M+A Partners Lily Pomfret yesterday becameone of only 20 Intuit QuickBooks UK Advanced Pro users in the UKby passingwith a score of 94% to come out top of all those that sat the exam.
If you are new to Cloud Accounting or would like to brush up on your skills, let us know if you would like to be at one of our next Quickbooks training sessions hosted by Lily.
We’ve recently had the pleasure of working with the team at Chrysalis on their first TV commercial. The long-term radio and online advertiserswanted to take the next step and promote their nationwide courses through the fabulous medium of TV, and of course JMS were pleased to be their guide.
We presented a number of options for consideration and the client chose a creative idea that explored the journey someone takes when embarking on a big change in their life, such as a new career. Filmed across 2 days and 4 locations; beach, home, office and 2 studio sets, the creative team demonstrated these thought processes by following a central character as she sets out to change her life with the help of Chrysalis.
Capitalising on the advertising already being used, we incorporated some visual ‘nods’ to the butterfly icon that is part of the company logo – small reminders of the branding that appear throughout the commercial connecting directly with our central character.
The commercial broadcasts nationwide from April 2016.
Celebrating 10 Years of Freebridge Community Housing
Freebridge Community Housing celebrate their 10th birthday on 4 April.
It’s now ten years since 6,700 homes transferred to Freebridge from the Borough Council after 77 per cent of voting tenants elected for the move, and a great deal has happened since.
Tony Hall, Chief Executive of Freebridge said: “The transfer of homes to Freebridge in April 2006 was a enormously significant event for tenants. At that time fewer than 30% of tenants’ homes met the Government’s Decent Homes standard. Now almost 100% have been improved above this level, with just a few remaining to be completed within our bigger regeneration projects.
“Through working with our tenants, our employees and our partners, we have improved the quality of homes that our tenants live in and supported the communities where our tenants live.
“Reaching this 10 year point gives us the chance to look back at what we have achieve, whilst continuing to plan for the future. The world we find ourselves in is very different to the world that existed when Freebridge first started out, which means that we will need to be increasingly prudent with any plans we have to make sure that we continue to be a responsible landlord that develops homes and creates opportunities for people in the area.
“I would like to thank our tenants for their involvement and interest over the last ten years, our employees for all of their hard work, and our partners who have worked closely with us in supporting a better West Norfolk.”
In Freebridge’s first ten years we’ve:
been open for business for over 2500 days.
started over 7000 new tenancies.
spent over £45 million in the local area up to 5 miles from
our Juniper House office in King’s Lynn.
employed over 400 members of staff.
given community groups over £46,000 in grants from our Community Fund.
visited over 4000 homes whilst out and about in west Norfolk.
presented over 50 awards at our Community Awards nights.
installed 5324 kitchens, 4436 bathrooms, put new windows in 5418 homes, new doors in 6161 homes, new heating systems in 5273 homes and had re-wired homes 4354.
Be Wiser Business Insurance offers insurance policies for businesses and individuals of all industries and sizes. This means that a tradesman can purchase insurance to cover his tools, his handywork and protect himself from any potential damages caused to clients and their property.
For a large enterprise, cover is available to protect the public, the property andemployees. So in the event of an accident or damages, the insurance will pay for any compensation, personal injuries, medical bills and loss of income.
For a professional like a dentist, doctor or lawyer, they can purchase professional indemnity insurance so that any if advice or procedures have adverse effects and the customer takes legal action, they will be insured for any damages and compensation.
Be Wiser is an insurance broker working with over 30 leading providers so individuals or companies will be able to make an enquiry online or phone up and after providing details of their business, they will have access to a leadingbusiness insurance quotetailored to their business.
What work we have done
We started by making the website as user-friendly and conversion driven as possible. This includes making the site fully responsive so it is easy to view on desktop, mobile and tablet. Customers have access to information about each insurance product and are always one to three clicks away from making an enquiry.
To practice SEO effectively, we started with a list of thousands of relevant keywords which we sat down and discussed with the client. We then focused our content efforts to target these keywords and included them in the URLs, headings, titles and content body, working on an even distribution of content and not spamming Google with our favourite keywords. To create a natural user experience, we have included several images and videos explaining the product. To build the site’s link profile, we have looked to generate PR on business forums, magazines, news sites and other relevant publications.
We are thrilled about continuing to work on content, videos and acquiring links for the Be Wiser Business site.We are currently on page 1 for ‘property owners liability’ and various terms relating to ‘public liability insurance’ and look forward to gaining good search results in the future.
The OPEN Youth Trust (OPEN) on Bank Plain has appointed nineteen year old Michael Ni’Man to its Board of Trustees.
Michael, who lives in Norwich, is soon to start studying Medicine in London, but he first stepped through the doors of OPEN as a Year 9 pupil at Norwich School. Soon after joining OPEN, Michael quickly became involved in it’s Youth Forum. This Forum aims to give young people a voice, ensuring that the charity meets the current and future needs of young people in Norfolk. He believes that through this Forum, OPEN has given him the confidence and inspiration to follow his dream of becoming a doctor, but also picking up an entrepreneurial flair along the way with business interests in social enterprises, IT and innovation.
Speaking of the appointment OPEN’s Chief Executive, John Gordon-Saker said: “Michael is a remarkable young man brimming with ideas and his pitch to the Board was compelling. It is wholly appropriate that a charity with the objective of making a difference to the lives of young people in Norfolk has a young person on its Board and Michael is the embodiment of our aim of giving people the confidence and life skills to find work or follow their passion. We are already bringing on the young people who come through our programmes as volunteers, interns, apprentices and employees and now one of them is a Trustee. It’s brilliant.”
Speaking of his appointment Michael said: “Throughout my years of engagement with OPEN, I’ve seen first hand the direct impact and change OPEN can have on a young person’s career and outlook. The Youth Forum meets regularly to discuss issues, concerns and ideas, so I look forward to becoming their voice on the Board, making sure that the charity continues to move in the direction that serves young people and delivers activities and programmes, such asYour Life, that are engaging, current and wholly relevant. The governance experience will help me in my career and I look forward to learning from John and the Trustees as experts in different fields. OPEN is a great institution and vanguard of youth in the city and county, no further proof of this than my appointment as a Trustee.”
Photo caption: Michael Ni’Man with OPEN Chief Executive, John Gordon-Saker
Jen Little, Practice Recruitment Specialist at the Cambridge office of Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure), has completed a 75km trek across the Sahara desert to raise money for the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity (ARHC) and has described it as ‘the most amazing and phenomenal experience’.
Having spent six months undergoing some intensive preparation training, Jen was one of eight members of Team ARHC who took on the epic walk through temperature conditions ranging from a scorching 40 degrees in the day to just 0 degrees when camping at night. The other team members included the charity’s CEO Lynn Morgan, staff at the hospice and other local business people including Steve Mitcham, CEO of Cambridge Business Society.
The group hiked across the desert for several days from 17th March with just their guide, and the camels who were carrying the minimal luggage they were allowed, for company. Having made it safely back in one piece, aching legs and the odd blister aside, Jen has already said she would return to the Sahara in a heartbeat.
“However much I thought I knew what it would be like, it was even more beautiful than I could have imagined”, said Jen. “It was an amazing and phenomenal experience as well as being hard work and scary all at the same time. Essentially we just walked, ate and slept but we really bonded as a team throughout and got to see some spectacular sights. We were up before 6am each morning and watched the most beautiful sunrises and the sunsets were equally as stunning. We were in bed by about 8.30pm most nights but we did also have time to marvel at the stars. Because there is no light pollution in the desert you really can see every star in the night sky.”
The team had to battle through a sand storm towards the end of the trip which meant they actually completed the journey slightly quicker than they had anticipated.
Jen, who has been an ambassador for ARHC for the last eight years, added: “When the sand storm came in it really reduced our visibility and dropped the temperature. We were advised to either all bunker down in one tent until it passed or to keep on walking through it to escape the storm quicker. We choose to keep on walking which meant we reached our finish goal earlier than we expected. But it was like being completely sand blasted and the only bits of ourselves we really dared have exposed were our hands. When we reached the end we all felt an overwhelming sense of achievement. We’d taken on a challenge and really risen to it and conquered it as a team.”
The sponsorship money for Team ARHC is still coming in, but with all eight team members having already averaged around £2,000 each, the overall amount looks set to be a significant amount for the charity. ARHC is the only adult hospice in Cambridgeshire and provides specialist palliative care and support to adult patients and their family, friends and carers. The money raised will be used to support the creation of a new 24-bed facility at the hospice which is set to be an exemplar in hospice design and will offer patients a more spacious, attractive and therapeutic environment.
Orchard Toys are delighted to present East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) with a cheque for £2,000, along with a pledge to raise a total of £5,300 for the charity’s ‘Pay for a Day’ scheme.
Orchard Toys have been working with EACH for a number of years and are keen to continue supporting them and all the great work they do. As a local children’s games manufacturer and a local charity working with children, their relationship is one with great synergy.
To date, the fundraising has come from company initiatives and customer donations, but along with these activities in 2016 Orchard Toys will be asking recipients of their “Free Parts Replacement Service” to donate even the smallest amount to EACH.
Orchard Toys Marketing Manager Ali Brown commented: “As a company we are very passionate about raising funds for EACH, but we appreciate there are only so many internal fundraisers staff can support. Therefore, not charging customers for replacement parts but asking them to make a voluntary donation for their free piece is just another way we can raise some extra pennies for EACH.” A dedicated JustGiving page has been set up where Orchard Toys customers can donate.
All donations will go towards EACH’s ‘Pay for a Day’ scheme, which encourages local organisations to raise the £5,300 the charity needs every day of the year to run their services across Norfolk. The generous amount raised will be used to pay for the vital care and support EACH provides to children and young people with life-threatening conditions and their families across Norfolk, both at their Quidenham hospice, at families’ homes and in the community.
If you would like to help Orchard Toys reach their £5,300 target and ‘Pay for a Day’ of care at EACH’s Quidenham hospice, head to www.justgiving.com/Orchard-Toys-EACH to send your donation – any amount large or small would be much appreciated!
James Reed, Chairman of the Reed Global group of companies, will officially open a REED Megasite in Norwich on Tuesday 19th April. The aim of the office will be to continue to serve the business community across a number of fast growth sectors in the East of England.
Employing more than 30 people, the site will deliver specialist recruitment services to businesses across a number of disciplines. These include Accountancy, HR, Finance, Marketing and Creative, Business Support, Hospitality and Leisure for both temporary and permanent workers.
Melanie Marjoram, business director at REED Norwich, says: “Opening an office of this size is a real measure of the growth the city has experienced in recent years. Norwich has an exciting and varied jobs market which is why it needs a recruitment centre that can offer a variety of bespoke options for all recruitment needs.”
In addition to catering for jobs in a number of sectors, the REED Megasite in Norwich will offer enhanced facilities for both candidates and clients. These will include a number of workshops, including skill set and role play workshops, testing suites and interview rooms. There are a growing number of REED Megasites in the UK and across the globe in specially selected areas where jobs and industries require a wide range of specialist skills to suitably provide for the market.
Melanie Marjoram continued: “The facilities for both individuals and businesses at the site are high quality. With a range of training options to improve and expand skills, the opportunities to develop with REED are vast. The skills gained will help candidates and REED work together to set a successful career path, and businesses to flourish. With the new Megasite bringing so much to the local community, it will be great to have our chairman James Reed to open it on April 19th, and launch all the good work we want to do.”
The new REED Megasite is located at Seebohm House, 2-4 Queen Street, Norwich, NR2 4SQ. The Launch will commence from 15:00 to 18:00. Please join us in our celebrations with refreshments and Canapes on offer.
To attend, or for more information, please call Michelle Topley, Office Manager at REED Norwich, on 01603 616190 or email michelle.topley@reedglobal.com
Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) hosted its annual Norwich charity quiz night on Thursday 24 March, bringing local businesses and clients together for a fun evening which raised £2,000 for the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH).
With 43 teams of four, including teams from Wensum Tailoring and Harrods UK, there was plenty of friendly rivalry on the night. The overall winners were a team from NBI Norwich Biosciences and each team member was presented with a bottle of champagne.
The event, held at the Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club, also included a raffle to help raise further funds. The prizes included cinema tickets, bottles of champagne and an afternoon tea voucher: all kindly donated by local businesses. There was also a silent auction for a tailor-made jacket from Wensum Tailoring, which raised £250.
Joseph O’Sullivan, Manager of Pure’s Norwich Office, said: “This is the seventh year we’ve run our annual quiz night in Norwich and it was a huge success once again. We’re delighted to have been able to raise such a wonderful amount for EACH. I would like to thank everyone that attended, donated and contributed generously to the event and hope they can join us again next year.”
EACH supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. The charity relies on voluntary donations for the majority of its income and needs to raise almost £6 million to deliver its services every year.
Last year’s Norwich quiz night also raised over £2,100 for this worthy cause. Pure’s annual quiz nights, held at all four offices throughout the year, are just one of the many charity events the leading recruitment consultancy runs throughout the year. To date it has raised over £100k for 24 charities.
Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) are offering the chance for one aspiring female leader, working at a deserving organisation in the East of England, to receive a part-funded place on its highly successful Women’s Leadership Programme.
The Women’s Leadership Programme was developed by East Anglia’s professional recruitment specialist Pure and People & Performance Ltd in Cambridge to help women develop their authentic leadership skills and to support local organisations to evolve their culture and remove any workplace barriers to gender equality.
A place on the next course has been sponsored by Suffolk-based Blossom Charity, which supports women in enterprise at all stages in their career, to make this course more accessible to local organisations which may not previously have had the budget to develop their talent pipeline in this way. Applications for the sponsored place are open to charities, social enterprises, not-for-profit organisations, early stage start-ups or SMEs across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex or Cambridgeshire.
Lynn Walters, director at Pure, said: “There is clear evidence that creating an equal gender balance at senior levels brings numerous business benefits, including a more collaborative and creative approach to problem solving and greater profitability. Our programme provides the dual approach of not only developing aspiring female leaders but also the organisations they work for. We want to encourage local employers to mentor and support their female talent to review their progression pipeline and to address any potential barriers or unconscious bias. After all, if employers don’t know why women fail to climb the career they can’t make any changes to achieving genuine diversity at executive levels.”
Over 30 local organisations have already participated in the programme since it launched in 2014, providing their female talent with a great forum to build their leadership skills, boost their confidence and to develop a network of like-minded professionals. This has included local charities and not-for-profit organisations, who remain part of the strong alumni network developing across the Eastern region.
Lynn Morgan, Chief Executive of the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity in Cambridgeshire, has sponsored a female colleague to take part in the programme. She said: “I have been delighted with the way that the leadership programme has given my team member the time and opportunity to explore issues around leadership and personal development with other very bright young women. The facilitation on the programme has been first rate and I believe the participants have benefitted significantly by being involved.”
Pri Pinnaduwa, HR Director at the not-for-profit organisation RAND Europe in Cambridge, was also a delegate on a previous programme. She added: “I so enjoyed the course and really appreciated the time to discuss leadership and the networking opportunity, as well as the chance to focus inwardly on things I can do to personally to achieve my goals. I can see how much thought and work has gone into developing this programme and hope it continues to go from strength to strength.”
The sponsored place is for the next 2016 course with the modules running in June and September. The full cost of the programme is usually £2,750 but this will be reduced to £1,375 for the chosen delegate. To apply for the place, or to nominate a member of your team, email lucy@prs.uk.com by 29 April with details of why you, or your colleague, should be awarded the sponsored place.
Just heading back from Qatar and the GCC – it was interesting to speak with clients about the new economic environment there [post oil price slump] and consider the implications for HR and People Management Strategies. The attached article was published recently in People Management Middle East which summarises our thoughts and perspectives on more enlightened clients. We are currently working with a downstream oil and gas company to revitaise and re-focus their leadership development programme. Give me a call or drop me an email if of interest: peter.lawrence@humancapitaldept.com
Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) will be hosting the latest Employment Law Seminar in partnership with Birkett Long on Wednesday 4 May at the Holiday Inn, Brentwood.
The free session starts at 830am and will be split into two sessions led by senior practitioners from Birkett Long. Session one will highlight the latest Employment Law update, particularly focussing on Government’s increased attention upon business regulation corresponding the increase of criminal prosecutions. Session two will look at how organisations can be informed of the regulations in order that they can protect themselves and their staff in the event of a regulatory investigation or potential prosecution.
Ben Farrow, Pure , said: “The session will be of value to anyone in HR or responsible for leading Employment Law in their business to ensure that they are up-to-date with the latest legislation and how they can ensure that they are compliant.”
“We are delighted to partner with the leading Employment Law specialists in our region, Birkett Long, and Pure as an organisation is committed to delivering high quality and relevant support to our clients in the Essex area”.
The session will take place in Elm Room 2, Holiday Inn, Brook Street, Brentwood, Essex CM14 5NF. If you are interested in attending or would require more information, please contact Ben Farrow (Ben.Farrow@prs.uk.com) by Wednesday 18 April 2016.