Member News

A SENIOR delegation from Great Yarmouth travelled to Westminster recently to highlight to energy minister, Claire Perry, the national importance of the borough’s growing offshore wind energy sector.

Arranged by Brandon Lewis MP, the visit was led by Cllr Graham Plant, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, together with Chris Starkie, chief executive of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, and Richard Goffin, port director at Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, together with officers from the borough and county councils.

The team gave a presentation to Ms Perry, setting out the significant investment that has already taken place in offshore wind farms and at the Outer Harbour, as well as the exciting ambitions and further opportunities at Great Yarmouth.

Cllr Plant said: “This visit was part of our ongoing work with Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, the LEP, the county council and other partners to maximise the opportunities for Great Yarmouth across the energy sector.

“Great Yarmouth is uniquely placed to capture for the UK the significant growth opportunities in offshore wind, as it is the closest deep water port to the Southern North Sea market and is globally-renowned as England’s offshore energy sector capital, with an extensive locally-based marine energy supply chain.

“Already, some of the world’s biggest offshore wind farms are being built and serviced from Great Yarmouth, and with Government support we can capture further opportunities to support local jobs and growth, and contribute to the UK’s national Industrial Strategy.

“Ms Perry was very impressed and receptive to what we had to say, and keen to work with us and other departments to explore what more the Government can do to help maximise our potential in offshore wind.”

Great Yarmouth is at the forefront of £39bn energy investment over the next 20 years. With Equinor already servicing the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm from its UK Wind Energy Centre on the river port, and the Outer Harbour serving as the assembly and installation port for both East Anglia ONE and Galloper offshore wind farms, Great Yarmouth has a growing reputation as an offshore wind hub.

This spring, Vattenfall and Peel Ports Great Yarmouth announced they were approaching a final commercial agreement about Great Yarmouth becoming the operations and maintenance base for two of the world’s largest offshore wind farms: Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas.

When a Norfolk charity found itself in difficulties back in 2013, a local telecoms business stepped in to help.

Local businesses working to support each other is so important in a competitive marketplace, where there are huge corporations and the odd unscrupulous supplier to contend with.  This community spirit was seen in action with Norfolk charity Musical Keys and Portal Voice & Data, a local telecoms business.

Norwich based charity, Musical Keys, provides music and arts based activities for people of all ages with disabilities and additional needs, across Norfolk.  Over 27 years, they have developed a comprehensive programme enabling participants to develop personal and social skills, build confidence and express themselves through enjoyable, interactive sessions. Their groups also offer a support network to parents, carers and families.

The charity sector is a challenging place in which to thrive and in 2013 Musical Keys came across some difficulties with their telephony supplier but with help and support from Portal Voice & Data, the small Norfolk charity was able to continue its work, providing access to music and creative opportunities for its service users.

Portal is a telecommunications business also based in Norwich. Founded in 1996, they supply and maintain telecommunication and data solutions with a consultative approach, offering their expertise to provide the best possible solution for each of their customers.

When they caught wind of Musical Keys’ story, the Managing Director John Corney knew he needed to offer his help;

“We were delighted to address some significant overcharging from a competitor and to support the work of this excellent charity.”

Since their initial partnership, Portal has continued to carry out maintenance on the Musical Keys phone system free of charge, with the pledge to support future telephony and data needs.

John Corney and his staff have also continued to fundraise for the charity, most recently via their ‘Charity Parking Sale’.  The company has rented out their parking spaces at Portal HQ, close to Carrow Road, to dedicated Norwich City FC supporters. The spaces are available for the duration of the football season, for home fixtures, at a cost of £100. This year the parking spaces sold in record time and raised a total of £1,300.00 for Musical Keys.

Alison Cooper, Fundraiser for Musical Keys praised Portal for its ongoing commitment “Longstanding corporate partnerships are increasingly hard to come by for small charities like ours.  There is a great deal of competition for corporate support in the charity sector and we count ourselves very lucky to have developed such a significant relationship with Portal.  From their initial support in 2013, they have continued to show their commitment to contributing to our work. It’s made a huge difference to what we have been able to achieve.”

Returning to the Forum, Norwich on Friday 14th September is our sell-out Abseil! Grab your colleagues, sign up your team and raise money for EACH! – Benefits of registering as a Corporate Team: – No booking fee for corporate teams (saving you £5pp!) – Bespoke team registration form, for easy offline sign-up – Materials to help promote your event to staff, colleagues & clients – Materials and fundraising support to help you reach your fundraising goal – Different payment methods available to suit you – Your team photo on our online EACH “Wall of Fame” – Company certificate and invitation to your local hospice’s next Open Day for a bespoke tour and thank you

Big C Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Charitable Operations

Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia Full time  £60,000 per annum

In addition to Deputy Chief Executive responsibilities, as Clinical Lead, you will strategically develop and lead our Charitable Operations across Norfolk, Waveney and areas of East Anglia. This includes our Support and Information services, Big C’s Research and Equipment Grants process and also Big C’s Education Programmes. 

“We are very keen to hear from interested candidates who can bring their specialist knowledge of cancer and ideas, to become the clinical lead and ambassador for the charity. They will be joining Big C at a very exciting and pivotal moment in its history as we forge ahead with our focused programme of strategic growth and positioning.” Dr Chris Bushby, CEO

For further information or to apply, please see https://www.big-c.co.uk/vacancies Closing date:  Monday, 27 August 2018 Interviews:  Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 September 2018

Abate Pest Management were recently called into action by Bartech Technical Services Ltd to Africa Alive!, a walking Safari Park located in Suffolk. But this time there wasn’t a pest in sight. They were called to install a safety solution at the ‘Lookout Lodge viewing point’ where visitors can get a bird’s eye view of magnificent lions.

Africa Alive! was looking to enhance the safety of the viewing point, which is great for enjoying a bird’s eye view of the lions and giving visitors a real-life experience with the atmosphere and smell of the fabulous animals.

Jon Blake, Managing Director of Abate said: “We were asked to work with Bartech Services, a technical services company to look at a solution for Africa Alive!. The park didn’t want to glass or screen off the viewing platform, so we were asked for tensioned wires which are usually used for bird control. The thought process behind this solution would provide a physical barrier between the visitors and the lions. We set up a small trial and it was successfully approved.”

Jon went onto say; “Bartech Services manufactured fabricated stainless steel capping, which were then used to fix over the handrails with hoops to hold the tensioned wires in place. We then fixed long vine screws into the supporting timber frames to enable the wires to be fixed in place.”

Africa Alive! were delighted with the final solution especially as it still allows the same atmosphere as before plus it passed all health and safety tests by the zoo inspectors.

Africa Alive! in Kessingland Suffolk is well worth a visit. You can find everything about this park by visiting their website at https://www.africa-alive.co.uk.

It appears pest control is not just about rodents, insects and birds! Do you have an unusual project that needs looking at? You can get in touch with Abate at www.abatelted.co.uk or call 0800 980 9767.

You can also contact Bartech Technical Services Ltd by visiting their website at www.bartech-services.co.uk

Over the last 15 years The Learning Partnership have delivered some of the most popular and effective STEM Inspiration physical classroom activities and competitions for Schools in the UK, including the Race for the Line Model Rocket Car National Competition with 78,000 students across 400 secondary schools involved this year alone.

The initiative is a whole year group project for Year 7 students and designed to promote STEM learning and assist teachers in bringing to life – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subject matter within the Year 7 curriculum. Students work in small, inclusive teams to design and build a model rocket car from kits supplied by TLP and, in parallel, explore, discuss and understand STEM concepts such as aerodynamics, Newton’s Laws of Motion, as well as computer programming through the use of a Micro:bit to measure performance. Partnerships with RAF, Army and Navy are in place to support the programmes – which this year meant they delivered 1000-person days to support qualifying events and races.

This is way above their expectations as it is one of the fastest growing national STEM programmes. Model change: Due to a previously unforeseen contractual restraint the joint forces have asked us to train 2 teachers in each school and supply the STEM programme management for those schools.

TLP is seeking local business support to make the competition ‘Free at the point of entry’ for schools and to enable the joint forces to continue in their role as Regional and National Finals hosts. For a school and all Year 7 students to participate costs £600. However, in times of limited budgets participation by the school is now dependent on securing external financial support – ideally from a local STEM business.

Our aim is to recruit 500+ STEM businesses to make a tax-deductible grant to a school near them.

In return for their support and in conjunction with The Learning Partnership the business will link with the school – be invited to the school race event and invited to join the STEM employer village at the regional finals with 30+ secondary schools and career advisors attending and have their logo on the regional event promotion material. As well as inspiring young people into STEM and helping close the “STEM Gap”, your support will also enable a range of new and exciting dynamics and valued interactions between your business and your local schools.

Sponsoring Companies will benefit from a 66% discount on a Dendrite employer channel linked to all Schools in their geographic zone.

If you would like to help, then please contact:

Phil Atkins UK Business Development Director The Learning Partnership phil@thelearningpartnership.com www.thelearningpartnership.com www.dendrite.me Tel: 01869 346609

Pure’s Norwich office has grown its team and promoted two colleagues following the professional recruitment specialists most successful year to date.

The Norwich office is one of Pure’s four offices in the Eastern region, alongside Cambridge, Chelmsford and Ipswich. At the end of the recruitment firm’s financial year (June 2018), the Norfolk team had performed better than ever, placing 398 Norfolk candidates in their next professional career move and supporting 159 businesses in the county to recruit high-calibre employees.

As a result, Pure Norwich has recruited seven new colleagues, bringing the total number of staff based in the Norfolk office up to 14 and has promoted Jade O’Brien and Ruben Davis to the role of Senior Consultant.

Tom Earl, Director at Pure, said: “For us, success is achieving our purpose of helping businesses and candidates to flourish and ultimately contributing to the economic growth of our region. Our Norwich office has performed better than ever in this last financial year and we are extremely proud to have been able to support so many candidates and businesses in the county. The Norfolk economy is exciting because there is still a strong demand for high quality candidates and a continued focus on attracting and retaining top talent to achieve business and economic growth. We’ve further strengthened our Norfolk team to make sure we can continue supporting organisations in sourcing, developing and retaining top talent, and to provide programmes which develop talent and support local businesses to create engaging places to work.”

Jade O’Brien, promoted to Senior Consultant, joined Pure in 2015. She specialises in Accountancy recruitment and also manages Pure’s Finance Leadership Programme events in Norfolk. The Finance Leadership Programme, run in partnership with Grant Thornton, has supported 11 finance professionals in Norfolk to progress their career in the last year alone.

Ruben Davis, also promoted to Senior Consultant, joined Pure in 2016. He has been instrumental in establishing Pure’s IT and Technology recruitment specialism, an industry area of significant growth in Norfolk. Ruben also takes the lead in supporting Norfolk businesses to participate in the Best Employers Eastern Region, the initiative founded by Pure and eras ltd to support organisations in creating workplaces which are stimulating, motivating and bring out the best in their people.

Joining the new recruits to the Norwich team, and demonstrating Pure’s commitment to developing its own talent, is graduate trainee Katie Steinfeldt. Katie, who will work with the HR recruitment team in Norfolk, is one of three graduates Pure has recruited across the region this year on its 2018 Graduate Training Programme.

Tom Earl added: “We are delighted to be able to partner with many high-profile businesses to help us achieve our aim of contributing to the growth of our region and putting it on the map as a great place to work and do business. With Birketts LLP we are joint sponsors of the Best Employer category at the Norfolk Business Awards, run by Archant. This enables us to recognise and celebrate the Norfolk businesses which are developing, supporting and attracting talent to achieve business success and organisational growth. Our Pure Executive Director Clubs, run with Grant Thornton, have also brought together 61 business leaders in Norwich over the last year, providing opportunities to discuss topical issues likely to impact on businesses and the regional economy. We’ve also been receiving some great feedback on our HR Energy events which we launched in Norfolk this year. Run in collaboration with Mills & Reeve, these events provide a forum for HR professionals to share experiences, socialise and gain insights from industry experts. We have already had 174 HR Managers and Senior Professionals attend the first year of events. Delegates have said how much they appreciate the support as there wasn’t anything else in Norfolk which was totally dedicated to the development of HR professionals.”

As a socially responsible business, Pure has always actively supported charities. In the last year the Norwich office has also raised £2,480 for its chosen charity of Alzheimer’s Society. This includes funds raised by the annual Norwich charity quiz night, which in 2018 brought 174 business people from across the county together for a fun battle of the brains evening in aid of the dementia support charity.

Published on 19 July, the Experian Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) report for the first six months of 2018 ranked Larking Gowen’s Corporate Transactions team joint first in the region, with the firm advising on ten deals for the East of England and a further two deals nationally. James Lay, Partner at Larking Gowen and head of the Corporate Transactions team, says, “We are absolutely delighted to feature prominently again in the Experian Market IQ league tables for the volume of deals completed. These latest results demonstrate the high level of experience and expertise within our growing Corporate Transactions team. It is very pleasing to be able to advise our clients, both buyers and sellers, on so many transactions. We are finding the market place very active and have had good success leveraging our national and international networks to broker deals for our clients.” Jack Minns, Manager of Larking Gowen’s Corporate Transactions, added, “We have concluded some exciting deals over the first half of the year, generating great returns for our clients. There are many more deals in the pipeline for the rest of the year and beyond.” The East of England contributed 7.6% of the total number of transactions recorded in the UK. There were 3,279 reported deals in the UK, which is approximately 14% down on the 3,807 deals recorded during the first half of 2017. However, this fall is generally seen as a robust return given the uncertain economic and political climate, and there was an encouraging increase in deal activity in the second quarter of 2018 after a relatively subdued first quarter. Although there was a 25% reduction in the number of large deals, the number of deals in the SME segment, on which Larking Gowen focus their attention, was up from 448 to 514, an increase of 15%. For more information about Larking Gowen Corporate Transactions offering go to: https://lgcorporatetransactions.co.uk/

On Friday July 27th the County of Norfolk will experience the first ‘Norfolk Day’. This is a great chance to celebrate all the things that the local community love about the county.

Cooper Lomaz Recruitment are long standing and proud members of the Norfolk business community, as such they are looking forward to celebrating all that is great about Norfolk with their clients. Cooper Lomaz Recruitment will be hosting a Business Breakfast for its Norfolk clients to kick the day off in style. The event will take place on Friday 27th July from 8.00am to 10.00am at The Library on Guildhall Hill in central Norwich. 

On choosing to host the venue, Jayne Raffles, Director at The Library said ‘We are looking forward to being involved in Norfolk Day celebrations. Beginning the day with a networking business breakfast with Cooper Lomaz Recruitment and celebrating the history, culture, business, innovation and of course the best of Norfolk produce. All of this in our stunning historical building. Above all, we are proud to live and work in this beautiful county, working alongside many Norfolk suppliers’.

Guests will join Cooper Lomaz Recruitment from 8am – 10am where they will sample food sourced from local suppliers from the Norfolk Region. On the menu will be Norfolk favourites, including, Meat sourced from Toombs Butchers, Bread Rolls from TimberHill bakery, Apple juice from Ashill Farm in Thetford and local sparkling wine from Flint Vineyard Winery based in Earsham, Norfolk.

Simon Brown, Managing Director of Cooper Lomaz, said “I am delighted to host this event and be a part of Norfolk Day. I am proud to work with businesses within the Norfolk area and Norfolk Day gives organisations that opportunity to celebrate together, promoting everything that is unique and so great about the County and the people of Norfolk”.

Cooper Lomaz Recruitment do have a small number of places still available for this event.  If you work at a business based in Norfolk and would be interested in attending please contact our events team on contact@cooperlomaz.co.uk  or 01603 766760.

As part of Start-Rite ‘s journey in continuing to invest in future growth, 16 staff members at its Norwich HQ recently completed a 12-month LEAN programme, to learn tools and techniques that improve operational performance in the workplace. 

The fun and interactive course, delivered by Fedden USP in conjunction with MIT Skills, demonstrates the practical application of LEAN principles in today’s business environments in order to improve profits through continuous improvement. The course consisted of five-days of theory, followed by eight days of mentoring to help the candidates deliver two work-based improvement projects that would benefit both them as an individual and the business. 

The course was delivered by sector specialist Colin Allaway, who has over 20 years’ experience using best practice within various sectors, including extensive supply chain and logistics experience. Topics covered included the basic principles of LEAN, its origins from the Japanese automotive industry and how it applies to both operational and office environments; improving productivity and reducing lead-times; mapping out the customer journey to improve service levels; workplace organisation techniques; problem solving; creating standard operating procedures to capture best practice; and cost/benefit analysis. 

Colin said: “Our workshops have a big emphasis on fun, as we use a range of games and business simulations to get the message across and ensure that people enjoy being part of the improvement workshop. The real benefit is in the use of work based projects to embed the learning, whilst also providing an ever more important opportunity for both individual and team development. This has been most prevalent with the Distribution Team in particular and has been very rewarding.” 

Implementing LEAN business processes across the business has helped Start-Rite to empower its workforce, improve productivity, increase the levels of innovation within the business, and support collaborative and cross function working for future business initiatives.

Chris Knights, PM Shift Supervisor, at Start-Rite said: “I think the single most important factor regarding our LEAN course is the message it’s sent to the workforce. From day one, what your employers are doing is stating that not only do they value the constructive input of their staff, but they want to nurture and encourage it. My experience in working on the course with the Distribution Centre team has been extremely positive. A noticeable confidence is evident in some members of staff who previously may have been less likely to put their ideas forward or take ownership of a project, and this has made the course entirely worthwhile.”

Rebekah Lake, AM Shift Supervisor, at Start-Rite, said: “I found the LEAN course extremely interesting and beneficial, as it taught me a lot about saving time, energy and money for the company. It incorporates the meaning of a team effort and was an eye-opener into how a company can become more profitable.”

Ian Watson, Start-Rite CEO, said: “The development of skills within our office and distribution centre teams has had beneficial results for the business and individuals, in particular, helping to deliver a complete overhaul of our DC working practices to improve our service levels to customers and consumers.” On completing the course, all candidates received a Level 2 NVQ qualification. 

To find out more about the benefits of the LEAN development course visit www.fedden-usp.co.uk.

Freebridge Community Housing and King’s Lynn Foodbank team up to raise funds

Freebridge Community Housing is teaming up with the King’s Lynn Foodbank to help raise funds

through a Charity Golf Day at Middleton Golf Club later this year.

Employees from Freebridge, along with teams from partner organisations that work with both

Freebridge and the Foodbank, will be hitting the fairways to raise money on Friday 28 September

2018.

Every year Freebridge employees vote to support a charity through various fundraising activities,

and this year the charity chosen was the King’s Lynn Foodbank.

The King’s Lynn Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell

Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.

Freebridge’s Chief Executive, Tony Hall, said: “Over the years Freebridge employees have had

great success in raising funds for some of the wonderful charities that work in and around West

Norfolk. The last Charity Golf Day we held in 2015 raised over £5000 and we’re hoping for another

successful day on the course.

“We’d love to be able to match the amount raised previously so would welcome teams from

organisations across West Norfolk to join us to help support this extremely worthwhile cause.”

For more information on what’s included and how you can get involved with a team or sponsorship, call Freebridge on 03332 404444.

Flagship Group and their suppliers have raised £5,500 for the charity Metabolic Support UK through their charity golf day that took place on Friday 13 July.  

The charity was chosen by Liam Betts, Managing Director of RFT Services and Gasway after they supported his family when his son was born with a genetic condition.

Staff from the Group including Flagship Homes, RFT Services and Gasway were joined by a number of local and national suppliers in a round of golf followed by a raffle and auction at Dunston Hall near Norwich. The winners by a narrow victory were the team from Mr Overalls, a supplier of clothing and equipment based in Wymondham.

Neal Simmons, organiser of the event and Head of Supply Chain at RFT Services, said: “Today has been a great success and cemented this as an annual event in our calendar. I would like to thank all of the sponsors for their generous donations and players for taking part and making it a successful day.”

Liam Betts, Managing Director of RFT services and Gasway said: “This has been a great opportunity to get together with our suppliers and raise funds for a fantastic cause which is close to my heart as they helped us through a challenging time to understand and cope with my son’s condition when he was born.”