Norwich Sunblinds entered two teams for the Fritton Lake Triathlon Team Relay 2014 on
Sunday 15 June 2014 in aid of the Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind .
The photo above is of the two Teams
Team A: Julian Roberts, Paul Solomon and Fiona Garwood
Team B: Tommy Copsey, Gary Bailey and Julie Adamson
They all completed and received a medal each
On Friday 20 June, Fendercare Marine opened the doors of its Great Yarmouth base to showcase its expansion of lifting products and services over the last two years.
The Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services Open Day was attended by a wide array of existing and new customers, as well as members of the local Great Yarmouth community. The guests were treated to displays of marine equipment products, lifting equipment, rope splicing demonstrations, working at height equipment and load monitoring. During the day, Fendercare Marine MD, Eric Plane, presented a donation cheque to the RNLI which was followed by a rescue demonstration from the Gorleston RNLI team.
Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services, based on Breydon Road, Great Yarmouth first opened in July 2012 to provide shoreside support to the wind farm vessels. Since then it has doubled its warehouse capability to offer onshore crane inspection and testing; mechanical and electrical lifting equipment; hydraulic equipment and winches; lifting tackle and load/stress monitoring equipment with many products available for sale or hire. These products and services are available to the renewable industry, the offshore oil and gas sector together with onshore industrial sectors, creating a truly unique and versatile energy and lifting support base. As part of the expansion, Fendercare Marine also sublet new office space and provided a specially made Inspection Warehouse for their technician teams to Viking Life-Saving Equipment Ltd – a market leader in maritime and fire safety.
Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services Sales Manager, Richard Howes commented “We are delighted to have welcomed so many people to our Open Day. Our guests were surprised by the sheer volume and scope of products and services we can offer and it has been a great opportunity to showcase everything we can do. We are proud to have an extremely knowledgeable team of technical experts and today was also about sharing this professional expertise with our customers.”
On Friday 20 June, Fendercare Marine opened the doors of its Great Yarmouth base to showcase its expansion of lifting products and services over the last two years.
The Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services Open Day was attended by a wide array of existing and new customers, as well as members of the local Great Yarmouth community. The guests were treated to displays of marine equipment products, lifting equipment, rope splicing demonstrations, working at height equipment and load monitoring. During the day, Fendercare Marine MD, Eric Plane, presented a donation cheque to the RNLI which was followed by a rescue demonstration from the Gorleston RNLI team.
Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services, based on Breydon Road, Great Yarmouth first opened in July 2012 to provide shoreside support to the wind farm vessels. Since then it has doubled its warehouse capability to offer onshore crane inspection and testing; mechanical and electrical lifting equipment; hydraulic equipment and winches; lifting tackle and load/stress monitoring equipment with many products available for sale or hire. These products and services are available to the renewable industry, the offshore oil and gas sector together with onshore industrial sectors, creating a truly unique and versatile energy and lifting support base. As part of the expansion, Fendercare Marine also sublet new office space and provided a specially made Inspection Warehouse for their technician teams to Viking Life-Saving Equipment Ltd – a market leader in maritime and fire safety.
Fendercare Marine Equipment and Lifting Services Sales Manager, Richard Howes commented “We are delighted to have welcomed so many people to our Open Day. Our guests were surprised by the sheer volume and scope of products and services we can offer and it has been a great opportunity to showcase everything we can do. We are proud to have an extremely knowledgeable team of technical experts and today was also about sharing this professional expertise with our customers.”
SSCS are to be featured in July 2014’s edition of Dockyard Magazine which is running a special focus on ‘Diving & Underater Services’, and will include information on associated products, services and projects.
The article provides some insight into our scour protection side of the business which has been operating for 30 years within the oil and energy markets, as well as on a number civil and environmental projects.
A sneak preview of our full page spread is attached to this article.
There’s still time to get your staff involved in the 2014 Best Employer survey! Closing at the end of July, the online questionnaire is free to all employers who want to develop their employee engagement strategy, and give people a great place to work.
Usually costing around £2,000, the survey responses are presented in insightful, tailored reports, which give organisations guidance as to how to improve and advance engagement. In fact, Essex firm Benefit Cosmetics is a big supporter and uses their report to keep a close eye on staff opinion.
Although Pure and eras ltd have designed the survey to be quick and easy to do, we also understand that people may feel that they’re too busy to answer the questions. Our 10 terrific tips will encourage your workforce to take a few moments to contribute to your Best Employer mission!
1. Announce the opening of the survey
When the survey is live and open for participation, announce it to everyone at an all-staff meeting. Or if this isn’t possible, ask managers to let their teams know and encourage everyone to take part. This way, the news will filter across all teams.
2. Maintain momentum through meetings
With the school summer break just around the corner, you need to keep up the motivation among people who are probably thinking about holidays, barbeques and other exciting plans. To keep them interested, ask line managers to give regular updates at weekly meetings, encouraging people to complete by the closing date.
3. Add an incentive
Although the survey is not a competitive activity for staff, offering a token incentive may help things along. How about a prize draw for participants? Why not give away a small picnic hamper or store vouchers? Not only does this add a nice touch, but it also tells everyone that you value their opinion.
4. Hold an inspiration session
Many employers already engage with staff through inspiration sessions, where they invite visitors into the office to give lunchtime talks. Ask a 2012 Best Employer award winner to tell everyone how they’ve benefited from the survey and what their employer does to make work enjoyable.
5. Message from the top
Support from senior management can make such a difference. By asking people for their honest opinion and explaining the reason for the survey, a CEO or MD can really drive along participation. Workers feel they are contributing to a bigger vision and understand why they need to take part.
6. Posters and email banners
Whether it’s in reception, on noticeboards or even in the loos, posters are a great way to maintain everyone’s focus on the Best Employer survey! Internal email banners are also fantastic reminders since the survey is just one click away. If you’d like to use the Best Employer logo or use a poster template, contact Anna Hill, Pure’s Marketing Manager: anna.hill@prs.uk.com.
7. Appoint Best Employer champions
Since the survey happens every other year, you’ll probably have employees who were not around when you took part in the last one or maybe this is your first year of participating. Why not identify Best Employer champions who can encourage new staff to answer the questions. They can also give longer term workers friendly reminders too. After all, it’s for everyone’s gain.
8. Make a commitment
By pledging to your employees that you’ll address any concerns that arise from the survey responses, you encourage their trust. But you must follow up on this promise, otherwise you’ll risk losing respect in the long term, and you may find it very difficult running surveys in the future.
9. Engage staff all year-round
Although it may seem obvious that staff who are already engaged will need less prompting to get involved, it’s still worth mentioning. If you’re thinking of taking part in the 2016 Best Employer survey, take measures now to create an engagement strategy. Use our case studies of previous Best Employer award winners for some brilliant ideas!
Good luck and we hope your survey results get you a glitzy Best Employer award in the autumn! Get in touch with Pure to find out more: anna.hill@prs.uk.com or call 01223 209888.
Norwich Sunblinds are very grateful for the support of our customers over the last few years.
As everyone knows the economy has been difficult, and without our loyal customers we would have not survived during the last few challenging years.
With this in mind we have decided that we would like to give back to the local community, so over the next few months we will contribute £1.00 for every blind and pair of curtains we sell this year to local charities. each month we will be supporting a diffeent local charity.
Our staff are excited to find out each day how many blinds/curtains are sold to contribute towards the charity.
We wanted to support MS-UK for the month of May 2014 supporting people with MS.
The month of June 2014 we are supporting Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind.
The photo is of Fiona Garwood, Lesley Brinkley (Norwich Sunblinds) presenting the cheque for £1,012.00 to Robby Copsey on behalf of MS-UK who had made a fantastic effort in the London Marathon for their charity.
SSCS have joined EEEGR as part of our continued drive to be heavily involved with the promotion of skills and services available from within the East of England to supply to the oil and energy markets.
Our lifting division currently services multiple key local players who are involved with a number of notable oil & gas and offshore wind projects providing lifting and testing services utilising our large load testing capabilities, as well as supplying materials including webbing and wire slings.
EEEGR are a non-profit, business-led group committed to the sustained development of the energy sector in the East of England and the continued success of our members.
The group members operate throughout the energy sectors from oil, gas, wind, wave & tidal, bio-energy, and nuclear through to decommissioning, carbon capture & storage (CCS), distribution and transmission and conventional generation.
Global-leading energy technology services company, Proserv, attracted more than 80 young people to its Great Yarmouth facility after holding an ‘open doors’ day for local students.
The company is also set to add to its more than 2,200-strong global workforce through participating in events aimed at attracting new talent into the energy industry.
Proserv’s annual Great Yarmouth open day, which was held last Friday (June 6), saw the company give the group of students a tour of the company’s dedicated engineering and manufacturing facility in full operation to help give them an insight into oil and gas careers as trainee designers, engineers and workshop apprentices.
The event programme also included a tour of the facilities, technical presentations and demonstrations with opportunities to speak with key product specialists, many of whom have more than 30 years’ experience in the business.
John Willmott, VP of Proserv’s Great Yarmouth facility, said: “We are committed to helping the energy industry raise awareness and promote the diverse range of long-term career opportunities to young people. The industry offers exciting prospects on a global scale and we hope that the students who visited our facilities will consider a career in oil and gas after experiencing the different types of jobs first hand.
“Our people are our greatest assets and are at the core of our success. As Proserv’s business continues to evolve internationally, we remain focused on attracting the most highly skilled and experienced people.”
Proserv, which has seen its talent pool soar through organic growth and a succession of strategic acquisitions, is also to take on new apprentices and ex-military personnel after participating in a Mobilising the Military initiative organised by subsea industry body, Subsea UK, last week.
The event, which was established to address the energy industry’s skills shortage by encouraging former members of the armed forces to transfer into the subsea sector, brings together Subsea UK members and highly-skilled service leavers to help fast track new entrants into the industry.
As a result, Proserv anticipates taking on up to 12 ex-Forces personnel and transferring their skills into specific product lines through the company’s training school.
The company also held a selection day to recruit up to six new apprentices onto its technician and design apprentice programme. Potential candidates visited the company’s Birchmoss facility in Aberdeenshire where workshops, exercises and a Q&A session were among the activities aimed at helping both candidates and members of the Proserv team getting to know each other as part of the selection process.
Proserv, which operates worldwide through 31 operating centres based in 11 countries, has a 40-year track record in delivering bespoke technologies and services for the energy industry, particularly in the drilling, production, subsea and marine market sectors.
The company’s Great Yarmouth team works closely in synergy with its Aberdeen counterparts and across Proserv’s global integrated network of operations.
For further information, visit – www.proserv.com
A delegation of 9 engineers from China each involved in the offshore wind industry visited SSCS’s Great Yarmouth base on 7th June in conjunction with UKTI.
The visit was part of the ongoing drive to assist China with the development of their offshore wind sector. It is believed that China will overtake the UK and become the world leaders in offshore wind energy generation by 2020 due to the significant availability of resources at their disposal.
As SSCS have been involved in the offshore wind industry for the past 10+ years providing solutions to scour, it was a great opportunity to demonstrate our technology to the delegation.
SSCS have also been operating in China for many years and we have experience of the local conditions there.
Norwich based digital marketing agency, Bigfork, have launched their brand new website, following rapid growth over the past 12 months. Set up 4 years ago, Bigfork designs websites and online marketing campaigns and have seen demand for their expertise increase substantially this year.
Their 100+ client base includes Abel Homes, Oilennium, Norfolk County Council, Omar Park Homes, NGK & Cover U. Bigfork Director, Mark Ellaway states “Our new website reflects our expertise and is part of our growth strategy. We have won many more new clients and taken on new employees over the past 12 months and are very optimistic about the future.”
You can see the new website here.
Bigfork – we make websites stand out t: 01603 513080dine@bigfork.co.ukwww.bigfork.co.uk
We have a unique custom floor sign to auction and it is signed by the fantastic Brian Blessed and features ‘Gordon’s Alive!’ a popular quote from the cult classic 1980 movie ‘Flash Gordon’
Some of us here at ESE Direct are great fans of sci-fi and cult movies so when we saw we could customise a sample of one of our customisable new floor signs we jumped at the chance of creating something unique.
Once it arrived we thought it would be a great idea to take it one step further and get Brian Blessed to sign it and auction it off for charity.
Our chosen charity for the auction is Norfolk at the Pictures who are an educational charity based at Cinema City in Norwich and offer several projects both at Cinema City and the wider area including:
The charity is backed by another well-known actor, John Hurt.Place your bid today on our charity eBay auction own a unique piece of memorabilia.
SSCS appoints Geolynx Limited as their Nigerian agent for our scour solution services effective for 2 years from 20th June.
This partnership is part of SSCS’s drive to expand globally in areas with significant offshore oil and gas operations providing clients with expertise attained from operating for the last 30 years globally within the sector.