Soter joined The Chambers back in Feb, and as we are in the same building, I have shared lots of Hello’s and happy sunshine lunches with them, so I know they’re a lovely lot.
When Beth popped down to see us with her plan to help a young boy to go on a school trip that his mum could no long afford due to an unexpected £800 bill to fix her car, we were happy to help!
Her JustGiving page raised the money in just a week, thanks to local businesses in the area. Well done Beth!
Norwich Puppet Theatre seeks a trustee to take special interest in and responsibility for our corporate relations with the local business community. This persuasive and proactive person will be an enthusiastic networker and as a trustee give of their time and energy in anentirely voluntary capacity. They will work with the rest of the board oftrustees and the team to promote the successful implementation of our plans and efforts to persuade localbusinesses to take up the many opportunities wehave on offer to support us. “As reported in the press, the current climate and changes inlocal authority funding means Norwich Puppet Theatre is forced to appeal morewidely for support and this is in common withmany arts community organisations.We think that businesses, as well as the public, would like to help as part oftheir corporate social responsibility desire, if only they truly knew what isneeded to keep providing the events, activities and performances that we do.
“Perhaps you are one of the 25,000 folk each year who enjoy our work, or brought your family, or just know people who have. If you are the sort of person who understands what makesbusinesses tick when they are thinking about corporate charitable donations,who is motivated by the desire to make adifference, and is ready to help promote our cultural community, then have a look at the attached role specification andour website for further information.
Many young people live in financially restricted households or difficult circumstances, unable to afford access to creative cultural experiences which can greatly improve children’s health and well-being, sense of aspiration and ambition.
For 40 years Norwich Puppet Theatre has inspired, entertained and enriched audiences both nationally and internationally. This unique asset in Norwich is one of only three dedicated building based puppet theatres in the country.We champion the ancient, unique and multifaceted art of puppetry, welcoming children, young people, families and adults into a world of imagination and storytelling. Committed to providing creative entertainment and skills for everyone, Norwich Puppet Theatre has a long history of producing high quality puppet shows and workshops.
We would like to invite Norfolk Chamber members to consider supporting the first wave of a new fund enabling Passports to Puppetry. NPT Passports to Puppetry sponsorship will give children access to enjoyable, exciting and inspirational creative and cultural activities for free whilst at the same time supporting Norwich Puppet Theatre to provide meaningful and enriching experiences for everyone.
How it works • Companies and individuals donate to our Passport Fund. • The passport fund will support the work of Norwich Puppet theatre and allow us to offer Passports to children, enabling them to share and enjoy the wonderful world of puppetry. • 10 donations of just £250 will enable 25 passports allowing access to show and workshop events at Norwich Puppet Theatre. With the help of our project partners, passports will be issued to a child, family or group most in need of some smiles and will be valid for 1 year. Choosing from the exciting and vast array of performances and workshops in our public programme, each passport holder will have the opportunity to journey into the magical art of puppetry. To sample our wares please try https://www.puppettheatre.co.uk/whats-on. Maybe book yourself! This is the earliest stage of developing an exciting initiative which we hope to grow well beyond our launch critical mass of 25 passports throughout our 40th Anniversary Year, 2020. We are working with leading local charities – Break, Benjamin Foundation, and a number of others – to set up safe and secure channels between the families with children we aim to benefit and ourselves. We are also talking to transport providers to find ways to overcome transport difficulties which will undoubtedly arise, including Norwich Door2Door. We are really excited by the opportunities and hope you will be inspired too, and become a foundation sponsor helping to shape and grow a remarkable benefit for many children in need. In return, if your company wants to become a foundation sponsor, you will share in the opportunities to use stories of your involvement in subsequent publicity and profile opportunities, brand placement, joint marketing and promotions. Contact our lovely team via info@puppettheatre.co.uk or 01603 515564 to discuss this further. Advanced Date for your diary! 9th October Learn about us and help launch NPT Passport to Puppetry https://www.norfolkchamber.co.uk/events/be-good-company-norwich-puppet-theatre
‘Matthew Shardlake’ (Paul Dickson) and Maids Head Hotel General Manager, Christine Malcolm unveiled a plaque outside the hotel on Friday, August 2 to celebrate the Maids Head appearing in CJ Sansom’s best-selling novel Tombland.
Tombland is the seventh in CJ Sansom’s series of historical novels featuring Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake. In the book, he heads to Norwich to look into the circumstances of a horrific murder and stays at the Maids Head, before getting engulfed in Kett’s Rebellion in the summer of 1549.
“We have been offering a special Shardlake’s Norwich package since February,” said Christine Malcolm. “Guests on the package are given a copy of Tombland and have the option of booking a Shardlake tour with our resident tour guide, Paul Dickson.”
“The package has proved very popular, with Shardlake fans heading to Norwich from all over the UK, ” continued Christine. “We have even had visitors from Norway who love the series. It’s the first visit to Norwich for many of our Shardlake guests and the feedback that we get is that they love the city and can’t wait to return.”
“Our plaque, celebrating Matthew Shardlake’s residence at the hotel, is already proving a good talking point, with guests taking selfies as a reminder of their stay.”
Paul Dickson added: “As well as taking Maids Head guests on my Shardlake’s Norwich tour, I offer a series a public bookable tours. People enjoy discovering Kett’s Heights, seeing the remains of Kett’s headquarters, St Michael’s Chapel, and taking in the fabulous view of Norwich and discussing the story of the rebellion.”
“My Shardlake costume, which was made by Penny Knee of the Paston Heritage Society, had its first outing on my Norfolk Day tour. It really added to the whole experience and drew lots of ‘second looks’ from drivers on the inner ring road and Kett’s Hill.”
For more information about the Maids Head Hotel’s Shardlake package see www.maidsheadhotel.co.uk.
The Maids Head Hotel claims to be the oldest hotel in the UK, based on the site being used for hospitality from the end of the 11th century when the first Norman Bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga had his initial palace there.
An inn on the site, the Murtel Fish, is mentioned in court records in 1287. The name, the Maids Head, first appears in a Paston letter, dated 22 November 1472.
Several legends associate the hotel with Kett’s Rebellion. Royal commanders, the Marquis of Northampton and the Earl of Warwick are said to have had breakfast at the Maids Head before their respective battles. Robert and William Kett are thought to have used the hotel as their Norwich headquarters after the defeat of the Marquis of Northampton at the Battle of Palace Plain.
The EDP EADT Norfolk & Suffolk Tourism Awards 2020 are now open for entries, and we’re on the hunt for the best marketing campaigns our region has to offer.
Show off your marketers! It’s quite often the case that excellent marketers produce some fantastic work behind the scenes. Customers might love their campaigns, but they’re not often recognised for all their hard work. That’s why we’re on the lookout for the best marketing campaigns within the region’s tourism industry. This award provides an opportunity for businesses, attractions and organisations to gain recognition for their efforts in adopting a proactive approach to marketing – be that through print, online, outdoor, press activity or a mix of all these.
Do you have what it takes? Think you can wow our judges with your creative campaigns? Enter the awards today! It takes just a couple of minutes, and is completely free. Entries close 29 September
A new coaching and mentoring programme aimed at new or inexperienced line managers has been launched by a Norfolk-based training provider, designed to deliver results and create meaningful change through other people.
The Leadership Exploration and Development (LEAD) programme is the idea of Andrew Denny of Andrew Denny Consulting, who, after talking to a number of organisations, believes that too many first-line leaders are unprepared for their role and wishing they’d had more guidance before becoming a manager. Andrew feels that there is a gap in the market for those who simply want to gain practical experience in getting the best out of their people through effective day-to-day leadership without attending time consuming and sometimes expensive one-off training courses.
“Very often supervisors, team leaders and managers are promoted to their role, but their previous role has not prepared them for management work. People have to quickly learn new skills, the most important being performance management. The LEAD programme helps bridge the gap between any formal learning and the massive amount of information available online into something meaningful and relevant to those involved. Many people don’t learn from being in a formal environment learning leadership theory. Most of us develop from having the practical experience and learning from the mistakes we make”, says Andrew.
The flexible six month coaching led programme takes business owners, individuals or groups of managers, looks at them individually, and helps them create meaningful change for themselves, their teams and the organisation. The programme combines group and/or individual coaching sessions with self-development projects and real time, on-the-job coaching to support positive change in behaviour and to help embed the learning.
The programme starts by focusing delegates on where they currently see themselves within several different management areas. An initial group workshop helps individuals to identify their own learning and leadership style. This session includes a goal setting session before the coaching begins.
Over the following weeks each individual is coached either as part of a group or individually, the aim being to challenge and keep them continuously learning and improving. The programme deals with specific topics such as self-awareness, leading through times of change, motivation and engagement, communication skills, delegation and time management, as well as with live issues yet always keeping an eye of the central goals.
The coaching sessions end with delegates summarising what they have learnt before setting out the actions they will commit to going forward. This may include self-learning or planning an activity to help apply the learning within the workplace.
The coaching ends with the group reconvening to reflect on the journey and talk about how they will continue this beyond the programme.
In September, millions of people from around the world will strike to demand that governments take radical action to address the climate crisis. This started exactly a year ago with young Greta Thunberg protesting by herself outside the Swedish parliament. Since then it has led to multiple school strikes earlier in the year and a massive strike is now planned with working people around the world joining the youth strikers. You can find out more here: globalclimatestrike.net
Employees of Hudson Architects will be joining them by striking in Norwich on Friday 20th September. Our team care passionately about this topic and believe this is the moment to turn that passion into action. So for one day, the practice will be supporting employees to down tools and add their voices to those across the country and beyond. The practice will be contributing by hosting a public climate change exhibition event in our ground floor gallery space on St Andrews Street, whilst some employees will be joining the school strikes protest outside City Hall.
We will not be alone. Many companies, including other architectural practices, are signing up to allow their employees to take part. In the UK, the strike has the backing of the RIBA and the UK Green Building Council. Further afield, Germany’s service sector union, Verdi, has called on its 2 million members to join. A global movement is building.
We would like to invite you to join us by striking in any way you can. The more individuals and businesses that sign up the more likely world leaders are to heed our call. You could organise your own strike event, however small. The important thing is that our voices are heard so please do publicise your actions through whatever channels you can.
We believe it goes without saying that the climate crisis is real and poses an enormous threat to our environment and society, not to mention our businesses. This is the issue of our lifetimes and the time to act is now. We cannot continue with business as usual.
Norwich Airport and KLM UK Engineering agree £7m hangar deal
Norwich Airport and KLM UK Engineering have agreed a deal where Norwich Airport will invest £7 million in a new hangar and workshop facilities for KLM UK Engineering at the airport to meet increased industry demand for aircraft maintenance.
The project will be managed by Rigby Real Estate (RRE), the property division of airport owners, Rigby Group. It will see the construction of a 54,000 sq ft hangar and 15,500 sq ft workshop that will be completed by August 2020.
The deal provides KLM UK Engineering with significant additional new capacity providing high quality aircraft maintenance and repair services to customers worldwide. KLM UK Engineering employs 390 staff at Norwich and also delivers aircraft engineering apprenticeships and training through its technical training college located in the neighbouring International Aviation Academy Norwich.
Norwich Airport managing director Richard Pace said: “KLM UK Engineering is a major employer in Norwich with hundreds of skilled staff. This deal underlines its long-term commitment to the region and is another significant milestone in the airport’s strategy of creating a global aviation centre of excellence.”
Peter van der Horst, managing director at KLM UK Engineering, said: “We are delighted to have agreed this expansion project with Norwich Airport. This will enable us to provide a more efficient service to our customers, allow us to maintain the larger next generation aircraft and provide extra capacity with a sixth bay. Our team in Norwich are excited with this development and look forward to revealing the new hangar in 2020.”
KLM UK Engineering is headquartered at Norwich where it has operated for more than 40 years. It currently has five fully equipped heavy maintenance bays across three hangars at the airport and has extensive experience on many aircraft types including Embraer170/190, Boeing 737 (all series), Airbus A320 family, BAe 146 and Avro RJ, and Fokker 70/100 types.
The build of a new hangar for KLM UK Engineering at the airport gives Satys Air Livery UK Ltd the opportunity to take on the hangar vacated by KLM UK Engineering. This will consolidate Norwich as the head office of Aftermarket and VIP Painting Division of the Satys Group and the largest place in Europe for repainting narrow body aircrafts (4 hangars).
Thierry Melet, managing director of Satys Air Livery UK Ltd, said: “We are looking forward to consolidating our position in Norwich. The additional hangar will provide both additional capacity for growth and potential synergies to satisfy our current customers in a very competitive market.”
The Satys Group is a large, growing group with its head office in Toulouse and purchased Satys Air Livery UK Ltd (formerly Air Livery Ltd) in October 2018. The new hangar will increase the number of employees from approximately 80 to 100 in Norwich, providing local recruitment opportunities in the aircraft repainting sector.
Satys Air Livery UK Ltd purchased Sprayavia in November 2008 and have been operating at Norwich Airport ever since.
Norwich Airport is part of Regional & City Airports (RCA), the airports management division of Rigby Group, which also owns and operates Exeter Airport and Bournemouth Airport.
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Picture Caption:
Left to right: James Shipley – Finance Director – KLM UK Engineering; Peter van der Horst – Managing Director – KLM UK Engineering; Richard Pace – Managing Director – Norwich Airport; Mark Thomas – Finance Director – Satys Air Livery UK Ltd; Paul Woods – Sales Director – Satys Air Livery UK Ltd
WIN 80 Prizes in 80 Days with Premier Travel this summer
To celebrate our 80th birthday, we’re giving away 80 prizes in 80 days in a scratch card competition.
Still left to win:
Weekend break to Washington DC for two from Premier Holidays
With United Airlines flights and staying at the Loews Madison hotel
Holiday to Crete for two with Classic Collection
Staying for a week at the Aldemar Resort
20 x boxes of chocolates
14 x£80 off your holiday vouchers
18 x Afternoon tea for two at Harriet’s Tea Rooms
13 x bottle of wine
1 x £100 hotel voucher
To enter, all you need to do is book your holiday with Premier Travel before 21 September. You’ll be given a scratch card – simply scratch it off to see if you’ve won!
Trading since 1936, the independent, privately-owned Premier Travel first began operating bus services between local market towns, expanding over time to include express coach services and offering holidays to coastal resorts around the country.Most of the coach booking agencies were then converted to travel agency branches during the 1960’s, and in the early days, Premier Travel operated holidays from Cambridge Airport to the Channel Islands out of its first branch in Cambridge.
Long-haul holidays came next, when core destinations such as the USA and Asia were introduced to the portfolio, followed by Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa – all of which are still sold across the company today.
Premier Travel now offers holidays worldwide and has 17 travel agency branches around East Anglia, the most recent of which were added in May this year (St Neots) and in September 2015 (Bury St Edmunds).
Top 7 Agile Tips I learnt as a Product Manager Benjamin Mitchell (@benjaminm)
Many people have experienced using Agile approaches within teams to deliver more working software, but what can be learnt from combing these approaches with Product Development? This talk will cover the top seven hard-earned tips I learnt from several years spent as a Senior Product Manger for BBC Worldwide. Ever wondered how you could influence the product you were building? How can you use Agile approaches to learn about what the right product to build is? How do you overcome defensiveness? How can you design experiments that challenge assumptions and encourage change? This talk will provide some answers, combining ideas from organisational learning, psychology and negotiation.
Benjamin Mitchell
Benjamin has over 20 years’ experience delivering online applications, in diverse sectors – including media (BBC.com), investment banking, insurance and software products. A highly-rated international speaker, he is passionate about helping software product development teams and leaders build the right products in the right ways. Benjamin is proud to be a Partner with Equal Experts. You can see a recent talk of his athttps://www.equalexperts.com/common-communication-failures-solve/
And then when we’re all done, we’d quite like to have a nice cold beer at the local pub, most likely to be Brew Dog near Tombland.
New Anglia Growth Hub has launched an online membership portal to help businesses scale up faster with specialist support. This follows the start of the Scale Up New Anglia Programme by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership delivered through the Growth Hub in February this year.
The programme will run over three years with a stated aim to help ‘Silver’ companies in the two counties – companies with a propensity to grow. They occupy a sweet spot between ‘Bronze’ (Start Ups) and ‘Gold’ (Scale Ups), defined as growing in terms of turnover or FTEs at 20% per annum or more, over a three-year period.
The website has been launched to engage with and provide ongoing support to potential high growth businesses and to create a community of like-minded peers, and industry and topic experts.
Programme members will gain exclusive access to expert business analysis, a resource packed knowledge bank, information on special workshops and courses, as well as real world insights and knowledge through peer-to-peer learning.
Dr Morgan Potter, High Growth Manager at New Anglia Growth Hub, said: “Our new members’ portal and website will provide a focus for scale up information. It will include videos and presentations, company success stories and useful interventions from key growth support organisations such as Invest East, Goldman Sachs, Innovate 2 Succeed and Tech Nation. Our support is fully funded and independent expert advisers are on hand to visit and guide you; all we ask is to register on the portal provided.
Dr Morgan Potter, presenting at a recent Scale Up event
“As part of the programme, we will provide training and focus groups, helping to create a community across both Norfolk and Suffolk, which will support all potential high growth companies and help them to achieve the next level in terms of performance. We can really help tip the scales for businesses to reach high growth.”
Criteria to join:
• Operating for a minimum of three years • 5-150 employees • Turnover £250,000 or more in last financial year • Primary owner/ primary decision-maker in the business.
Chris Pont, one of the founders and CEO of IJYI, said: “I’m excited at the prospect of being accepted onto these programmes as they have both shown massive benefits to their alumni’s organisations and has provided them with a greater level of rigour and understanding whilst scaling up.”
Advocate for the Scale Up Programme, Justin Nevison-Grainger, Director at Conatus Financing Solutions Ltd, said: “It’s been a privilege to be a speaker and contributor at the superb Scale Up New Anglia High Growth programme events. The entrepreneurs involved are often the unsung heroes of business; the economies and employees of Suffolk, Norfolk and beyond. If I can help in some small way; all the better. Also, everyone involved picks up learning and inspiration and for that, I am grateful too.”
To register for the Scale Up Programme, visit www.scaleupnewanglia.co.uk or for more information, please call the New Anglia Growth Hub on 0300 333 6536.