Business owners and self-employed people will gather at The Feathers at Holt on Tuesday 19th March to meet new business contacts over coffee and biscuits. Hosted by Leanne Castle of MENTA and GENIX, the business support specialists, Coffee Means Business is a friendly, stand-up networking event which has been held on a monthly basis in north Norfolk since 2016.
Leanne Castle said, “Over 20 people attend our events which are relaxed and informal. We always receive very positive comments on the friendliness and easy format of the mornings. The power of face to face networking to promote business services and products, should never be underestimated.
“Making new connections and gaining recommendations are important ways of building a successful business and networking is a great way to achieve this.”
Coffee Means Business will be held from 9.30am until 11.30am, there are no membership or joining fees, just £5 per person, payable on arrival. Booking isn’t essential.
North Norfolk District Council commissioned MENTA and GENIX three years ago to organise and host Coffee Means Business in the north Norfolk area. They could see a need for a regular networking opportunity for businesses which didn’t involve expensive membership fees.
For more details regarding Coffee Means Business go to www.genix.org.uk or call 0800 096 3013.
The senior management team of one of the region’s largest office supply companies has successfully completed a buyout of the business.
Mayday Office Equipment Services, based in Norwich, has been taken over by Operations Director Karen Aldred, Commercial Director Jamie Mulhall and Sales Director Adam Northcut.
Leading East Anglian corporate finance and accountancy firm, Larking Gowen, helped with the successful buyout of majority shareholder and former Managing Director Graham Cassie.
Karen Aldred, who becomes the new MD, said that in the past the company had been approached by large national groups for takeover but had always managed to remain in the control of the people running the business. “We see ourselves as a local company providing the best possible service we can for other local businesses. We know our clients well and they know us. We’re very proud to keep the business running with the same level of localised personal service,” Karen said. “The corporate finance team at Larking Gowen were a real help. We always dealt with the same people and they were always there to pick up the phone and point us in the right direction,” she added.
Mayday supplies photocopiers, printers and other office equipment to businesses in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Cambridgeshire. The company also offers IT support, which is a growing sector within the business. It was established on 1 May 1979, hence the name.
Ian Nelson, Larking Gowen Senior Manager, said: “Mayday has a strong local pedigree built up by the hard work and skill of the management buyout team. It is pleasing to see them taking full control to continue their good work and reap the rewards. “It was great to work with such a positive team and be able to guide them through the potential pitfalls and steer them towards the opportunities.”
Areas that Larking Gowen’s corporate finance team assisted included advice on valuation, commercial and tax structure, bank funding, deal management, liaison with the legal team and advice on financial and taxation warranties and indemnities to protect the management buyout team.
Outgoing majority shareholder Mr Cassie, who is staying on as an IT consultant for the business, said: “I’m delighted with Karen, Jamie and Adam’s further investment and acquisition, and I’m sure that the very successful local technology business will go from strength to strength.
“I’ve been proud to lead Mayday over the last six years, and would like to thank all Mayday’s staff and customers for their support.”
Photo credit: James Vivian (L to R): Ian Nelson, Larking Gowen, Jamie Mulhall, Karen Aldred, Adam Northcut of Mayday Office Equipment Services.
NORWICH, Tuesday 28th January 2014 – Airport reports record visitors to annual travel show Norwich International Airport’s travel show, which is now in its fifth year, achieved record visitor numbers this weekend with 2,000 people attending, all keen to find out as much as possible about the wide range of holidays and flights available from their local airport.
The airline and tour operator exhibitors commented that the Norwich International event is one of the busiest and most successful they attend across the UK and were all delighted with the response this year.
Andrew Bell, CEO, Norwich International Airport commented “This year’s show was undoubtedly the best we have put on in the five years the event has been running, with record visitor numbers and bookings made on the day up 62% on the previous year. The show is a fantastic opportunity for people in the Airport’s catchment area to meet airline and tour operator representatives and obtain first-hand knowledge and advice on the destinations they offer from our airport”
The success of last weekend’s travel show comes as an added boost for the airport following recent announcements of additional flights for holidaymakers in 2014 to Malta, along with the news that Thomson Holidays are basing an aircraft at Norwich International for the summer season for the very first time, Loganair basing a second aircraft from the end of March to provide an increase in Edinburgh flights to three times daily and the overall popularity of the KLM services to Amsterdam, which will see the frequency increase to four times daily throughout the summer months.
2019 marks the 25th anniversary since The Benjamin Foundation was established and the Norfolk and Suffolk based charity has announced exciting plans for a high-profile, visually appealing, engaging and, most importantly, family friendly celebration to mark this milestone.
They plan to create a dramatic art installation called Flight for Youth which will feature up to 25,000 glazed pottery butterflies glazed in one of the charity’s four distinct colours – pink, purple, orange or red. The public are being invited to purchase a butterfly but before taking receipt of their commemorative piece the butterflies are being used to create two dramatic and high-profile art installations, at The Assembly House and Holkham Hall. Butterflies are available to purchase on-line now – https://benjaminfoundation.co.uk/flight-for-youth/
Schools, care homes and other groups and organisations can also purchase unglazed butterflies, which they can decorate themselves and submit to be included in the installation.
Flight for Youth also aims to raise funds to continue the work of The Benjamin Foundation, so the charity is appealing to companies in the region to get behind the campaign through sponsorship. They are delighted that many companies have already pledged sponsorship, including Norwich High School for Girls, who are headline sponsors.
The Benjamin Foundation was founded in 1994 by Richard Draper and his wife Vanessa, following the death of their son Ben and for 25 years the charity has been helping people across Norfolk and Suffolk.
Tony Ing, Chief Executive of The Benjamin Foundation says: “Twenty-five years is an important milestone for any organisation. It marks an opportunity for us to celebrate and reflect on where we have come from, what we have achieved and what our priorities are for the next quarter century.”
For more information about how to GET INVOLVED there are multiple ways to get in touch:
E-mail: colin.lang@benjaminfoundation.co.uk or Call: Colin Lang on 01603 886 933.
We still have a couple of places left at this month’s seminar which will take place on Wednesday 19th March.
Early Retirement – turning the dream into a reality…
Wednesday 19th March – Henderson Business Centre, Norwich
8.15am for 8.30am start (Refreshments and a light Breakfast available)
12.15pm for 12.30pm start (Refreshments and a light lunch available)
The choices you make as you approach retirement could have lasting effects. This session will take you through pensions in a clear and straightforward manner. We will also look at alternative income sources, showing how a combined approach can make the most of tax reliefs, alongside the concept of a two-stage retirement to stretch limited income further.
With annuity rates at historically low levels a better understanding of your options is an essential first step towards effective planning. The session will be useful to anyone advising clients on pension issues or income generating portfolios or approaching retirement themselves.
Each seminar will qualify for 1.5hours of SRA accredited CPD.
We expect each seminar to last around an hour and a half with a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion.
A light lunch or breakfast will be available.
The seminar is free of charge but places are limited.
For more information and to register visit www.chadwicks.co.uk or call me on 01603 251687.
Pure Executive is delighted to have introduced two outstanding Non-Executive Directors to Treatt plc in Bury St Edmunds, one of the region’s most successful companies.
Treatt is a FTSE listed, fast growth Best Employers Eastern Region platinum accredited and award-winning company, whose culture and values are core to its business strategy. This was critical in attracting the two individuals, both highly regarded in their respective fields, to join the Board and support the next phase of transformative growth. It was important for Treatt to achieve balance and diversity of thinking on its Board, as well as attracting international business experience to help drive their worldwide expansion.
Treatt has confirmed that Yetunde Hofmann will join the Board with effect from 20th March and Lynne Weedall with effect from 6th April 2019.
Yetunde has worked extensively across many Asian countries, the US and Europe with strategic, commercial and operational transformation skills developed through her experience at Allied Domecq, Unilever, Imperial Brands and Northern Foods. She is a Non-Executive Director of the CIPD, Education Development Trust, Tomorrow’s Company and is a visiting fellow of Henley Business School.
Yetunde commented: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to support the culture and business transformation of an organisation that has people and people engagement at the heart of its business strategy.”
Lynne Weedall has extensive strategy, change management and M&A experience gained from Board positions as Group HR Director with Whitbread Plc, Dixons Carphone Plc and most recently the Selfridges Group.
Lynne, who is also a Non-Executive Director of Greene King, commented: “I am looking forward to working with the Board at Treatt to build on its success and to be part of its interesting international growth strategy. The people and also the opportunity that lie ahead at Treatt were too good to pass up.”
Treatt Plc chairman Tim Jones said: “I would like to welcome Yetunde and Lynne to Treatt. Their experience and knowledge further strengthen the Board’s skillset as the company pushes forward its strategy for progressive global growth over coming years. We were delighted to have the support of Lynn and the team at Pure Executive who have delivered such outstanding candidates.”
Yetunde added: “Pure Executive took the time to understand my skills, experience and values to see how I could best contribute to the success of this next phase of development in Treatt’s growth strategy as a member of their Board. I experienced them as refreshing and collaborative and was impressed by their industry and sector knowledge.”
Treatt is an impressive Suffolk business which will commence a £35million capital investment project to build a new manufacturing and head office site on the Suffolk Business Park this year.
Lynn Walters, Executive Director of Pure Executive, said: “I am very proud that Treatt has appointed two such inspirational women who share the company values and will be strong role models for other women in this region. At Pure Executive we are committed to placing people who are genuinely aligned to our client’s culture, vision and purpose. We work hard to ensure the region has a more balanced representation at Board level and through our Women’s Leadership Programme we actively encourage more women to reach Board positions. I have the greatest respect for both Lynne and Yetunde and working with both of them to secure these roles with Treatt has been a privilege.”
Founded in 1886, Treatt is a cutting-edge flavour and fragrance manufacturer and solutions provider to the food, drink and consumer goods market with its focus being beverages.
Read Treatt’s announcement to the stock exchange on Wednesday 6th February here.
Pure’s Norwich office has grown its team and promoted two colleagues following the professional recruitment specialists most successful year to date.
The Norwich office is one of Pure’s four offices in the Eastern region, alongside Cambridge, Chelmsford and Ipswich. At the end of the recruitment firm’s financial year (June 2018), the Norfolk team had performed better than ever, placing 398 Norfolk candidates in their next professional career move and supporting 159 businesses in the county to recruit high-calibre employees.
As a result, Pure Norwich has recruited seven new colleagues, bringing the total number of staff based in the Norfolk office up to 14 and has promoted Jade O’Brien and Ruben Davis to the role of Senior Consultant.
Tom Earl, Director at Pure, said: “For us, success is achieving our purpose of helping businesses and candidates to flourish and ultimately contributing to the economic growth of our region. Our Norwich office has performed better than ever in this last financial year and we are extremely proud to have been able to support so many candidates and businesses in the county. The Norfolk economy is exciting because there is still a strong demand for high quality candidates and a continued focus on attracting and retaining top talent to achieve business and economic growth. We’ve further strengthened our Norfolk team to make sure we can continue supporting organisations in sourcing, developing and retaining top talent, and to provide programmes which develop talent and support local businesses to create engaging places to work.”
Jade O’Brien, promoted to Senior Consultant, joined Pure in 2015. She specialises in Accountancy recruitment and also manages Pure’s Finance Leadership Programme events in Norfolk. The Finance Leadership Programme, run in partnership with Grant Thornton, has supported 11 finance professionals in Norfolk to progress their career in the last year alone.
Ruben Davis, also promoted to Senior Consultant, joined Pure in 2016. He has been instrumental in establishing Pure’s IT and Technology recruitment specialism, an industry area of significant growth in Norfolk. Ruben also takes the lead in supporting Norfolk businesses to participate in the Best Employers Eastern Region, the initiative founded by Pure and eras ltd to support organisations in creating workplaces which are stimulating, motivating and bring out the best in their people.
Joining the new recruits to the Norwich team, and demonstrating Pure’s commitment to developing its own talent, is graduate trainee Katie Steinfeldt. Katie, who will work with the HR recruitment team in Norfolk, is one of three graduates Pure has recruited across the region this year on its 2018 Graduate Training Programme.
Tom Earl added: “We are delighted to be able to partner with many high-profile businesses to help us achieve our aim of contributing to the growth of our region and putting it on the map as a great place to work and do business. With Birketts LLP we are joint sponsors of the Best Employer category at the Norfolk Business Awards, run by Archant. This enables us to recognise and celebrate the Norfolk businesses which are developing, supporting and attracting talent to achieve business success and organisational growth. Our Pure Executive Director Clubs, run with Grant Thornton, have also brought together 61 business leaders in Norwich over the last year, providing opportunities to discuss topical issues likely to impact on businesses and the regional economy. We’ve also been receiving some great feedback on our HR Energy events which we launched in Norfolk this year. Run in collaboration with Mills & Reeve, these events provide a forum for HR professionals to share experiences, socialise and gain insights from industry experts. We have already had 174 HR Managers and Senior Professionals attend the first year of events. Delegates have said how much they appreciate the support as there wasn’t anything else in Norfolk which was totally dedicated to the development of HR professionals.”
As a socially responsible business, Pure has always actively supported charities. In the last year the Norwich office has also raised £2,480 for its chosen charity of Alzheimer’s Society. This includes funds raised by the annual Norwich charity quiz night, which in 2018 brought 174 business people from across the county together for a fun battle of the brains evening in aid of the dementia support charity.
Pure Executive are delighted to have introduced two outstanding Non-Executive Directors to Treatt plc in Bury St Edmunds, one of our region’s most successful companies.
Treatt is a FTSE listed, fast growth Best Employers Eastern Region platinum accredited and award-winning company, whose culture and values are core to its business strategy. This was critical in attracting the two individuals, both highly regarded in their respective fields, to join the Board and support the next phase of transformative growth. It was important for Treatt to achieve balance and diversity of thinking on its Board, as well as attracting international business experience to help drive their worldwide expansion.
Treatt has confirmed that Yetunde Hofmann will join the Board with effect from 20th March and Lynne Weedall with effect from 6th April 2019.
Yetunde has worked extensively across many Asian countries, the US and Europe with strategic, commercial and operational transformation skills developed through her experience at Allied Domecq, Unilever, Imperial Brands and Northern Foods. She is a Non-Executive Director of the CIPD, Education Development Trust, Tomorrow’s Company and is a visiting fellow of Henley Business School.
Yetunde commented: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to support the culture and business transformation of an organisation that has people and people engagement at the heart of its business strategy.”
Lynne Weedall has extensive strategy, change management and M&A experience gained from Board positions as Group HR Director with Whitbread Plc, Dixons Carphone Plc and most recently the Selfridges Group.
Lynne, who is also a Non-Executive Director of Greene King, commented: “I am looking forward to working with the Board at Treatt to build on its success and to be part of its interesting international growth strategy. The people and also the opportunity that lie ahead at Treatt were too good to pass up.”
Treatt Plc chairman Tim Jones said: “I would like to welcome Yetunde and Lynne to Treatt. Their experience and knowledge further strengthen the Board’s skillset as the company pushes forward its strategy for progressive global growth over coming years. We were delighted to have the support of Lynn and the team at Pure Executive who have delivered such outstanding candidates.”
Yetunde added: “Pure Executive took the time to understand my skills, experience and values to see how I could best contribute to the success of this next phase of development in Treatt’s growth strategy as a member of their Board. I experienced them as refreshing and collaborative and was impressed by their industry and sector knowledge.”
Treatt is an impressive Suffolk business which will commence a £35million capital investment project to build a new manufacturing and head office site on the Suffolk Business Park this year.
Lynn Walters, Executive Director of Pure Executive, said: “I am very proud that Treatt has appointed two such inspirational women who share the company values and will be strong role models for other women in this region. At Pure Executive we are committed to placing people who are genuinely aligned to our client’s culture, vision and purpose. We work hard to ensure the region has a more balanced representation at Board level and through our Women’s Leadership Programme we actively encourage more women to reach Board positions. I have the greatest respect for both Lynne and Yetunde and working with both of them to secure these roles with Treatt has been a privilege.”
Founded in 1886, Treatt is a cutting-edge flavour and fragrance manufacturer and solutions provider to the food, drink and consumer goods market with its focus being beverages.
Read Treatt’s announcement to the stock exchange on Wednesday 6th February.
The Eye Film team enjoyed a great night out together at this year’s Royal Television Society East Awards. We were thrilled to win, especially in two categories contested by such incredible talent from across the region, best Promotional Film and best Production Craft Skills. Thank you to everyone and of course, our client Humphries Weaving, who gave us the opportunity to make the film for them!
Cloud, connectivity and data centre specialists MIGSOLV have partnered with leading cyber security providers Charterhouse Voice & Data to offer an innovative way to protect against current and future threats.
Their new ‘three-pronged’ approach helps businesses not only understand and minimise existing cyber threats but benefit from proactive protection against viruses yet to be unleashed.
“We wanted to do more than just protect businesses against current risks” states David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV. “Cyber threats are evolving fast and businesses want a simple and assured way to remain safe. Working with Charterhouse, we can provide the best and most proactive solution.”
The new approach sees MIGSOLV and their partner begin by helping businesses understand and mitigate all cyber risks and their implications. Often assumed to be purely IT based, these can include fines, operational losses and lasting damage to reputation.
The second stage applies software from a range of world-leading names to provide protection against known threats and viruses. This can include not only an enterprise-level firewall but ‘end-point’ protection for laptops, desktops and other devices which can be a softer target for cyber threats.
Where MIGSOLV and their partner’s new solution varies from traditional protection is in the final stage where it automatically scans for anomalies in a business’s everyday IT and data. It uses behavioural analytics (a form of artificial intelligence) to evaluate normal use before investigating and protecting against anything out of the ordinary or threatening.
“We’re delighted to have been chosen by MIGSOLV to help protect the wide range of businesses they work with” says Matt Tyne, Chief Operating Officer at Charterhouse. “The consequences of successful cyber breaches are greater than ever and organisations really value the peace of mind this approach gives them. MIGSOLV have an impressive range of solutions for storing, managing and protecting IT and data which we’re proud to be part of”.
Established over 25 years ago, Charterhouse Voice & Data have provided solutions to UK and international companies including AirPartner, Lotus and Camelot.
Best known for providing East Anglia’s only world-class commercial data centre, MIGSOLV are fast developing a reputation for helping businesses with every aspect of storing, managing and protecting their IT and data. They’ve announced a number of strategic partnerships with leading providers which they believe enables them to flexibly solve business’s current and evolving needs.
The new cyber security solution is effective for organisations of any size but is anticipated to be most sort after by medium sized companies looking for automated and future-proof protection.
Spire Solicitors LLP is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Trick as partner to the firm, to continue its growth strategy.
Emma joined Spire Solicitors LLP in 2015 and specialises in Private Client work (including Wills, Estates, Powers of Attorney, and Trusts). She is a full member of the Law Society Private Client Section, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE). Emma is based at our Diss office, where she is also a committee member of the Diss Business Forum.
Alisdair Liddle, Head of Private Client at Spire Solicitors LLP says: “It is with great pleasure we welcome Emma to the firm’s partner team. Emma’s experience, focus on client care and dedication to Spire Solicitors LLP have been invaluable since joining in 2015 and I look forward to continue working with her closely over the coming years.”
Lolcal News is a brand new exhibition celebrating Norfolk’s finest creatives. Featuring 30 local designers, illustrators, artists and photographers, each piece of work is based on a Norfolk related news headline. The concept for this exhibition is that of Norwich designer Sinead Birmingham, who moved back home from London after ten years working the creative industries, and immediately found comfort and joy in the local headlines and Norfolk humour. Sinead has collated Norfolk news headlines over the past year, which include such gems as “Person stuck in bathroom, fire service called in” and “£300 operation by vet on constipated goldfish” were the inspiration behind the exhibition. After collecting a strong selection of news gold, Sinead approached Norfolk’s design talent including; Owen Mathers, who recently completed a mural in Norwich’s Ivy Restaurant, Matt Whitehead, the creative behind Patterns of Play and the OTBC match day programme, as well as her talented designer colleagues at borne, one of Norwich’s leading design agencies. Wanting for the exhibition to remain local in every sense, Lolcal News ticket sales profits and profits from the artist’s prints will be donated to the OPEN Youth Trust (OPEN), a charity which develop high-quality arts initiatives helping children and young people express themselves through creativity. Sinead Birmingham, Lolcal News creator said: “The exhibition is a vehicle for building an even stronger design community within the city. With Norwich University of the Arts’ Course Leaders involved, along with alumni, Sam Harrons from the Shhhh collective and London based Norfolk native designers, the standard of the work will be as high as the headline humour.” All the headlines have been kept under wraps until the private view on 4th April, but until then archive headlines are being featured @lolcal_news instagram account. The exhibition will then be open to the public at OPEN Norwich, from 10.00am – 10.00pm on Friday 5th April and from 10.00am – 4.00pm on Saturday 6th April. Tickets are £5 + booking fee (under 12s free with a paying adult). Available from https://opennorwich.org.uk/whats-on/gigs-events/lolcal-news/ or call OPEN’s Box Office on 01603 763111