Half Term Holidays… UK City Breaks, Norwich isthe perfect escape!
With the little ones of school again so many people are at a loss and stuck for things to do!
We have just reduced the rates for the last of our rooms for you to come and take a trip to Norwich for a quick City Break, the chance to get away and entertain the kiddies without breaking the bank…
Norwich has so much to offer with the Norfolk Broads, Norwich City Centre for the shopping, museums, restaurants and more, bowling, cinema, skating or nature walks all within easy reach of the Brook, Norwich by car or by bus.
Check out the deals on our website and make sure you tell your friends, you wouldn’t want them to miss out on the chance to come and stay for a little break away!www.brookhotel.co.uk
We are getting ready for a busy Bank Holiday weekend here at the Hotel with all the rooms undergoing deep cleans, the ordering is all being done for the restaurant and bar, managers are meeting to look at what’s going on so we are all prepared and the gardener is due to arrive this afternoon for a spruce up!
It is fairly quiet here this evening accommodation wise s most people checked out today to get back to make their plans and set off for their weekends away so if you need a Hotel this evening, we are here for you…
STM Packaging Group appointed Bigfork to design 4 new websites for each group company (STM Group, Sefton Transmail, The Polythene Company, Shirplass). STM manufacture polythene packaging and mailing products and wanted the websites to have a strong visual impact. You can see to full story and websites on our website.
The education and development of engineering technicians is critical for the success of the UK.
Mott MacDonald Ltd in partnership with TEN Group invites you to an Advance Apprenticeship in Civil EngineeringLaunch Event to demonstrate the business case for a partnership approach as well as explaining the opportunities available, particularly to employers.
When: Tuesday 18th June 2013 10.30am – 12 noon.
Where: St Andrews House, St Andrews Street, Norwich. NR2 4TP.
Who should attend this meeting?
The meeting is being held specifically to inform the construction industry about how employing technical apprentices in Civil Engineering can be of benefit and how participation can be measured as a return on capital investment.
Reasons to attend this meeting
Embedding the opportunity for a professional qualification in the academic course and supporting this through work-based learning will be shown to promote employee self-confidence and lead to motivated and productive employees who understand your business and ways of working.
Colleges are increasingly beginning to
understand why simply offering traditional courses no longer meets employer expectations. Case studies from successful employer consortia already established in England will illustrate how added value can be successfully integrated into course structures and how advent of the new Technical Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering, is an exciting initiative and how companies can benefit from Government funding to support training costs.
As an industry we have forgotten
that Technical Apprenticeship courses offer the possibility of leading to the highest levels of professional attainment and are a valid alternative to full-time university education. This conference will enable you to give advice on the choices, based on robust evidence and will show how the Institute of Civil Engineers has acted as a catalyst for change and can be a major contributor to the relevance and quality of vocational courses.
As the construction market is rapidly changing through commercial and technical developments, for example BIM, the Technicians will be at the forefront of this change, allowing your companies to be aware of new developments and enabling your existing staff to learn through these young and enthusiastic construction students.
To book your free place or for more information contact:
Food Safety Week is an annual event organised by the Food Standards Agency – its starts on the 10th June and the theme this year is the Kitchen Check ( a copy of the leaflet is attached to this post)
RedCat will be blooging throughout the week- but we have devised a quiz which will be posted at www.redcat.gb.comon Monday and will be open to all to enter until the end of Friday 14th June
The prize is to win a ‘Food Safety Inspector’ type visit to your premises; one of the RedCat team will come along with our swabbing machine and check the cleanliness of your kitchen
But some Food Safety tips- linking to the key themes of Food Safety Week are
Cleaning Hands are one of the main ways germs are spread. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water before preparing and handling food, cooking and after touching the bin, going to the toilet, handling pets or handling raw food. Wash or change dish cloths, tea towels, sponges and oven gloves regularly and let them dry before you use them again. Dirty, damp cloths are the perfect place for bacteria to breed.
Our kit will be able to tell how clean your surfaces are; we also use an Ultra Violet Kit on our training courses to see just how good hand washing is
Avoiding Cross Contamination • Cross contamination occurs when harmful germs/bacteria are spread between food, surfaces and equipment. You can help to prevent this by removing clutter that you don’t need and cleaning worktops before and after food preparation. • Always use a chopping board. Wash the board and other utensils in hot, soapy water when you’ve finished using them and in between preparing raw food (meat, poultry, eggs, fish and raw vegetables) and ready-to-eat food. Better still, use a separate chopping board for each type of food.
Chilling • Make sure your fridge is set between 0 and 5 degrees, you can use a a fridge thermometer to check. This is to prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying to dangerous levels • Don’t overfill your fridge. This allows air to circulate and maintains the set temperature. • Store raw meat and poultry at the bottom of the fridge and properly wrap or cover it to avoid raw juices contaminating other foods.
Cooking food thoroughly • Cook food thoroughly until it is steaming hot in the middle. This will kill any harmful bacteria that may be present. You do not need a probe for this- check that the juices are clear and that there has been a colour change
This is particularly important with BBQ’s!
Understanding ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates • ‘Use by’ dates are typically found on perishable products (dairy, meat and fish) and are based on scientific testing to determine how long these foods will stay safe. After that date, food could be unsafe to eat even if it is correctly stored and looks and smells fine. • ‘Best before’ dates are used on foods that have a longer shelf life and tell us how long the food will be at its best. After that date it may be safe to eat, but its flavour and texture might have deteriorated. • The exception to this rule is eggs which have a ‘best before’ rather than a ‘use by’ date. Providing the eggs are cooked thoroughly, they can be eaten a day or two after their ‘best before’ date but not longer than this. • Check the ‘use by’ dates on the food in your fridge on a regular basis and be sure to use (eat, cook or freeze) food before its ‘use by’ to help you avoid throwing food away unnecessarily. • Once food with a ‘use-by’ date has been opened, follow any storage instructions such as ‘eat within two days of opening’.
Using leftovers safely Using up leftovers can be a good way of making a meal go further. • If you are going to store leftovers in the fridge, cool leftovers as quickly as possible (ideally within 90 minutes) cover them well, get them in the fridge and eat them up within two days. • If you are going to freeze them, cool them before putting them in your freezer, to minimise temperature fluctuation in the freezer. Once foods are in the freezer, they can be safely stored there forever – but the quality will deteriorate so it’s best to eat them within three months. • Make sure you defrost leftovers properly first. Defrost them in the fridge, or in the microwave if you intend to cook them straightaway. • Eat leftovers within 24 hours of defrosting and do not refreeze. The only exception to this is if you are defrosting raw food, such as meat or poultry, once you have cooked this it can be refrozen. • Cook leftovers until steaming hot throughout. • Don’t reheat leftovers more than once.
If you would like to enter our quiz or if you have any Food Safety Questions- then do please contact us
Rapidly-evolving energy production technology services company Proserv has secured two major contract wins worth in excess of £15 million for work in the North Sea, further strengthening the company’s market-leading position in the subsea controls and communications field.
The first deal is with TAQA for the control of subsea wells approximately 16.5km from the Tern platform in the Cladhan field. Proserv will implement a system to control three subsea wells as part of a significant development project for the company. Using Proserv’s proprietary Open Communications Controller (OCC) technology, the system will provide a high-speed network capable of communication speeds up to 1.3Mbps.
The second contract award is with another leading operator and also involves work to control the subsea wells. Proserv will use a cutting-edge system, which will control a number of wells and manifolds. This features a fibre-optic communications system using Proserv’s Open Communications Hub (OCH) technology for fully transparent communications and high-speed data monitoring from the subsea multi-phase flow meters and control modules.
Proserv’s facility in Great Yarmouth will be the focal point for both contracts with all the manufacturing work taking place in the Norfolk town.
Commenting on the recent award wins, David Lamont, Proserv’s chief executive officer, said: “Both contract wins reflect Proserv’s industry-leading position and strong track record for delivering high-value integrated technology systems on time and within budget.
“Proserv’s fast-growing suite of technologies have been developed based on the company’s ‘ingeniously simple’ philosophy and are underpinned by the company’s international talent pool of technical and engineering expertise which has expanded considerably through organic growth and strategic acquisition.
“As a result, Proserv continues to expand both globally and particularly in the North Sea where our strong and expanding client base is testament to our levels of technology and service. We look forward to working with two leading operators in the region.”
In 2012, Proserv made two high-profile acquisitions which not only bolstered its capabilities but saw its global headcount increase by more than 600 people to over 1,600.
Proserv specialises in exploration & production, drilling, and infrastructure technical solutions and services to the global energy industry. The company operates worldwide from 30 sites in 6 geographical regions namely North UK & Africa, South UK & Europe, Scandinavia, the Americas, Middle East & North Africa and the Far East & Australia.
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to spend 7 days being dazzled by the bright lights of New York City. In between eating hamburgers the size of your head, learning the less than straight forward subway system, and slowly cooking in the 35 degree heat, I was able to squeeze in a brief visit to the Google offices. Now, I am not sure you can just turn up at Google, knock on the door and wander in, it’s probably a bit more complicated than that, but due to my girlfriend’s brother being gainfully employed by the internet behemoth, I was allowed to be a brief, but very impressed, guest.
The building was fairly dignified, without any over the top trumpeting about the big G being in residence, no flashing HD video screens announced that it was present, we are still some way off of Bladerunner it seems. The registration process to enter was fairly relaxed but emphasised that security was definitely taking place, as we submitted to being photographed and signed in, as far as I am aware they did not take any DNA for provision to PRISM, but who knows… After a short wait our host arrived and whisked us off into the cavernous confines of #76, 9th Avenue. Google only occupy a couple of floors of this enormous site, but that appears to be plenty. We were guided up through an area where employees children can lounge around, write on the walls and play with lego, and then into the main office itself. Everything was very spacious and bright, mostly in open plan with only a few specific offices laid out. It was at this point that we got to see first-hand just how nice Google is to employees, and the fairly informal basis on which teams worked together. Everyone was friendly and laid back. It seemed a bit quiet though. It was about lunch time and our host started to lead us up to the canteen. On the way through we saw that employees had free reign to decorate their work areas, and that there were special rooms where people could take a break. People would wander up and say hi and be delightfully polite. There was a top quality collection of board games dotted around, seemingly for people to just grab and play when not fixing bugs in the latest version of Google Docs. Heaven!
And then we arrived in the canteen. It was quite the thing, a vast arena with hordes of cooks and serving staff, open plan and with several types of cuisine on offer, from the IT nerd friendly cheese burger or pizza slice to the Japanese cuisine there to suit those sophisticated New Yorkers with more complex palates. I had a cheese burger. All the food was free, and the room was bursting, I suppose that was why it was so quiet downstairs. We sat with a few employees and learned a little about how life was at Google. After lunch our time was drawing to a close and we were showed a few other rooms, including a library with a quiet room hidden behind a bookshelf that you had to rotate to get access to, and some bizarre themed meeting rooms, one featuring a bath full of foam toys. No water though. Perhaps some of this was a bit over the top and, frankly, loopy, but plenty of it was endearing and you could certainly see why people are falling over themselves to work there.
And so we descended in the lift and wandered out into the noisy real world again, with exploring to do. Well worth the visit!
Cozens-Hardy LLP is pleased to announce that Caroline Linsdell has joined its business team as an Associate, specialising in commercial property law.
Mrs Linsdell, who was educated locally and attended the UEA, has over 25 years commercial property experience. She has dealt with all aspects of property-based transactions, including secured lending, site acquisitions, commercial development and commercial leases (acting for both landlord and tenant). Mrs Linsdell is on the Ethical Property Foundation Register of Property Professionals.
Said Mrs Linsdell:
“I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to join Cozens-Hardy’s business team. The firm has a longstanding reputation for high quality work and I am pleased to be able to bring to the firm my property experience gained from working for a wide variety of clients, ranging from PLCs and Local Authorities to developers and private individuals. Throughout my career I have always believed that the need to provide pro-active advice is of paramount importance and this echoes the ethos of Cozens-Hardy.”
Added Chris Groves, Senior Partner:
“Property work has long been a core of Cozens-Hardy’s legal services to local businesses, so we are very pleased that Caroline has joined us, bringing her extensive local knowledge and specialist skills. Caroline is a great addition to our team and benefit to our business clients.”
– Ends –
For further information please contact: Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and clare@clarehaylett.net
Employers inthe East of Englandare stepping up recruitment of temporary staff, despite new government regulations that have boosted the cost of employment. According to a survey carried out by specialist recruitment company, Pure Resourcing Solutions, 85 per cent of employers recruited more or similar levels of temporary workers during 2012 compared with the previous year. Almost all employers questioned said that the Agency Workers Regulations introduced in October 2011 would not affect their volume of temporary recruitment, nor the length of time they recruit for. The regulations give temporary workers the same basic employment and working conditions as permanent staff, and it had been feared that this would put employers off employing temps for more than 12 weeks, after which the main elements of the regulations kick in. The survey, carried out across East Anglia, found that the main reasons organisations recruit temporary staff are for special projects or to cover maternity leave. However, other important reasons to engage temporary staff include: sickness cover or as an interim solution while a permanent appointment is being made. Anyone thinking of temporary employment should be aware that the two most prized qualities are special expertise and the ability to work in a team. This Eastern region data from Pure is more bullish than a similar national survey carried out by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation late last year. “We are delighted to find that employers in our specialist sectors of professional support are not being put off recruiting temporary workers”, said Gill Buchanan, Director of Pure Resourcing Solutions, “However, we acknowledge that sectors such as manufacturing may be experiencing a greater effect. Temps are a highly flexible and cost effective way of acquiring expertise quickly, and today’s organisations need to be able to react faster than ever before.” “Employer legislation continues to evolve”, adds Gill. “Many responsible employers will already have processes in place.” Other new regulation which businesses need to be aware of and which will start to affect businesses of all sizes include a requirement to automatically enrol workers onto a pension scheme. Pure Resourcing Solutions carries out regular surveys into employment issues across the East Anglia region.
Copies of the full survey findings are available from Anna Hill, Marketing Manager at the company.
If you need your website to be more effective then setting clear and easy objectives is the key to success. However you may not know where to start or have the time to carry out in depth research into the subject.
Don’t worry our new PDF download “The Bigfork Guide to Setting Website Objectives” has been written to help businesses and organisations do this in easy steps. Clearly written and without confusing jargon the PDF shows you how to set measurable goals into your website. The end result will be a website that contributes to your business and you will be able to prove it.
React’slatest two recruits to join them are bringing some youthful flair and enthusiasm to the family run business.
Its 15 years since React Computer Partnership, who have a branch in Beccles, began trading from the dining room table of one of the Director’s homes. Since that time the company has moved into substantial premises at Deben Mill Business Centre to accommodate their expanding team of IT professionals. Their latest two recruits to join them are bringing some youthful flair and enthusiasm to the family run business.
Ed Osborne joined the React Computer Partnership team having previously worked with an IT training organisation developing and providing training courses for their clients. Richard Pledger one of the React partners explains how his move to React came about ” Ed was keen to develop his IT networking skills and was keen to join a company offering support services in this area. With our continued growth, despite the global economy, we needed another support engineer to bolster our support department, ensuring we could maintain the excellent levels of customer service we offer. Therefore React was the perfect match for Ed.”
Alex Davies originally joined React as an Administration apprentice on a six month course. However it was soon clear his real passion and skills lay within the more technical aspect of IT systems and support. Richard says “I’m happy to say due to the increase in contracted customers over the past 12 months we were able to accommodate Alex in a new role and so he has now been taken on as a full time apprentice embarking in a certified Microsoft Apprenticeship Course.
React Computer Partnership are Norfolk and Suffolk Chamber members and are a business IT support company with offices in Woodbridge, Beccles and St Neots who have built a reputation throughout East Anglia for providing professional IT support services. They have been finalists for the past two years in the Outstanding Customer Service category of the Anglian Business Awards and this year they are finalists again in two more categories. They work with many types of business, especially on the manufacturing side, ensuring businesses have a reliable and efficient IT system to increase their productivity and speed the flow of work around their offices and warehouses using electronic document storage and management.
Richard concluded ‘We’ve had some really good feedback already about Alex and Ed from React customers and with their youthful outlook and dedicated approach we are confident we can achieve even greater customer satisfaction this year.” www.reactcp.co.uk