Member News

Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) were delighted to hear they had won an award at the first annual Jostle Awards for their vibrant and engaging intranet receiving an enviable 80% or more engagement level each week. This award celebrates its people, and reflects its knowledge and values.

Launched in 2009 with a focus on employee engagement, Jostle provides cloud based intranet software to companies in 110 different countries with a quest to make workplaces more vibrant and productive. Jessica Hollander, Director of Marketing from Jostle said “As an organization Pure Resourcing Solutions exemplifies what it means to live your culture. This can only be achieved with strong vision and engaged leadership. The Jostle Awards allowed us to recognize their achievements, which we felt were extremely noteworthy. So much so, that Jostle created a unique culture award specifically for Pure, outside of the set awards categories. The Vibrant Culture Award – something Pure has demonstrated in spades.”

Gill Buchanan, Director from Pure said: “With offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich, it is important for us to have a clear way of communicating internally and we have found Jostle to be a great way of doing this. Every member of staff contributed to this award as all are able to contribute, allowing them to share news and announcements, host instant group discussions and access the Jostle library which contains all our company information”.

For more information about Pure or their Jostle Award, contact Gill Buchanan on 01223 209888 or gill@prs.uk.com.

Vicki Mitman of Leathes Prior’s Franchising Team has been awarded the first Encouraging Women Into Franchising ‘Young Woman’ award.

The fifth annual Encouraging Women Into Franchising (EWIF) Awards Ceremony was held yesterday at RBS House, Bishopsgate, London. The Awards Ceremony was well attended with approximately 130 supporters, finalists and guests.

A new award has been added this year for young women (those 30 years old or younger) who have made a flying start to their role / career in franchising and who also mentor others and give back to the industry. Vicki is the first winner of the new award. Vicki was also a finalist for the ‘Woman Service Provider of the Year’ award.

Leathes Prior congratulates all the other award winners and finalists. Full details are available on the EWIF website here www.ewif.org/ewif-news/ewif-awards-2015-the-winners

For further information about Leathes Prior’s Franchising Team or Encouraging Women Into Franchising, please contact Vicki on 01603 281185 or vmitman@leathesprior.co.uk

Leathes Prior Solicitors proudly joins the list of sponsors to support the Norwich City of Ale Festival as glassware sponsor. Norwich City of Ale is a not-for-profit organisation with the mission to promote Norwich, nationally and internationally, as the UK City of Ale.

The glassware used for the event will feature an etch effect of Leathes Prior Solicitors’ logo for the fifth annual event, which runs from 21st – 31st May. The firm’s brand will feature on the glasses which will be 20oz (pint size), in the modern conical style. They are marked with half and third lines to encourage responsible tasting of a variety of fine ales and will be used at the launch event, the Brewers’ Market and other events such as pop-up parties.

Last year’s City of Ale festival was the most successful to date, with 44 public houses and 39 breweries taking part in the festivities including ale trails, pub quizzes, live music events and tutored tastings of speciality beers.

The event attracts more visitors to the city every year with a fifth coming from outside of our local region in 2014, which was nearly double that of the year before!

The event will again be a ten day celebration with local pubs and breweries taking part to promote real ale. With a variety of events happening over the course of the festival, there will be something for everyone.

Leathes Prior is delighted to be partnering with the Norwich City of Ale and looks forward to the festival atmosphere in the city, which will hopefully engage those in the local area and far beyond.

Leathes Prior Solicitors has partnered up with Swardeston Cricket Club to sponsor their growing youth section.

Swardeston can trace its club history back over 150 years and in 2010 were crowned the ECB’s Cockspur T20 national champions after claiming victory under the live Sky cameras at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl ground. The club has also won the East Anglian Premier League title three years running.

Swardeston Cricket Club now fields four adult Saturday teams, two on Sundays and has six junior teams from Under-9 to Under-15. They are also actively growing the girls’ section.

Leathes Prior will join existing Swardeston sponsor The Parson Woodforde. The firm’s Business Development and Marketing Manager Charlotte Disney said: “We are delighted to be able to support Swardeston as youth section sponsor and look forward to supporting the club’s developing role in the local sporting community.”

Under the deal, Swardeston’s youth coaches will wear Leathes Prior branded kit and the firm will explore opportunities via the club’s weekly summer Tuesday night coaching sessions which regularly attract about 90 youngsters.

Swardeston chairman Mark Taylor said: “We are thrilled that Leathes Prior has agreed to become our youth sponsor. The youth section has been growing steadily at the club for a number of years. 2014 saw the formation of a girls section and we are pleased to announce that we will also be running an additional team at Under-13 level this summer.

“We are determined to continue building a club which thrives at the heart of a community and as such we are thrilled that Leathes Prior’s backing has also enabled us to offer discounted coaching in three local schools this season. Swardeston coaches will be working with the pupils at Mulbarton Junior School, Cringleford CE VA Primary School and Avenues Junior School.”

Contact information:

Swardeston CC: Stuart Bartram, Sponsorship and media officer, tel: 07714 126337, email: stuart.bartram@brandexinsight.co.uk

Leathes Prior Solicitors: Charlotte Disney, Business Development and Marketing Manager, tel:01603 281137, email: cdisney@leathesprior.co.uk

As of today, 26 May 2015, law is in force which prevents employers who utilise zero-hours contracts from having exclusivity clauses in those contracts, or enforcing such clauses if they are already included in the contracts. Employers will no longer be able to enforce any clause or provision in a zero-hours contract which:

• prohibits a worker from doing work or performing services under another contract (or any other arrangement); or
• prohibits a worker from doing work or performing services without the employer’s consent.

It is important to stress that in spite of all the hype and media attention that they attract, zero-hours contracts are still legal. They can be a useful tool for employers, in particular those who require a flexible or seasonal workforce. What is clear, however, is that what employers can do under a zero-hours contract is changing; further laws and regulations on the use of zero-hours contracts are expected later this year. The Government had discussed introducing legislation to create a new protection from detriment for zero-hours contract workers who take jobs under other contracts, however as yet no such legislation has been brought into force.

In addition to the new changes for zero-hours contracts, the maximum financial penalty that can be imposed on employers who fail to pay their employees the national minimum wage has increased. The penalty imposed can now be calculated on a per worker basis (rather than on a per employer notice basis) up to a maximum of £20,000.

If you are concerned about zero-hours contracts or any other aspect of this article you should first speak with a member of our Employment Team on 01603 281153.

Note: The content of this article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken in any specific circumstance.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Call Wiser’s new website. Working closely with them on design, the site offers a very easy way to navigate for various insurance products include bike insurance, van insurance, home insurance and car insurance quotes. Features of the site include:

Design

The site is very simple and easy to navigate. For us this was key because competitor analysis showed too much going on and it was distracting to the user.

We have kept with the traditional two colours for websites and a white background and black writing. The pastel colours of aqua and torquoise creating a calming feel which we wanted for people shopping for car insurance, especially if it was urgent.

Mobile Friendly and Responsive

The site is completely friendly for mobile users and is responsive for all devices such as desktops and tablets. This means that the size of the browser adjusts to makes it easy for users to shop around for insurance no matter where they are. On April 21st 2015, Google made an algorithm update that will favour websites on the search rankings if they have a mobile friendly site. So overall, the responsive site is what’s best for the customer.

SEO friendly site

The site has been built in a very SEO friendly way, minimsing the unnecessary code where possible. In addition, there is a nice blend of relevant content, images and videos to create a healthy user experience, also known as semantic SEO.

The site has been linked to authoritative domains including car sites, the AA, wikipedia, Govt and awards that the company have won. We also add a very informative About Us page thereby creating trust signals to Google that this is a strong company with a real company background and history.

We are very excited for Call Wiser and their new site and look forward to delivering strong SEO results moving forward!

Due to some excellent procurement deals, we are currently able to offer New Car Hire from as little as £99 per week including VAT, fully comprehensive insurance and unlimited UK mileage.

As well as this deal on our smaller cars, we also have fantastic rates on all vehicles throughout our extensive range ofcars and commercials for daily, weekly or long term hire.

We offer acomprehensive range of Quality New Cars starting withsmall economical hatchbacks through to family estate cars and even executive cars for that special occasion.

Our commercial range starts with car derived vansthrough to extra long wheel base Hi-top models and continues to include Luton vans and 7.5 tonne box trucks both of which come complete with electric tail lifts. The range is complimentedwith the inclusion of ourrugged and robust tippers which have a payload of approximately 1.5 tonnes and feature ahydraulic tipping system.

For all of your Self Drive vehicle hire requirements and an excellent deal please contact our helpful staff on 01603 624275 or visit our website at www.firstselfdrive.co.ukand mention the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.

JMS Grouphas had the great pleasure of working with Roys for over 30 years -we have an entry in our ancient invoice bookfor a radio commercial produced for them back in 1984! So it’s great that our two brands continue to work together well into the 21st Century. Our most recent campaign has been promoting the fashion labels that Roys department stores sell – big names including Superdry, Clarks, Joules and Laura Ashley. A 10 seconds 3D animated TV commercial was produced for broadcast on ITV1 Anglia for the May Bank Holiday to drive customers to the Wroxham store and create awareness of the brand during half term.

After 5 years of winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence we have been welcomed into the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame. We would like to thank all of our hotel guests who have left us their feedback. We greatly value all of our guests and enjoy reading their reviews after visiting the hotel.

Park Farm Hotel believe in complete transparency when it comes to guest feedback, and for this reason we choose to actively encourage the collection of guest reviews from our guests, and then publish these reviews online on our website for all to see. Feedback is read by all of the management team and action is taken according to the comments given.

Cozens-Hardy LLP is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the 2015 Norwich Food & Drink Festival.

This two-day festival celebration of food and drink will be held in Chapelfield Gardens over the weekend of 12th and 13th September and is set to be the flagship event for the newly re-branded Norfolk Food & Drink Ltd. The gardens will be turned into a food and drink village featuring a producers’ marquee, City Farm, Feast on the Street, a cookery demonstration theatre, live music and street entertainers. An undoubted highlight will be the Battle of the Bangers on Sunday.

The firm is also pleased to confirm that it is continuing its sponsorship of the hugely popular Moveable Feast event in aid of Parkinson’s UK.

Jane Anderson, Senior Partner:

“As a significant supporter of the food and drink industry in Norfolk we welcome the opportunity to support the Norwich Food & Drink Festival and to extend our sponsorship of the ever popular Moveable Feast to a fifth year. As a local firm of solicitors, we are proud to have looked after generations of farming families and this is a terrific way for us to help showcase our region’s valuable food and drink industry to people in the county and further afield.”

Sarah de Chair, Chair of the Board of Norfolk Food & Drink Ltd:

“Norfolk Food & Drink is absolutely delighted to welcome Cozens-Hardy solicitors back as sponsors once again this year – and we are particularly thrilled that they will be sponsoring our reinvigorated Norwich Food & Drink Festival. We anticipate that this event will attract around 20,000 people over the two days and it’s thanks to Cozens-Hardy’s support that we are able to deliver such a terrific event to the people of Norwich and Norfolk.”

Further details about the Norwich Food & Drink Festival weekend can be found at www.norfolkfoodanddrink.com.

Further information about the unique dining experience that is Lloyd Addison’s Moveable Feast, in aid of Parkinson’s UK, can be found at www.moveablefeastnorwich.org.

– Ends –

For further information please contact:

Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and clare@clarehaylett.net

London, 12 May 2015 – Novagraaf announced today that leading intellectual property (IP) professional Eric Siecker had joined its UK operations as Managing Director, Patents. Formerly, Corporate Counsel at the Caterpillar Inc group of companies, Siecker brings considerable experience in all aspects of IP law and practice to the Novagraaf team, with a particular focus on patents, know-how, confidential information, IP agreements and design rights.

Eric Siecker joins Novagraaf after 15 years at Caterpillar Inc, where he was previously Corporate Counsel and head of IP for Europe, Africa, Middle East & CIS. His appointment supports and strengthens Novagraaf’s strategic ambitions, as CEO Lutgarde Liezenberg explains:

“Our clients need the support of an IP consultancy that understands their business drivers and is able to tailor advice accordingly. Eric’s background in-house at Caterpillar enables him to fulfil that brief. His experience ensures that he brings a commercial and interactive focus to his work with businesses of all sizes, helping them to create business value through effective global patent and IP management.”

Commenting on his appointment, Eric adds: “I am delighted to be taking over leadership of Novagraaf’s UK patent practice. My experience client-side at an industry-leading global corporation gives me crucial insight into the needs and concerns of modern businesses, and their IP and legal departments. I look forward to working with clients to maximise the potential of their IP assets and to contribute to the further development of Novagraaf patent practice in the international market.”

About Eric Siecker Eric is a registered European Patent Attorney, a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and a registered Trademark Attorney (UK). He holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Machinery Engineering & Manufacturing from Cranfield University, and in IP Law & Management from Queen Mary, University of London.

Eric is experienced across a broad range of technologies and has particularly deep technological expertise in all aspects related to construction and agricultural machinery, mining equipment, marine propulsion, diesel and gas engines and associated power systems. In addition, he has extensive experience in all aspects of patent management and practice, such as: proactive management of complex IP portfolios around high value products; IP strategy; large-scale patent clearance projects; freedom-to-operate and validity opinions; IP agreements; and EP opposition and appeal proceedings. He is also experienced in performing due diligence evaluations to support M&A and licensing opportunities.

Eric joined Novagraaf in April 2015, and leads the Novagraaf Patent Business in the UK.

East Anglia’s fastest growing accountancy firm, Aston Shaw has continued its expansion strategy with the acquisition of well established Norwich based competitor, Roger Hopkins – as of Friday 1st May 2015.

The deal has been backed by Owner, Roger Hopkins who handpicked Aston Shaw to take over their clients in his retirement, stating that the firms “share the same ethos” and “commitment to increase client profits”. Roger Hopkins Chartered Accountants was established in 1980 and has grown to become one of Norwich’s most reputable small accountancy practices, with a portfolio of over 300 clients. The incorporation of Roger Hopkins will see the 6 existing staff members retained by Aston Shaw and the existing office will remain at 18 Princes Street, Norwich.

Mark Noakes, Director, Aston Shaw commented: “Roger Hopkins Chartered Accountants is a highly regarded and well respected firm in the city. There was a huge amount of competition to secure the deal and we are thrilled that Roger selected Aston Shaw to carry on building the firm he created. We want to ensure a sense of continuity for clients and so Roger will continue to work alongside us on a consultancy basis”.

Roger Hopkins, Owner, commented: “My decision to allow Roger Hopkins Chartered Accountants to become Aston Shaw was made with my clients and staff as my priority. I am impressed with the approach Aston Shaw take in regards to growth, client care and level of service – something that is unique for a practice of its size. I wanted to have a guarantee that both my staff and clients would receive the same level of care and attention that we have maintained over the years, and I look forward to offering my help throughout the transition.”

Since the merger with Morgan Woods in August 2014, Aston Shaw has gone from strength to strength. Last year, the firm recruited 17 apprentices and made a number of appointments in the senior ranks of the company – this year, with the acquisition of Roger Hopkins and more developments planned for 2015, the firm is on track to continue on the same upward trend.