Bringing the past to life with our colourful selectionof 2015 vintage & retro calendars. Each one features classic 20th century advertising images from The History of Advertising Trusts amazing archives.
Click the below link for details
Following on from our auction of a rather unique piece of memorabilia signed by Brian Blessed, Norfolk at the Pictures was also selected to be our July Charity for our monthly #ESECharityDay.
Receiving 5% of our online profits on the last Friday of July the charity was presented with a cheque for £420.00, Marc Atkinson was kind enough to give us a tour of the cinema whilst he told us what the money raised will be used for.
The project aims to collect and preserve memories of cinema going in Norfolk as well as offering an educational aspect, both to schools and the general public. The funds will be used to renovate part of the building offering better facilities including a lift offering much improved disability access to their premises.
You can keep up to date with the charity by reading their blog,or following them on twitter and facebook.
SaxonAir once again host the Royal Air Force Red Arrows this year, one of the world’s premier aerobatic teams. The team are renowned throughout the world, acting as ambassadors of Great Britain.
The Reds visited us at our Business Aviation Centre at Norwich Airport on Friday 22nd August, SaxonAir always look forward to hosting the team at the airport and were especially privileged to be a part of their ongoing celebration for their 50th display season.
This year the Reds mark their 50th Anniversary of display seasons from their first in 1965. A number of activities are planned in the coming months to highlight this milestone occasion and the Team hope people will join in and share the celebration. It is an opportunity for the Red Arrows to thank supporters from both the United Kingdom and overseas for their continued, and valued, interest in the Team.
Use #Reds50 on Twitter to keep up-to-date with all of the news on the 50th display season and follow the Team @rafredarrows or like RAF Red Arrows on Facebook.
https://www.mustardtv.co.uk/browse/flying-visit-red-arrows-thrill-crowds-at-norwich-pit-stop/
The new website for the Ormiston Families “Walk with a Fork” charity event is now live at www.walkwithafork.org. When we saw the name of the event and were then asked if we would design the website for it, we knew we simply couldn’t refuse!
Ormiston Families is a very worthy local charity helping children throughout East Anglia and do lots of great work in Norfolk. Like most charities they rely on donations to keep going and this event is a great idea if you love walking and love food. The idea is you walk 8 miles sampling food from local food and drink suppliers along the way. The Norfolk “Walk with a Fork” takes place on Sunday 5th October at Sennowe Park, see you there!
Bigfork – we make websites stand out
t:01603 513080www.bigfork.co.uk
Aston Shaw are proud to announce that they are sponsoring the Wymondham Falcons U8 team for their forthcoming season. The youth side play their home fixtures at Kett’s Park, which is located in Wymondham adjacent to the police headquarters. The sponsorship will see the Aston Shaw logo emblazoned upon the Falcon’s kits.
Dominic Shaw, Director of Aston Shaw commented: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Wymondham Falcons and show our support for the local community. There are a lot of people here who are incredibly passionate about young people being involved in sports and this was a fantastic way for us to demonstrate that”.
Aston Shaw are an independent chartered accountancy firm offering a comprehensive range of accountancy and business services, with 5 offices located throughout East Anglia.
The Falcons begin their campaign on Saturday 13th September, the team fully rested after the international break. Aston Shaw wishes the Falcons the best of luck for the season and will look forward to hearing how they are getting on, home and away.
For more information about Aston Shaw click here.
When British paintbrush manufacturer Hamilton was asked to challenge category thinking in the decorating tools sector, they called us for our expertise. We designed and presented brand concepts for two new ranges of paintbrushes, rollers and decorating tools for leading DIY retailer B&Q.
We understood that Hamilton didn’t want a product that was everything to everyone, and with the end user in mind, we created two brands with their own distinct identities.
Vantage was devised with a premium look and feel, for the experienced decorator focused on quality of the finish. Easy was designed to be approachable and familiar, offering reassurance to the growing number of female DIY enthusiasts.
All products were packaged with their own new identity, supported by the Hamilton brand, giving consumers instant confidence in the quality and heritage of the products.
We quite literally stood category thinking on its head when we rotated the paintbrushes to hang from the handle, challenging the sector’s approach and the limitations of the packaging.
Research showed that most consumers want to feel the paintbrushes, in particular the bristles, to determine the quality of the product, so we were careful to leave the bristles free when we designed the packaging.
Research showed that most consumers want to feel the paintbrushes, in particular the bristles, to determine the quality of the product, so we were careful to leave the bristles free when we designed the packaging.
There is no escaping social media, but it’s not just about sharing memes or funny cat videos! It is commonly used by many individuals and organisations in numerous different areas of working life: from advertising new jobs and networking with peers, to communicating directly with customers. Whether you have accounts with LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, as an employer you also have these fantastic tools at your disposal to engage with employees. People want to feel valued and that they are contributing to a broader vision – social media provides the perfect channel to help make this happen.
These digital platforms have become key to building relationships, but, as with other employee engagement methods, you still need a strategy. And, importantly, you need to stay involved since your employees expect you to not only post, but to also use social media for two-way communication. This makes it a true engagement tool.
Take a look at some of our ideas for enhancing employee engagement through the power of social media.
1. Tweet about your events To build excitement for your events, promote them on Twitter. For instance, if you’re taking part in an industry conference, ask your staff to get involved and retweet your updates. Also, Christmas preparations, fundraising and other fun activities create a perfect excuse for showing your followers what goes on ‘behind the scenes’, promoting transparency. If you have guidelines for staff to use your organisation’s Twitter account, they can also participate. But make sure all content is approved before it goes public!
2. LinkedIn job profiles Ask staff to contribute to your organisation’s LinkedIn page by writing a short paragraph about their job, how they got it and what advice they’d give to someone else looking for a similar role. Although some may be camera shy, most people are probably happy to help (after all it’ll also help raise their own professional profile).
3. Make staff your star bloggers Ask staff to contribute to your blog and to comment on others’ posts. Having articles written by a diversity of people at various levels of seniority also paints a picture of your organisation’s culture for the outside world. Encourage people to come up with ideas for the blog (e.g. A typical day in their job, comment on industry news, a project they’ve just completed). Why not run an awards scheme of ‘Star Bloggers’ to add an extra incentive?
4. Promote your PR Share the glory of any media coverage you get to encourage feelings of pride among everyone. There’s a chance your workers will share the link on social media, causing it to reach beyond your organisation’s walls. If you have video or images, that’s even better; this kind of social content is ideal for engaging people.
5. Collaborate on Facebook Setting up a closed Facebook Group can give a project team a private online space where they can discuss ideas and share information – from graphics to film. This is ideal for people based at different sites who need to exchange information frequently. Enabling people to collaborate using an innovative tool like Facebook supports them in their work, while giving it a feeling of informality, which is great for co-working.
Although the challenge is to stay on top of activity and constantly generate ideas, if you think ahead and tie it in with your business plans, you should find social media very a rewarding route to engaging your people.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re already using social media for engagement! Send your story to Anna Hill, Pure’s Marketing Manager: anna.hill@prs.uk.com.
We are set to expand our reach in the southern regions of East Anglia by opening a second office in Bury St Edmunds.
Serving clients nationwide, we have been supplying commercial insurance and risk management solutions from its Norfolk headquarters for over a century.
Having seen significant recent growth in our East Anglia client base outside Norfolk, Peter Foster, Managing Director, explained that a second branch was needed.
He said: “We have been keen to develop a base in Bury St Edmunds for some time so that we are nearer to our clients in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and can be more effectively integrated within their business communities. This is the right time to make the move.” With the new office set to open this September, the first new recruit at the Bury St Edmunds branch will be Joanne Hocking, who will join the company as an Account Executive to support the continued growth of our Community Broking division.
Joining the team from the Suffolk division insurance intermediary Towergate, Jo has spent her career in Bury St Edmunds and brings with her a wealth of local industry knowledge and connections. Commenting on her new role, Jo said: “I am very much looking forward to co-ordinating the growth of Hugh J Boswell’s Bury St Edmunds office and the exciting opportunities ahead.
The new school term often brings a flurry of activity for the employment solicitors and the HR professionals amongst us; the now inevitable changes to the law that occur every October are on the horizon, and the legal world has had the opportunity to take stock of any developments over the hot summer months.
With that in mind, we have prepared a summary of the things you need to know for this October, and a run-down on the latest position on a couple of those key issues that have been racking up column inches over the summer months:
Equal pay
On 1 October 2014, the Equality Act (Equal Pay Audits) Regulations 2014 come into force. This means that, where an Employment Tribunal finds that an employer is in breach of equal pay law, they must order the employer to conduct a mandatory equal pay audit, the scope of which to be determined by the Employment Tribunal.
National Minimum Wage
On 1 October 2014, the National Minimum Wage hourly rates will increase:
Ante-natal Appointments
From 1 October 2014, fathers and partners will be entitled to take unpaid time off to accompany their partners to up to two ante-natal appointments, and will be protected from being subjected to any detriment or being dismissed for doing so.
This is the first in a suite of upcoming changes ahead of the right to Shared Parental Leave coming into force next year, which is the largest shake-up in the family leave arena for some time.
Zero Hours Contracts
It won’t have escaped many of you that zero hours contracts are a hot topic at the moment. Following formal government consultation (and a media storm surrounding these types of agreement), the government has now formulated its proposals for reform.
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill (published in June 2014) provides, for the first time, a statutory definition as to what a zero hours contract is. The lack of clarity had caused problems with employment status, so the definition is welcome.
The Bill will also seek to make exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts unenforceable, meaning that employers will be unable to prevent in saccompany theidividuals engaged on zero hours contracts from working elsewhere. Government consultation has already begun on how to tackle avoidance measures dreamed up to work around the ban on exclusivity clauses.
The Bill is expected to come into force (along with a statutory code of practice) in early 2015.
Holiday pay
Another topic attracting attention is the issue of holiday pay. It all kicked off with the case of Williams v British Airways (remember that?) when pilots claimed they should receive flying supplements whilst on holiday. The European Court of Justice agreed and said that employees should receive payment “intrinsically linked to the performance of tasks” in their holiday pay.
Three UK claims then followed, querying whether overtime and incentive bonuses should be included in holiday pay. The Employment Tribunal initially said yes. The appeals on those decisions have recently been heard at the Employment Appeal Tribunal and a ruling is expected soon.
Most recently is the European Court of Justice case of Lock v British Gas Trading Limited. In that case it was held that, in some situations, commission payments must be included in holiday pay calculations too. That case is now likely to be sent back to the Employment Tribunal in England for its decision.
At the moment, the law in England remains unclear (except if you are a public authority, in which case you are in a slightly different position). The decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (and the remitted decision in the Lock case) of company thei is waited with baited breath, as a decision that could change the landscape of holiday pay in the UK – potentially overtime, commission, and bonuses may need to be considered when calculating holiday pay.
The Trade Unions are apparently drumming up potential claimants for holiday cases, so it is safe to assume that this is an issue that will be around for a while. Some employers are acting now to reduce any liabilities that might come following this latest round of cases, whilst some are simply doing nothing at the moment, waiting to see what the outcome is. What is clear is that, at some point, the law is likely to change, and will become more certain, on what exactly should be included when calculating holiday pay. That change in law could potentially be costly for employers, both looking backwards at holiday payments already made, and forward to future payments. Keep an eye out for updates on this point…
For more information on any of the topics in this article, please contact a member of the Employment team on 01603 281139.
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.
Cozens-Hardy LLP is pleased to announce that commercial property associates Caroline Linsdell and Dan Evans have been appointed Principals of the firm.
Caroline has over 25 years commercial property experience and deals with all aspects of property-based transactions, including secured lending, site acquisitions, commercial development and commercial leases. Caroline, who is listed on the Ethical Property Foundation Register of Property Professionals, commented:
“When I was invited to join Cozens-Hardy last year I knew that I was joining a long established and highly respected firm. I am thrilled by this opportunity to join the partnership and look forward to contributing to its future.”
Dan Evans joined the firm in 2007 as a trainee specialising in commercial property and was appointed an associate last year. Dan, who was recently recognised by the Legal 500 guide as standing out for ‘patience and determination’ in challenging deals, also specialises in the full gamut of commercial property matters. Dan said:
“I am honoured and delighted to join the partnership. Having been part of the firm for nearly eight years, it has always been my aspiration to progress to partnership and I’m relishing being part of the future of Cozens-Hardy.”
The firm is also pleased to announce that Chartered Legal Executive Lisa Greeves, a key member of the firm’s Wills, Trusts and Probate department, is appointed an associate.
Jane Anderson, Senior Principal, congratulated them, adding:
“These appointments reflect the hard work and valuable contribution that Caroline, Dan and Lisa have made to the firm so far. We wish them all well in their new roles.”
– Ends –
For further information please contact: Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and clare@clarehaylett.net
Aston Shaw is proud to announce that we are sponsors of this year’s Norfolk Food and Drink Awards, which will be held on the 15th September 2014 at the Norfolk Showground. Since our inception in 1969, we have recognised the pride and excitement that surrounds our local region when it comes to quality food and drink.
As specialists in the hospitality, agricultural and manufacturing industries, we have many clients operating within the food and drink sectors, ranging from: pubs, restaurants, café’s, bars, farm shops and breweries. We felt that sponsorship of the awards was a fantastic way for us to show our support for both our clients and all those who are involved locally in the industry.
There are 10 categories overall, featuring “Best Independent Food and Drink Retailer” and the “Outstanding Achievement Award” which are all judged by a panel of expert and independent judges. The awards will be hosted by the Eastern Daily Press and will run alongside the 10th anniversary of the Norfolk Food and Drinks festival.
With flexible working becoming increasingly popular it’s no surprise that many employees are setting up the office at home. Perfect for people who need more flexibility in their professional life.
Many employers see the benefits too; it helps retain staff, boosts productivity and cut costs – a vital factor in today’s economy. In fact, BT reports that 20% of home-workers are more productive than office-based colleagues.
Not only that, but according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) almost two thirds of UK companies now offer teleworking – a staggering 46% rise in the last five years. It’s clear home-working is on the up!
If you’d prefer to work in your slippers all day and enjoy homemade lunches, there are a few simple dos and don’ts you should follow to make it work for you and your employer…
Do • Have a to-do list. Procrastination is the evil twin of home-working! So to avoid getting sucked into the washing up, laundry or other household chores, stay focused. Note your daily priorities, keep your work diary up to date and stick to your work duties just as you would in the office. • Communicate. Because you can’t talk to colleagues face-to-face you might need to plan ahead to communicate effectively. This isn’t a bad thing; you’ll probably discover you answer your own questions or your enquiries become more focused and are, therefore, easier for colleagues to respond to. Also, tell people when you’re away from your computer for the school pick-up, meetings or personal appointments. • Get regular exercise. Without your regular walk or cycle to work or access to the office gym, you could find that working from home disrupts your usual fitness routine. So sign up to local classes or stick on an exercise DVD or YouTube video at lunchtime. You can even do yoga stretches in the privacy of your garden!
Don’t • Work in your pyjamas all day. Apart from not wanting to be caught out with an unexpected video call from your boss whilst in your paisley-patterned PJs, wearing something presentable and comfortable will put you in a more productive frame of mind. Don’t worry – it doesn’t have to be the full suit and tie! • Work in isolation. Lack of office camaraderie can be isolating, so make sure you enjoy a little email, phone or Skype repartee. But don’t let it eat into your work time and keep it friendly – without seeing body language, messages can be easily misinterpreted and can seriously backfire! • Slack-off. Your line manager won’t be looking over your shoulder so you need to be self-motivated! Don’t take advantage of your employer’s trust otherwise you could lose this privilege not only for yourself but also for your colleagues. • Work in bad conditions. Finding space in your own home for your ‘office’ could be a challenge, so get good advice about setting things up in a way that won’t damage your health. A decent chair, foot rest and stand for your monitor can make all the difference. • Over-work. When working from home you can’t escape the office so easily! For the sake of a good work-life balance, unless it’s unavoidable, don’t log on after working hours. Let anything wait until the next morning when you’ve had a good night’s sleep – you could perhaps start a little earlier to get an urgent task out of the way.
With these simple tips and a heap of fantastic benefits for both you and your employer, maybe it’s time you swapped the commute for the comfort of a home office – even if it’s just a couple of days a week.