hope the experiences shared with the group will inspire them to work hard and gain their associated qualifications, the first step towards working in the travel industry in the future”

Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International said: “Everyone at the airport works extremely hard to maintain high levels of service with the aim of being the airport of choice for friendliness and great customer service. We were pleased to be able to share the experience and knowledge of our staff with The Open Academy students to better prepare them for their future careers”

Kim Stickland, Deputy Director of the Academic Faculty at the Open Academy commented: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our Travel and Tourism students to see what goes on behind the scenes at an International Airport. The airport staff created a fictitious flight for us, and students were taken through all stages of departure and arrivals, including check-in and security checks, with a very informative tour of the airfield in-between.

As an Academy with International School status we are especially keen to ensure our students are fully aware of career opportunities in the wider world, and this visit gave them a real insight of possibilities in tourism and travel both here in Norwich, and further afield.”

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Speed Test Challenge: How fast is your internet really?

It’s time to find out — and there’s a prize in it for you…
👉 Head to https://www.uptech.co.uk/speed-test/ and put your speeds to the test.

Then, share your results in the comments of this LinkedIn post — the FASTEST and the SLOWEST will each get a little Uptech prize in the post.
(We might even hand-deliver the slowest one… you probably need a chat 😅)

Here’s the challenge (should you choose to accept it):
1️⃣ Run the speed test
2️⃣ Screenshot your results or post your speeds in the comments
3️⃣ Win a prize — we’ll announce the winners at the end of the month!

There are loads of things that can affect your connection — and if your results are looking shaky, we can help you squeeze more performance out of your current setup or explore smarter options.

New for 2015 leading specialist tour operator, Omega Holidays is providing a fully escorted 8 day holiday to Germany’s Black Forest from Norwich International on 2nd August 2015. This unique opportunity is a first for Norwich International and is expected to sell fast. The Black Forest region is full of thickly wooded valleys, sparkling lakes, waterfalls and quaint lakeside villages with decoratively painted houses and of course you will find the eponymous cuckoo clocks.

The holiday includes return flights, good quality 3 or 4 star half board hotel accommodation and fully escorted excursions including visits to historic cities like Strasbourg and Freiburg the unofficial capital of the Black Forest, and river cruises.

Andrew Bell, Chief Executive of Norwich International Airport, said, “Our objective is to provide an ever increasing range of top quality holiday destinations and product to the holidaymakers in our region. We are delighted that for the first time we are now able to offer a holiday to Germanys Black Forest region, this is a great news for local holidaymakers giving them further choice from their local airport”

Dino Toouli, Head of Trade Sales at Omega Holidays commented “We are delighted to be able to offer holidays to the Black Forest region of Germany along with options to Austria this summer from Norwich International. We are certain these established destinations will prove popular within the region.”