Norfolk based Fendercare Marine, one of the world’s foremost suppliers of marine products and services, has won a significant contract to supply Yokohama fenders to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The three year contract is for the supply of 3.3m x 6.5m Yokohama original pneumatic fenders. Fendercare Marine has supplied 18 of the fenders to date, with potentially more to follow. Fendercare Marine has been working closely with the MOD to design a protective tyre net which would not only be non-marking to the ship’s hull but would provide minimal fender maintenance issues.
Fendercare Marine has been a supplier of fenders and marine hardware to the MoD since 1999 and also supports navies throughout the world, winning a $29 million contract with the US Navy in 2012. From a base in the Devonport Royal Dockyard in Plymouth, their Naval Solutions division also provides fabrication, welding and coating services for the MoD, having worked on nuclear submarines, warships and naval support vessels.
Sonia Crane, Fendercare Marine Sales Manager commented “We are delighted to have secured this contract with the Ministry of Defence. Our 15 year relationship with the MoD is one that we really treasure and this contract is further evidence of our commitment to supplying reliable and innovative products, supported by excellent customer service.”
Scam Alert – Telephone cold callers offering advertising including ‘online listings’ – April 2019 We are warning businesses about telephone cold callers claiming to be offering advertising including ‘online listings’. This approach is a typical scam targeted at businesses and often, following the call, a demand for payment for the proposed advertising will arrive even if no agreement has been made during the call. We would remind all businesses to ensure that all employees dealing with telephone contacts are aware of this type of cold calling scam. If you or anyone within your business receives one of these calls, do not give or confirm any information about your business. Hang up and report it to us via our partners the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06.
Tuesday, April 23 was the Maids Head Hotel’s quarterly Vision and Values staff awards day. The hotel’s vision is to be known as the finest for hospitality in Norfolk and staff receive awards for being nominated by fellow team members, for work that has supported achieving that vision.
Simon Dean, Junior Sous Chef, was named Employee of the Quarter, awarded to the member of staff who receives the most nominations. Simon has been at the Maids Head for six months. He is a graduate in Culinary Arts Management from University College Birmingham, a four-year course, which included a work placement in the United States. Simon moved from Cambridgeshire to Norwich for his new role; his third job since leaving university.
He won the award for brightening the mood of the kitchen, for constantly being cheerful and friendly, for being a team player and very approachable and always being willing to help staff and answer any question.
Simon said: “It is great news for me to be Employee of the Quarter. I would like to thank my colleagues for their nominations. It can be quite stressful in the kitchen when we are very busy and I do my best to keep the mood up. I also think it’s very important for the kitchen brigade to have a good working relationship with the front of house team and I work hard to ensure that our communication is as smooth as possible.”
Some 150 awards were presented to staff on the day by Andy Orchard, Sales Director, Eastern Daily Press and Edward Doe, Director of John Doe. Staff ‘cash’ in their award vouchers for a reward and can also save them until they have enough vouchers for a particular reward e.g. an overnight stay at the Maids Head’s sister hotel, The Gonville in Cambridge.
Examples of award nominations:
“Staying behind after completing to shift to help at a wedding.”
“Excellent feedback for service at the 74th Squadron dinner.”
“Covering the desk when reception was busy.”
“Getting a mention in the groom’s speech at a wedding.”
“Coming in outside of work hours to fix the water supply in rooms with no water.”
Andy Orchard and Edward Doe, who had been the judges for the Norfolk & Suffolk Tourism Awards Investing in the Future category, also officially presented the Investing in the Future award and the Best Independent Hotel award to Maids Head Chairman, David Chaplin.
Edward Doe said: “I can tell by the atmosphere today, how engaged staff are with the Vision and Values Awards. They are an excellent incentive, getting everyone involved and heading in the same direction”
Andy Orchard said: “When we visited the hotel to judge the Investing in the Future category, the dedication of staff throughout the hotel shone through. It was a genuine pleasure to spend time here listening to the hotel’s story of evolution rather than revolution.”
David Chaplin, Chairman of the Maids Head Hotel said: “Congratulations to all our team for their passion and commitment in helping us achieve the two Norfolk & Suffolk Tourism Awards, along with the Employer of the Year category at the Norfolk Business Awards, and for all you have done to make Norwich a great place for hospitality.”
In 2016-2017, UK Export Finance (UKEF) increased the funding it provides to exporters by 60% compared to the previous year.
According to its latest annual report and accounts, the UK’s Export Credits Guarantee Department (which operates under the name UKEF) provided £3 billion in export finance.
UKEF supported more than £585 million of new UK export contracts through its trade finance and insurance products, taking the total amount provided since the products were introduced in 2011 to over £3.6 billion.
The total number of companies receiving direct support from UKEF in 2016-2017 was 221. Of those, 21% were classified as large firms and 79% as SMEs.
Almost two-thirds (61%) of those supported were manufacturing companies, with 11% being wholesale and retail. Construction firms accounted for 7% of those receiving UKEF support, as did businesses engaged in professional, scientific and technical activities.
The most popular UKEF products were bonds and export working capital support (65%) followed by insurance (27%).
Commenting on the figures, Greg Hands, Minister for International Trade, said that the Government is putting export finance at the heart of trade promotion and that UKEF’s results “show that the UK’s world-leading exporters are supported by a world-leading export credit agency as they look to succeed in a global marketplace”.
Looking ahead, UKEF has set out how it intends to increase support for exporters in its Business Plan for 2017-2020.
This identifies a number of measures aimed at helping more UK exporters and their suppliers benefit from UKEF support – including a recently-announced partnership with banks and plans to use the availability of UKEF financing to help create procurement opportunities for smaller companies in the UK supply chain.
UK Export Finance Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 can be found here.
Ms Goyal-Wright is a Residential Property specialist, with expertise including purchases of freehold and leasehold new build properties, Help to Buy equity loans, sales and purchases of part of land, sales and purchases of freehold and leasehold properties, dealing with unregistered titles, transfer of equity, re-mortgages, right to buy and first registrations.
In addition to working with clients on their conveyancing transactions, she will oversee the Residential Property team, and help to strengthen local relationships with Estate Agents, mortgage and financial advisors and other professionals.
Hatch Brenner Managing Partner Dawn Parkes commented: “We are delighted to welcome Varsha to Hatch Brenner. Her extensive experience combined with her outgoing and friendly nature will ensure she fits in well with our focus on developing strong interpersonal relationships with our clients and contacts.”
Varsha has a special interest in Human Rights and has worked with NGOs and Academic Institutes. She is fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi.
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!
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.
Breakwater IT are delighted to announce that they have achieved their Microsoft Gold Cloud Productivity competency.
What is the Microsoft Gold Cloud competency?
The Gold competency shows Breakwater’s capabilities in building, integrating, securing and deploying Microsoft Office 365 solutions – including Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Yammer.
It is hugely important to continuously develop technical expertise and, at Breakwater, Engineers are supported through additional qualifications, including completion of the Office 365 exams required for the Gold competency.
What it means for organisations
Breakwater IT are able to provide the highest level of technical know-how when it comes to advising on and integrating Microsoft Office 365 solutions.
Part of the accreditation process involved the completion of assessments, demonstration of technical competency and the provision of positive client feedback – ensuring an excellent quality of service and effortless transition to the cloud.
Stuart Moll, Technical Director commented that: “Achieving our Gold Cloud Productivity competency is a fantastic accomplishment for the team and demonstrates the dedication each of our Engineers has to expanding their skills set and employing this knowledge to deliver excellent client service. Office 365 provides the security and productivity tools clients need to operate effectively in the cloud and we look forward to helping more organisations utilise all it has to offer.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”