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Norfolk Trading Standards Trusted Trader scheme

The whole team at Tudor Lodge Consultants are thrilled to announce that we are working with Better Healthcare, an established and highly trusted live-in care provider across the UK. The search engine optimisation (SEO), design and development teams at Tudor Lodge are all working on what is a very exciting and promising project. Having undergone a major website overhaul, Better Healthcare approached us with a typical problem for businesses that have moved online or overhauled their online presence: getting found.

There are a range of important SEO practices and requirements that come with a new and refreshed website. Although there is a lot of merit in having a strong degree of longevity with any website, things can get a little bit ‘stale’ and this is when a refresh and update to a website and online brand is ideal.

Working with Better Healthcare, their management and marketing teams, we have started working on various areas, all of which are key to SEO and online success. These include:

• Website Crawling Factors – First and foremost in SEO is ensuring a website is able to be read, understood and properly contextualised [crawled]. Ultimately, if Google or any other search engines (such as Bing, Baidu and others) cannot crawl a website, much of the work done will be fruitless and any rankings will be significantly lower than otherwise
• Website Navigation and Architecture – Being able to navigate around a website of any nature and in any industry is crucial to both the SEO as well as user experience (UX), both factors being closely linked to one another. We are working with the team at Better Healthcare to ensure the website is logically ordered and structured and can be easily and quickly navigated by all users and prospective clients of the company
• Online PR and Presence – A key tenet of SEO is the spread of a brand online; its PR. Thus, we are working with Better Healthcare to create relationships as well as the all-important backlinks where necessary and relevant content across the web for the brand more widely
• Content and Website Information – Another key element of any website’s SEO is the content upon which the entire offering of the brand and company lies. We are working closely with both our own as well as Better Healthcare’s content and marketing team to create new, optimised and user-friendly website content.

As part of their wide-ranging support and information services for those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney, Big C has launched a new free telephone support line.

This is a useful resource for HR managers and senior managers who may know someone in their team currently affected by their own cancer diagnosis, or that of a relative, or colleague.

Anyone calling the Telephone Support Line will be able to speak to a Big C nurse or member of the support team, who have the local knowledge and expertise to help answer any questions they may have.

For free information and support, contact the Big C telephone support line on 0800 092 7640.

To speak to a Big C Nurse, call:

Wednesdays & Fridays 6.00pm – 7.30pm  To speak to the Big C centres during the day: Monday – Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm   Calls are free of charge from all consumer landlines and mobile phones. If you are calling from a business phone, please check with your provider whether there will be a charge for calling 0800 or 0808.   For more information visit:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/how-much-does-a-phone-call-really-cost

To download and print a poster, please visit https://www.big-c.co.uk/userfiles/file/Telephone%20Support%20Line%20Poster_FinalWeb.pdf

To learn more about the work Big C does to improve the lives of those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney, please visit www.big-c.co.uk

• New charity Hopestead has launched its Christmas appeal to support local charities and organisations across the region this winter;

• The Hope At Christmas 2020 appeal is seeking a variety of donations including food, clothing, toys, and vouchers;

• It comes after Hopestead, part of Flagship Group, officially launched in October with the aim of ending homelessness in the East of England.

A Christmas appeal, launched by new charity Hopestead, is inviting donations from the public to benefit good causes across the region this winter.

The Hope At Christmas 2020 appeal is seeking donations of food, vouchers, and clothing such as jackets, jumpers, and socks. In addition, Hopestead – which aims to end homelessness in the East of England  – is collecting new and unwrapped toys for all ages, helping to make sure no-one misses out this festive season.

Practical donations such as supermarket vouchers, are also sought, as well as second-hand mobile phones and tablets, pocket torches, and flasks.   The appeal is also seeking foil and plastic food containers and reusable cutlery and paper bags

And, furry friends on the streets are not forgotten with requests for LED light up dog collars, dog blankets, and dog treats.

Alternatively, people can make cash donations via the Hopestead website from 14 December (www.hopestead.org) or they can choose items from the Amazon wish list: Amazon.co.uk (and select ‘Hopestead’s gift registry address’ for items to be sent direct to their head office).

Marie-Claire Delbrouque, MD of Hopestead, said: “With the pandemic, this winter poses even more risks and challenges for people who are experiencing, or are at or on the brink of homelessness. That’s why we are absolutely committed to offering support through our Christmas appeal.

“Our collection will support some of the amazing grassroots organisations which are making such a difference within local communities, and which we are proud to be partnering with.

“We know how generous and supportive people have been during the pandemic, giving donations and time to help others. We would ask, if you can, please do get involved with our Christmas appeal: your donations could make a big difference for someone.”

To collect people’s donations, the Hopestead vans will be stopping at Flagship offices across the region. Anyone wishing to support the appeal can drop off their donations – safely, and in a socially distanced manner – at the following locations between 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm:

• Monday 14 December – Michael Chaplin House, Station Road, Dereham, NR19 1DA
• Tuesday 15 December – Cedar Lodge, Chiswick Avenue, Mildenhall, IP28 7BD
• Wednesday 16 December – Station Road, Riduna Park, Melton, Woodbridge, IP12 1QT
• Thursday 17 December – Tom Moore House, Cromer Road, North Walsham, NR28 0NB
• Friday 18 December – 31, King Street Norwich, NR1 1PD and Coppice House, 5 Greenwood Court, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7GY

People will also be able to make monetary donations via card at these drop offs, should they prefer to do so.

Or donations can be posted to Hopestead, 39 Montagu Drive, Saxmundham, IP17 1FL

Some of the organisations which the Hopestead Christmas appeal will benefit are:

• The People’s Picnic, Norwich
• FABB (Food and Beverage Buggies), Norwich
• Ipswich Winter Night Shelter
• Salvation Army
• Winter Comfort for the Homeless, Cambridge
• Street Vets.

This appeal comes after Hopestead officially launched in October with two drive-in cinema events that raised almost £4,000 to support those who are experiencing homelessness, or are at or on the brink of homelessness.

Prior to this, Hopestead had begun operating an initiative earlier this year when it became clear that the pandemic had the potential to increase homelessness. Since then, Hopestead has awarded in excess of £350k to support nearly 700 Flagship Group families who might be at risk of losing their homes.

Now the charity’s fundraising efforts are focused on its Christmas appeal. With the winter months ahead, and Covid-19 likely to impact further on homelessness, Marie-Claire Delbrouque emphasised just how vital the support provided by the Christmas appeal will be. She said: “This year has already posed so many difficulties for people and unfortunately, the coming months, look set to be equally challenging.

“That is why we would ask people to please help in whatever way they can. We want to provide resources and support to these brilliant organisations which are making a difference throughout Christmas, and beyond.

“This appeal is just one step towards achieving our overall goal of ending homelessness in the East of England. By working in partnership with likeminded organisations already working hard to eradicate homelessness, we know that we can achieve this together. Because we believe that everyone deserves a place to call home.”

You can find out more by visiting www.hopestead.org or Hopestead on Twitter @_hopestead or Instagram @_hopestead and Facebook Hopestead | Facebook

The full list of donations being sought through the Christmas appeal are:

• Men’s jackets, and jumpers
• Men’s tracksuit trousers and jeans
• New and unwrapped toys for all ages
• Stationery and crafts
• Puzzles, word searches, board games
• Second hand mobile phones and tablets
• Greggs £5 food vouchers
• Supermarket vouchers
• Foil and plastic food containers,
• Reusable cutlery and paper bags
• LED light up dog collars, dog blankets
• Dog food and treats
• Tinned food of all varieties
• Coffee, hot chocolate sachets, and tea bags
• Hand warmers, and socks
• Pocket torches and flasks.

Donations made to the Just Giving site (live from 14 December) will be used to buy vouchers and top up additional items required.

Hatch Brenner Solicitors on Theatre Street is once again celebrating after being ranked as among the top firms in the UK for Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury work by the legal directory Chambers and Partners for their 2021 edition.

Chambers and Partners has been the leading source of legal market intelligence for over 30 years, with 85 experienced researchers ranking law firms and solicitors in the UK, providing a wealth of localised knowledge and market insight.

Hatch Brenner Solicitors has been recommended for Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury in the latest rankings released in October 2020 following a submission by former Morgan Jones Pett specialists Sara Westwood and Simon Bransby:

Clinical Negligence – mainly Claimant – Norwich and surrounds

Hatch Brenner Partner Sara Westwood is ranked in Band Two and noted for her strength in birth injury, delayed diagnosis and failure in treatment cases. One market source points out that she “gets to grips with the medical evidence, identifying the strengths and weaknesses,” adding: “She is very practical in her approach and gets good results for clients.”

Personal Injury – mainly Claimant – Norwich and surrounds

Hatch Brenner Chartered Legal Executive Simon Bransby is ranked in Band Two as a notable Personal Injury practitioner. The guide recognises the firm’s reputation for having a solid team handling a range of claims with particular expertise in workplace injury cases and expertise regarding road traffic accidents, as well as trips and slips.

Simon Bransby’s extensive work portfolio is referenced, including cases involving workplace injuries and RTAs. Commentators appreciate that “he is persistent in fighting for his client.”

If you would like to discuss a potential personal injury or clinical negligence legal claim with our highly regarded team of specialists, please call 01603 660 811 or email info@hatchbrenner.co.uk

In this week’s episode, Mark and James reflect on 2020, and look ahead to 2021 and the inevitable New Year’s Eve Resolutions. They impart advice on how to make change stick for the long term, referring along the way to melting icebergs, Princess Gabriele and Mark’s “B” in GCSE German! 

Listen here!

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Whilst you are there, please like us, and leave a comment. We would love to hear what you are enjoying about the podcast, and it helps others to find us!

Working together to protect Norfolk

Working closely with our communities has been a key focus for every district across Norfolk during the Covid 19 pandemic.  With the Tiers coming into place on Wednesday 2 December, Covid marshals and support officers will continue to be recruited and deployed across the county.  Their aim is to advise, educate, and engage with businesses and members of the public around the restriction, working together to tackle the threats we all still face and bring us down into Tier 1. As well as providing support to the communities they work in, they also act as the eyes and the ears of the districts, reporting back improvements that could be made, concerns and repeat offenders.

While they all share similar role profiles (see examples attached), each district is using their marshals, support officers or support advisors slightly differently. The funding for the roles has been provided by the central government Covid Outbreak Management Fund.

Highlighting the importance of the role Tom McCabe, Norfolk’s Resilience Forum Chair, said:  “Many Covid-19 marshals and support officers have been in place for some weeks now, supporting businesses and helping to encourage, engage and educate people in how to protect themselves and those around them.

“The feedback on their role has largely been really positive, with our communities recognising that these officers are working with them to keep us all safe. The role is likely to evolve over the coming weeks and months as we move different types of restrictions with the expected changes to local and national regulations, but they will continue to be out on the streets and will be happy to help where they can. “

Breckland Council has recruited 10 Covid Support Staff – one Lead Covid Support Officer to coordinate and supervise a team of nine Covid Support Officers – with officers in post before the end of the current restrictions period. The role of this team will be to provide advice and support to businesses, engage with residents and support with the track-and-trace and door-knocking work in the community.  They will be a flexible resource that will move between the work on the high street and contact tracing, dependant on the priority at the time. Breckland has also recruited two Covid Compliance Officers to support the new enforcement powers that districts have been given.

Broadland and South Norfolk have interviewed and made offers of six month fixed term contracts to 10 Covid Support Advisors who will start on Monday next week, following the attached role profile. They will be managed through two district team leaders, due to be interviewed shortly, who will provide daily briefing and tasking from their offices in Thorpe St Andrew and Long Stratton. It is important to note that these are support and advice roles rather than enforcement roles. Enforcement will be picked through their existing regulatory teams, however, as most Covid issues, things are moving at pace and there may be changes to this position at short notice. All Covid related roles will liaise closely with district command policing and – on the ground – with beat managers.

Great Yarmouth has had Covid support officers in place since early October, with an average of six officers patrolling each day. They have proven to be so effective in educating, advising and engaging with businesses that Great Yarmouth is currently recruiting for more on a six month contract basis. The aim is to have 10 FTE support officers along with a team of flexible officers to support when needed. On a daily basis the team talk to businesses and the general public, assist with social distancing at schools and leaflet drop where appropriate.

Norwich have Covid 19 Support Officers, who during lockdown have been a core group of four to six patrolling the city each day between 10am and 4pm. The officers have been working with those businesses that are permitted to open to ensure that they are maintaining high levels of Covid protection and have been identifying businesses that may be trading when the legislation requires them to be closed. The team is managed by their Events Team and any issues that are identified by the support officers are relayed to the Environmental Health Enforcement Teams.

As the city reopens, they will be increasing the number of Covid19 Support Officers to pre-lockdown levels of up to 20 people on duty per day. To increase the impact of the officers, they will work in two shifts to cover the daytime business economy of 9am to 6pm. They will work to increase their interaction with the public and focussing on the key messages of hands: face: space. Street signage will be improved and there will also be the provision of information booths offering hand sanitiser and face coverings.

North Norfolk are building on their successes during the summer and will have six Covid-19 Support Officers working in their market towns and seaside resorts including Holt, Fakenham, Cromer, Sheringham, Wells-next the Sea and North Walsham. They will be a visible presence in areas of high footfall across the district from Wednesday, working six days a week. The Covid-19 Support Officers will provide advice, guidance and reassurance to residents, visitors and businesses on the latest Covid-19 restrictions. They will promote the important public health messages such as hand washing, social distancing,  and the wearing of face coverings and will provide a vital link between communities, their Environmental Health Team and policing colleagues, providing information which will allow them to focus their resources more effectively.  

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk have recruited a number of marshals, including some who are contracted SIA qualified security staff. They also have staff from alive Leisure and students from the college supporting them.  They are following the 3 Es and referring to EHOs for enforcement. They are visiting all parts of the borough, including retail areas, shops near schools, school gates where issues have been reported and providing people with up to date advice and guidance on the latest guidance, signposting to other sources of support such as funding, and how to develop a click and collect service.  This enables the finite resources EHOs to be focussed more effectively where enforcement is unfortunately required.

As if working in TV commercials production wasn’t magical enough – we recently dialed-up the fantasy still further with a tie-in to the massive global Disney success ‘Frozen’!

Our friends at Accord were masterminding a campaign for Rubies, the suppliers of magnificent replica costumes for children, in which they wanted 2 girls to picture themselves not only wearing the costumes, but entering their own imaginary version of Frozen!

Our pre-planning involved set design and build – bright positive colours and furnishings all geared to a pan-European market; sourcing child actors – twolookalikes for the main characters Anna and Elsa ( so 200 auditions later…); and finally a forest, blanketed in snow (in June).

The Elvedon Estate in Thetford provided the perfect forest, the genius set-dressers Snowboy made a sweltering June day look like winter in the Alps, and our two stars (Gabriella) and (Elizabeth) apart from looking so perfectly like their animated heroines, put in hours of work on camera without ever once losing their smiles!

Being vetted at every step by both Accord and Disney does crank-up the tension somewhat, so it was an immense joy when the production got two thumbs up! It felt like fantasy land. We even broke out the drinks. On ice, naturally.

Please find below a new tool developed by the FSA which aims to help businesses understand what allergen labelling (information) requirements apply to different scenarios by asking 4 questions:

• does the consumer order the food in person (i.e. is there a distance selling aspect?)
• Is the food presented in packaging?
• Is the food in packaging before it is selected or ordered?
• Is the food packaged at the same place it is sold?

https://www.food.gov.uk/allergen-ingredients-food-labelling-decision-tool

Flagship staff across the business are once again helping those in need by filling and decorating charity boxes with food. In total 16 boxes will be delivered during December as every working day a local Flagship Ranger will take them to one of the following charities: St Martin’s Trust in Norwich, The Woodbridge Salvation Army, Newmarket Open Door, and the Norwich, Mid Norfolk and Thetford Foodbanks. The boxes full of non-perishable food items will be given to people in time for Christmas, many of which would go hungry at this time of year. St Martins Housing Trust will use the food as part of their annual Christmas meal for their service users and other members of the community. Any surplus food will be given to people using their ‘Under-1-Roof’ resource centre which aims to provide them with skills they need to help compete for jobs. As a housing provider for people in need, some of Flagship’s customers may themselves receive the charity boxes. Deputy Chief Executive at Flagship Helen Walsham said: “Last year was a huge success as our staff were really enthusiastic about decorating and filling the boxes. I’m really pleased we have decided to do something similar again for some fantastic charities who make a huge difference to people who are less fortunate than us.” Once the boxes have been delivered by Flagship, the charities will distribute them among people in their communities. Derek Player General Manager at St Martins said, “The people we support are facing a major crisis in their lives, whether they are sleeping rough, sofa surfing or in temporary accommodation. Flagship’s donations will be welcomed by our service users and will help them feel valued and remembered at this time of year.” Hannah Worsley, Project Manager at the Norwich Foodbank said: “Flagship’s donations last year helped us to provide the equivalent of 187 meals to local people in crisis – this is such a help to us, as December is our busiest month; we expect to give out over 1,000 food parcels during December this year. We’re delighted that the staff at Flagship are getting behind us and other charities once again, thank you all for your support.”

Help light up the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) Giving Tree this Christmas by buying a virtual light, bauble or Christmas present. You’ll be able to leave a personal message with your donation, and can upload a photo too. Watch as the Virtual Giving Tree gradually lights up with gifts over the Christmas period!

By buying a virtual light, bauble or Christmas present, you can help pay for a gift of care for the life-threatened children and young people we care for. For example:

• £5 could pay for fifty sheets of coloured card, used by children and families in Art Therapy or memory-making sessions.
• £18 could pay for ten hand and footprint kits, used by families to help make precious memories they can keep.
• £45 could pay for one hundred feeding bottles, used to help the many children at EACH who are tube-fed.

Help us decorate the tree: https://visufund.com/each-christmas-giving-tree