EXTRA DATES ADDED FOR CHRISTMAS DINNER DANCES THIS YEAR… Due to the popularity of our dinner dances this year and we are now fully booked for next weekend’s events we have added to more options for you! Join us on Monday 23rd December or Tuesday 24th December for a Classic Christmas Dinner Dance Event here at the Best Western Brook Hotel Norwich – Delicious 3 Course Evening Meal will be served on arrival followed by an evening of entertainment with our resident DJ playing all your favourite songs to take you through to midnight – Just £19.50 per person!
Scottish airline Loganair has announced it will commence two news services between Edinburgh Airport, Norwich and Cardiff as it marks its fifth year anniversary with franchise partner, Flybe.
From the end March 2014, when Flybe withdraws from the Norwich route, Loganair will increase the frequency of its services between Norwich and Scotland’s capital, basing a second Dornier 328 aircraft at Norwich International Airport and taking on six locally based staff.
The carrier will start a double daily weekday service in April, adding a third rotation after the Easter holidays to provide a convenient business schedule. As an extra boost to passengers, a Sunday service will also be added, with Sunday frequency increasing to two flights during the peak summer season.
For the Cardiff connection the airline will be commencing a triple week-day flight and a twice daily rotation each Sunday. This marks their first step into the Welsh aviation market.
Loganair’s announcement comes on the five year anniversary of its franchise agreement with Flybe, Europe’s largest independent regional airline. The relationship was the first of its kind when taking to the skies at the start of the winter flying programme in 2008.
Over the past five years, a total of 2,567,110 passengers have flown over 710-million passenger kilometres* (710,813,590 passenger km or 441,679, 086 passenger miles) on 139,147 flights operated by Loganair under the Flybe brand; and over 6% of these passengers have taken advantage of the convenient connecting flights between Loganair and Flybe’s regional network. Loganair currently flies 25 routes under the Flybe brand including Norwich to Manchester and Guernsey.
Phil Preston, Chief Operating Officer at Loganair, added: “We are delighted to take on the Edinburgh services providing the much needed frequency on the routes to support the local business communities.
“Through our partnership with Flybe, we’ve been able to develop services from Edinburgh, which will also open up connections onto our extensive Scottish network including Orkney and Shetland, will be well received by business and leisure passengers.”
The Agricultural Division of TekPro, which is possibly best known for its’ development and manufacture of the Samplex range of bulk samplers, is currently flying the flag for British manufacturing in Australia. Although TekPro has been receiving orders from around the globe for several years now, the recent introduction of the CS6000 has opened new doors to many larger storage facilities ‘Down Under’. Larger articulated vehicles required a new method for taking samples in a more cost effective and efficient manner.
The CS6000 rail systems, which have a sampling area of 14m -28m, allow a variety of vehicle sizes to be sampled with ease and confidence by the operative. The representative samples use air to blow them back to a control area, which allow operators to be in a clean and safe environment throughout the process.
TekPro are specialists in electro-mechanical engineering and are based in North Walsham, Norfolk. The Samplex range of samplers has been manufactured for 25 years in 2014 and the company prides itself on retaining customers from 1989 to today. TekPro enjoys a reputation for product quality, on-time delivery and competitive pricing. Substantial overseas orders have recently been placed which have enabled an increase in staff.
Visit our website at www.tekpro.com for more information.
Bernard Matthews, Britain’s No.1 turkey producer, is set to generate further growth in the cooked meats, fresh and frozen breaded poultry categories with the launch of a new marketing campaign that targets busy mums.
The new million pound campaign, which includes women’s magazines, national newspapers, outdoor, in-store and digital activity, started on the 7th October 2013 and will run nationwide.
Bernard Matthews remains one of the nation’s favourite food brands* and this new high impact creative gives the brand a strong visual identity, and aims to remind mums of the quality and versatility of Bernard Matthews products at meal times. It also features the new-look consumer branding, which was launched in August.
The new campaign will feature a range of illustrations making mum the hero, with the first execution featuring Bernard Matthews Turkey Breast Slices.
“Mum’s are continually telling us that the most satisfying thing at meal times is putting food down on the dinner table that their children will enjoy. We’re therefore committed to offering mums great value meal time products, that are tasty, easy and quick to serve and keep the whole family happy.” said Charlie Douglas, Brand Marketing Controller. “Our new ‘Champion of Mums’ creative highlights this with the line ‘Greatness without effort’ and shows mum as the hero at meal time. We’d encourage retailers to make the most of our biggest marketing investment in years.”
Bigfork have designed a new website for the A47 Alliance, a body made up of representatives from the business community and local authorities, which makes the case for improvements across the A47 from the A1 at Peterborough to Great Yarmouth.
A Norfolk IT Company is warning of cases of one of the deadliest threats to date for PCs and the data stored there in.
React Computer Partnership with a branch in Beccles are seeing an increasing number of virus attacks called Cryptolocker. Director Richard Pledger explains “It’s probably the worst we have seen for a good while.” “Cryptolocker basically encrypts your data and gives you a message saying you have something like 70 or 100 hours after which we will destroy the key and your data will be useless. And it’s serious. Once your PC is infected you have two options; remove the virus and go back to a good backup, or pay the money.”
Top security experts warn, if you don’t have a good backup and don’t pay the money there is no way of unencrypting the data. F-Secure – one of the world’s top Virus Protection companies so far has tried and failed to get around Cryptolocker the hackers have done such a good job. You may well wonder why has this latest deadly virus been created? Well earlier this year, researchers from Symantec who infiltrated the servers of one ransomware syndicate conservatively estimated that its operators were easily able to clear $5 million per year.
React have been monitoring reports which say if you pay up the hackers behind Cryptolocker will send the key, to unlock your data. However as Richard explains there’s no guarantee “We have seen some companies successfully receiving the key to unlock their data after of course paying a substantial ransom but the worry is that once they’ve infiltrated your networks with this virus there is no way of knowing what may happen in the future.”
So how does it infect files? Cryptolocker is often spread by the DHL type email which has been common recently arriving in your inbox with a zip file attachment, although React have seen some as a harmless-looking word document attachments.
How can I protect my PCs? Firstly you must make sure your antivirus software is up to date, and don’t open any attachments you are unsure of. Make a current back up and keep it up to date without a backup your only choice is to pay up or lose your data.
Richard concludes “Please do take notice, protect your PCs and spread the word amongst your own email contacts too – it’s the only sure way hackers can be defeated effectively, in the meantime please take this warning seriously and do stay safe.” For Cryptolocker updates go to www.reactcp.co.uk
We had our second Christmas Dinner Dance Event of the year on Saturday here at the BEST WESTERN Brook Hotel, Norwich and yet again, some really lovely feedback.
We are so proud!
Make sure you celebrate in style this year at a Brook Christmas Diner Dance – Tickets still available for 13th and 14th December andd we also have a couple of tables left for the Soul & Motown Event this Friday 6th December.
As the 2007-2013 Rural Development Programme comes to a close, we are looking forward to readying ourselves for the 2014-2020 programme. A series of workshops are planned so local people can get involved with the planning of funding strategies.
Delivery of programme funding is through the LEADER approach, which is a bottom-up programme, designed to be developed at a grass roots level, to deliver funding for the most appropriate localities, business sectors and communities, to develop and sustain the rural economy.
It is important for good attendance at these workshops to ensure we gather as much input as possible to build a strong strategy for the proposed action group area and give it the best chance of obtaining funding in the next round. If you know of anyone who should attend, please pass on this invitation.
To book a place, contact eds@norfolk.gov.uk or call 01603 222302. Please let us have: Your name; the organisation you represent; contact details; and the workshop you would like to attend.
UEA is looking for local organisations to host summer interns in 2014. If you’ve got a project that could use an extra pair of hands, or you’re looking to inject fresh energy into your workplace, recruiting an ambitious and enthusiastic intern from UEA next summer is a great way to source that support and fresh thinking you need.
Internships are a proven way of getting help with a project, launching a new initiative or even bridging the staffing gap over the summer holiday period. Typical activities for interns to undertake include marketing, research, social media, IT, project management, events, PR, carbon reduction projects or lab support.
Rebecca Lewis Smith, UEA alumnus and Director at Fountain Partnership, hosted a summer intern in 2013. She says of the experience: “I thought the whole process was great, and have been shouting from the rooftops about how well it went.”
You can secure a 2nd year UEA student to work with you full-time or part-time for between four and eight weeks during July and August – with UEA doing all advertising, payroll and paperwork for you.
To find out more, visit www.uea.ac.uk/business/working-with-students-graduates/internships, email internship@uea.ac.uk, or call us on 01603 593917. Ideally, we would like you to submit an intern role specification by Friday 13 December 2013 – just ask the internships team for a template – but if you need more time, do get in touch and let us know.
Cozens-Hardy LLP is pleased to announce that solicitor Claire Louise Williamson has joined its Residential Property department.
Brought up and educated in Norfolk, Claire Louise obtained her law degree from Keele University and later studied for her LPC at the University of the West of England. Having qualified in 2012, Claire Louise started her professional career in criminal law, but decided to revive her passion for conveyancing by joining the Cozens-Hardy team last month.
Commented Philippa Rudd, Principal and Head of Residential Property:
“We are delighted to welcome Claire Louise to the firm and to my department. As the largest conveyancing team in Norfolk, we take great pride in meeting and exceeding our clients’ expectations and I am confident that in Claire Louise we have found a solicitor capable to meeting our very exacting in house demands.”
Added Claire Louise:
“It’s a real pleasure to have joined the team here at Cozens-Hardy; everyone has been very welcoming and the high standards of professionalism and client care are as I expected.”
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For further information please contact: Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and clare@clarehaylett.net
Norfolk firm, B2B Cashflow Solutions has reached the Business Moneyfacts Awards finals for the 3rd consecutive year!
Having been shortlisted to the final six of the Business Moneyfacts Awards for 2012 and 2013 we are delighted to announce we have again been shortlisted to the final six in the category of ‘Best Asset Based Broker” throughout the UK for the 2014.
Nick, Ian, and I would like to thank all our customers, bank and accountant relationships, financial services organisations, and other professional partners for your support in helping us to achieve our ‘final 6’ status again.
We would also like to congratulate our team, the ‘B2B family’, for your immense contribution to our progress over the past 12 months. We add value together.
A very special thank you to all of you who voted for us during this process, and for the numerous testimonials we received to help take our nomination to the finals at The Lancaster London Hotel on 20th March 2014.
Naturally, as always, competition will be extremely high with most of the finalists being recognised ‘nationals’.
Win or lose, we will continue to build on this recognition to ensure our philosophy of ‘working with You, for You’ is delivered into our business community to help local businesses, our professional partners and their customers, grow with us.
Thanks and regards to all our friends throughout our local business community.
Business leaders from across the region attended the first ever Best Employer, Eastern Region (BEER) Festival at Ickworth Park near Bury St Edmunds last Friday (November 15th). The event was organised by Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) specialist recruitment agency and eras ltd providers of psychometric testing and people development solutions.
Chief executives and managing directors were among delegates from Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk attending the unique event, to find out more about how employee engagement can benefit their business and staff, and to share knowledge with their peers.
Fitting in nicely with the festival’s title was one of the keynote speakers, Dr Andy Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Adnams. He revealed some of the company’s secrets to keeping staff involved and motivated. With 91% of the organisation’s staff feeling proud to work for the company and 94% saying they are clear on what is expected of them, delegates were lucky to learn from one of the region’s masters of employee engagement.
From building pride and passion among workers, to promise-keeping, respect and rewarding leadership values such as trust and building self-esteem in others, the head of the 400-strong business gave the audience plenty of food for thought.
Other speakers included Cathy Brown, employee engagement consultant from the Government-funded ‘Engage for Success’ initiative, who talked about the national picture, and Dominic Lowe, Managing Director of Kettle Foods, who spoke about the importance of leadership in inspiring the workforce.
Lynn Walters, Director of Pure, says: “Senior professionals from a diverse range of industries invested their time and ideas in a day at the BEER Festival. It was very rewarding to see senior business leaders under one roof having discussions that could lead to positive changes in our region. We know that businesses with an engaged workforce have 40% less staff turnover than those with lower levels of engagement and produce significantly higher profits. And based on delegates’ feedback and Twitter updates, people found the event genuinely useful and stimulating.”
Margaret Burnside, Director of People Development at eras ltd added “Many delegates felt very inspired and left the festival with plans to make big changes to improve the level of employee engagement. From small but significant changes, such as remembering to say thank you, to implementing employee forums and giving more responsibility to individuals to make changes, it is clear that there are going to be shifts in the way some businesses work as a result of the event.”
Also, a number of delegates took the opportunity to arrange visits to learn more about each other’s employee engagement activities.
In addition, all the proceeds from the event, which amounted to over £3,000, have been donated to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and The Adnams Charity.
The festival will take place on alternate years and is part of the wider BEER initiative, which includes the survey, awards and year-round seminars. From March 2014 businesses in the region get the chance to take part in a free, confidential ‘Best Employer’ survey, which assesses employees’ views of their companies’ culture and values. The regional survey culminates in a series of seminars and awards in Sept 2014.
To find out more information about the festival and the BEER initiative, contact Anna Hill, Marketing Manager at Pure, on: 01223 209888 or Anna.Hill@prs.uk.com.