Member News

Briar Chemicals welcomed Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, to their manufacturingsite to find out more about how the Company generates substantial added value for the UK and global economy.

Briar Chemicals delivers contract and custom manufacturing solutions to world-leading companies in the crop protection, fine and speciality chemical sectors. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is the UK’s number one manufacturing export earner.

The products made onbehalf of our customers help to protecta wide range of crops, increase farmers’ yields in challenging climates, prevent diseases in cattle and sheep, and are key building blocks in the leather, textile and plastics sectors.

Whilst touring the site, Clive Lewis MP visited one of the production plant control rooms,monitored 24 hours a day by a team of operators.

This year, Briar Chemicals celebrates 60 years’ of production on the site. In 1956 by May and Baker established a new manufacturing plant in Norwich, on the46 hectares (114 acres) site that Briar Chemicals occupies today.

Tim Green, Briar Chemicals site manager, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mr Lewis to our site to show him around the facility. It is important for us, as a established business in the local area, to know that we are receiving support from our local MP. We are proud of our heritage, our staff and the positive work we do in the community.”

Briar Chemicals plays a pivotal role within the community, employing 220 people, supporting local schools with its education programme, sponsoring the local arts and science festivals and offering careers advice to the future generation of scientists.

As Briar Chemicals reached its fourth anniversary of operating as an independent business earlier in the year, it looks to the future. TimGreen added: “We are focused on continued investment in our employees and manufacturing assets to support growth through new business opportunities”.

As we enter the Christmas period, we all know that we will end up eating and drinking more than we should, and we all know that come January, we will have to start thinking about “getting fit”.

Norfolk’s BUILD Charity are this week launching a swimming challenge aimed at people like you, who can manage just a few lengths, or a gentle half mile, or those who are an endurance swimmer looking to push themselves in the new year.

In August last year, Security industry professional John Creek took on the amazing challenge of a double channel swim between England and France and back again. A feat achieved by less than 50 people in history. The beneficiaries of the sponsored challenge were people in Norfolk with disabilities who rely on the social, leisure and learning activity programme provided by Norfolk’s BUILD Charity, to reduce their social isolation and low self-esteem.

John’s swim got off to a good start, after nearly two years of training but fatigue and multiple stings by jellyfish in the English Channel meant that he had to abandon the return journey once he had completed a single crossing in 17 hours and 45 minutes. Indeed, the day after John’s attempt, a swimmer died making a similar bid.

On Saturday 4th February, John will return to the water, but this time the warmer, calmer and jellyfish free waters of the UEA Sportspark in Norwich, to join with those who shared his disappointment at not completing his challenge, as part of a bid by people with disabilities and their supporters to come together with John to complete the missing 21 miles, 32km or 1,280 lengths of the 25m pool.

The BUILD Charity, which in 2017 will be celebrating its 50th anniversary is looking for teams from Norfolk businesses, schools, clubs and organisations to join John and “Team BUILD” by taking responsibility for completing some of those 1,280 lengths of the pool to complete the Double Channel Challenge.

“The Sportspark are delighted to be able to support this fantastic event and help John and BUILD Charity complete such a mammoth sporting challenge by staging the event at the regions premier sporting facility” – Liam Playford, Aquatics Manager

How to get involved

Swimmers will be able to register as individuals or as teams of 4 people and will be allocated one of the 60 single, or multiple “swim-slots” of 30 minutes’ duration between 14.00 and 20.00 on Saturday 4th February 2017.

Each swimmer will make a £5 personal donation to the BUILD Charity as part of their registration process, and will be allocated a paper or web-based sponsorship form to collect support from their friends, colleagues and supporters. In return, each swimmer will get a certificate showing the number of metres they swam as part of the Channel Challenge and the gratification that their efforts will have made a difference to the lives of people with disabilities in Norfolk as all money raised will be used to support social, leisure and learning opportunities.

Corporate, club or organisation teams can compete for a special trophy, being awarded to the tem whose swimmers complete the most lengths, so they can get the year off to a start with real bragging rights.

Initial registration can be done by e mailing volunteer@buildcharity.co.uk to request a registration form, and on receipt of the form and fee, a link to a personalised paper, or web-based site to start fundraising.

For additional information:

James Kearns – The BUILD Charity 01603 618029 volunteer@buildcharity.co.uk

The BUILD Charity www.buildcharity.co.uk

BUILD is a Norfolk based, independent registered charity,providing social, leisure, and learning opportunitiesfor people with disabilities.

TaxAssist Accountants has further increased its nationwide network after it welcomed six new franchisees, including three franchisees taking on resales, on its Autumn initial training course, further consolidating TaxAssist’s position as the UK’s largest network of small business accountants.

The UK network coverage continues to grow apace, with more than 210 franchises operating from over 290 offices. The successful and award-winning franchise, which recently rose to 21st position in AccountancyAge’s Top 50, continues to see double digit growth across the board, and now looks after over 65,000 clients with a combined fee bank of over £41 million.

The TaxAssist business opportunity continues to attract the talents of accountants and senior finance professionals, keen to benefit from the excellent training, support and brand name synonymous with the franchise.

In the case of TaxAssist resales, new joiners benefit from the advantages of a ready-made business with established premises, an income stream and experienced staff.

James Darville, who this year became owner of TaxAssist Accountants in Havant, Hampshire, said: “I made the decision to join TaxAssist within a few hours of attending a discovery day. I was so impressed with what I found out, I couldn’t see how I could pass on the opportunity.

“Franchising seemed like the perfect middle point between employment and running an individual practice. I believe having the backing of a national brand in a large network such as TaxAssist Accountants was the best possible way for me to start my journey as a business owner.”

New franchisee Simon Hunt, who joined on the Autumn course, said: “Having worked for large multi-national companies in senior finance roles for most of my career, I decided the time had come to be my own boss. I love accountancy and finance, as I feel it’s the ‘life blood’ of business. But after three years of contracting, I realised that although it was quite lucrative, I was not building any kind of business asset I could invest in for my family’s future.

“I realised the best way to achieve my ambition was to run my own practice, but without having to set it up from scratch. Having looked at the franchises available, I chose TaxAssist Accountants because of its proven track record. Using TaxAssist’s tried and tested business systems will, in time, allow me to work on building my own business rather than in it.”

New franchisee, Taskir Qureshi, who operates from Willesden, added: “I am an accountant who has worked for various firms over the last 15 years. Until last year, I was happily employed in a reasonably well paid job that I loved and had no intention of leaving, until my brother asked me to accompany him to a discovery day.

“This changed all of my plans and after carrying out due diligence, I was a total convert! During my training I was made to feel like a member of the extended family, with everyone, including the directors, being really approachable and helpful. While I am responsible for my own business, I do feel there is a very strong team behind me.”

Sarah Robertson, Group Operations Director at TaxAssist Accountants, said: “We’ve welcomed 13 great additions to our network in 2016, while interest in investing in either a new franchise area or purchasing a resale remains strong.

“I would urge anyone considering taking control of their career through franchising to come along to one of our regular discovery days in Norwich, which are incredibly informative, friendly and welcoming. We are always open and honest and would love to have the opportunity to share the business model’s potential with you. The small business target market is huge and with our back up and support, we know how successful you could be.”

TaxAssist Accountants is a multi-award-winning accounting franchise with more than 290 shops and offices in the UK, over 20 in Ireland and 6 locations in Australia. Established in 1995, TaxAssist specialises in providing accounting services to small businesses and individuals.

December 2016

A very big thank you to the many businesses that have completed the survey so far. Your feedback is extremely valuable and we look forward to sharing our findings atour March eventand online. For those that haven’t yet been able to participate, we hope that you can find a few minutes of your time to complete this simple survey. The link for the survey is below, will take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and will close on Friday, 16 December 2016.

https://response.questback.com/moorestephensllp/gxn446w5or

Nor(DEV):con keynote speaker, Saturday 25th Feb

The Technologist’s Guide to HitchhikingSeb Rose

Are you assessed according to the professional development plan you submitted at last year’s appraisal? Where will you be in five year’s time? Have you ever been hitchhiking?

While it’s important to acquire relevant knowledge and skills to further your career, it’s also useful to occasionally reflect on the role that serendipity plays in all our lives. I’m not talking about loosely thought out escapist dreams or delegating your career to a higher power. The best professionals and business people are those that are able to take advantage of opportunities when they arise – something that observers often characterise as luck. If it is luck then, to some extent, we make our own luck.

You may be wondering where hitchhiking comes into this. In part, it’s through the long relationship that technologists have had with the work of Douglas Adams and the number 42. Hitchhiking is also a good metaphor for the development of a career in technology, incorporating all the elements of forecasting and preparation, but combining them with massive unpredictability.

I’ll draw on over 30 years of software development (and hitchhiking) to encourage you to both loosen up and apply yourself.

About Seb Consultant, coach, designer, analyst and developer for over 30 years. Seb has been involved in the full development lifecycle with experience that ranges from Architecture to Support, from BASIC to Ruby. Recently he has been helping teams adopt and refine their agile practices, with a particular focus on collaboration and automated testing.

Seb is the lead author of “The Cucumber for Java Book” (Pragmatic Programmers) and a contributing author to “97 Things Every Programmer Should Know” (O’Reilly). He has written for many online journals, including Agile Connection, Simple Talk and the Prose Garden. He has spoken at dozens of UK and international conferences, including Software Architect (London), XP (Vienna & Rome), Agile 2014 (Orlando), Java One (San Francisco), NDC (Oslo), Agile Testing Days (Potsdam) and Eurostar (Maastricht).

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nordevcon-2017-tickets-26029662421

Are you ready for the coming revolution?Russel Winder

UK school curriculum underwent a revolution as of 2014-09: ITC was replaced with programming (aka computer science). Whilst the change itself was campaigned for, and widely wanted, the way government handled the change left a lot to be desired. Some, but not all, universities and colleges have joined in realising the change and preparing for the consequent revolution in university computer science curriculum, c.2018 onward. Are businesses ready for the knock-on change?

This presentation will delve into some of the most important and/or obvious issues surrounding this world leading experiment in child education.

Ex-academic, Analyst & consultant Russel talks about the important issues surrounding the government’s push for programming in UK schools, and how the way it’s been handled has left a lot to be desired.

From 2015 ICT in UK schools is to be replaced with programming, but the way the government handled the change left a lot to be desired. Russel talks about some of the most important and obvious issues surrounding this world leading experiment in child education.

About Russel Ex-theoretical physicist, ex-UNIX system programmer, ex-academic. Now an independent consultant, analyst, author, expert witness and trainer. Also doing startups. Interested in all things parallel and concurrent. And build.

Actively involved with Groovy, GPars, GroovyFX, SCons, Me TV, and GStreamer. Also Gradle, Ceylon, Kotlin, D, Go, and bit of Rust. And lots of Python, especially Python-CSP.

Full agenda: https://www.nordevcon.com/agenda-2017/

RSVP: https://www.nordevcon.com

Nor(DEV):con keynote speaker, Saturday 25th Feb

From Coda to Code: The SupaPass JourneyJuliana Meyer

Join Norfolk Developers to discover the tech startup story, that began from a bedroom in Norwich with a vision for a more efficient rewarding future for creatives, and has led to a globally recognised tech platform working with artists from major record labels.

About Juliana Juliana Meyer is Founder and CEO of SupaPass, the fair-trade music streaming app. SupaPass gives anyone with a fanbase their own subscription streaming service. Fans subscribe to a specific creator’s channel from £1 per month and creators earn up to 100% net revenue share of their fan subscriptions.

Juliana founded SupaPass to give efficient, fair, transparent revenue from streaming for artists, labels and publishers. Working with global artists like Grammy Award-winning Imogen Heap, SupaPass is exploring cutting edge technology including Blockchain.

Prior to founding SupaPass, Juliana Meyer ran her own label and was an award-winning singer-songwriter, including writing Norfolk’s Official Olympic Song for the 2012 Olympics. She also has a Masters Engineering Degree from Oxford University. One of the first steps in founding SupaPass was co-founding SyncNorwich in order to find and build the team.

Juliana also won the overall award at the 2016 DevelopHER awards.

RSVP: https://nordevcon2017.eventbrite.co.uk

Norfolk Developers are excited to announce their programme for Nor(DEV):con‘s schools day, put together by Paul Foster, Microsoft in consultation with many members of faculty from different schools across Norfolk & Norfolk Developers themselves.

09:00 Arrival/Opening keynote segment (20 Minutes allowing for arrivals)

09.20 Paul Grenyer & Paul Foster Open event

09.25 Keynote- “Whoops”, and other classic programming phases by Dom Davis, (@Idomdavis).

Schools now teach algorithms and programming from the age of 5, so it’s hardly rocket science. Except when it is. And even when it isn’t it goes wrong a lot. I should know, I’ve been responsible for some of that wrongness. The trick is to learn from your mistakes, and to make sure that when it goes wrong, it does so in a way that no one will notice, and definitely not in the ways I’m going to spend this session talking about.

10:00 break

10:25 Guided technology task (2 hour activity)

In this activity students will learn how to blend software and hardware to build a modern digital device. Working in pairs, students will learn how the internet of things uses sensors and actuators to build intelligent feedback systems that can interact with the real world.

12:30 Lunch. (Allocated 1 hour)

Lunch is not provided.

A loop of inspirational technology videos will run during the lunch break to give students further ideas.

13:30 STEM student challenge (3 hour activity)

The STEM Student Challenge aims to help students connect the dots between the STEM subjects they study today and the impact those subjects could have on their ability to be part of the next generation of technology heroes. We invite students to use their knowledge of STEM subjects and marry it with research and creativity to imagine and depict their vision of technology in 2027.

The challenge is open to teams of 4-6 students in years 10 to 13. The challenge is to select one of the following categories and come up with an original technology idea that could exist in that field in 10 years’ time.

• Artificial intelligence and virtual reality
• Data Security
• Healthcare

Students must depict or “pitch” their idea in the form of a two-minute video.

1. Form a team. Teams should be made up of 4-6 students.

2. Choose a category and start imagining! We’re surrounded by technology, whether it’s in our pockets, our homes or our schools, and it’s only going to become more central to our daily lives. Microsoft is working in areas that will change the way we work, play and look after ourselves and we want you to think about how these might look 10 years from now. So choose from one of the categories below, and get to work – come up with an original idea for a future technology. Challenge entries should reflect your team’s creativity and your knowledge of your chosen category.

You are part of the generation that will help bring the technologies of 2027 to fruition, so in doing this challenge, we hope you’ll think more about how you can be part of driving the exciting world of tomorrow’s technology. Each team should choose one category and submit one idea only.

3. Create a video. Create a video that depicts your idea. The tech doesn’t exist yet, so you’ll have to get creative! Make a science show, do a skit, demo a mock up prototype using available materials – just keep it under two minutes. Please make sure that your team is familiar with the judging criteria which you can find in this document.

4. Submit your entry. Upload your video to OneDrive by 16:20

Video Entry Judging Criteria

1. Originality of idea Does the technology idea show creative thinking? Does it stand out from the crowd? Is the idea unique and original?

2. Quality of research methods Have the team shown the research that they have undertaken to lead them to their technology idea? Does the video demonstrate that the team has researched and understood the category they have chosen?

3. Understanding of STEM subjects How well does the video entry demonstrate a sound knowledge in one or more STEM subjects?

4. Quality of presentation and clarity of idea Is the video well presented, clearly describing the future technology idea? Have the team presented their idea in a creative, interesting and entertaining way?

5. Is it feasible? Have the students demonstrated how their technology idea could be possible in the year 2027?

6. Evaluation of the process Have the team demonstrated what they’ve learned from the experience of coming up with their technology idea?

7. Judging will occur after the event with schools being notified of results by the end of February

16:30 Close (dependent on lunch break length and required school departure time)

Pre-Conference Special: Machine Learning & Take the risk out of Digital Marketing

Warm up for the main conference day with the pre-conference special.

Date: Thursday, 23rd February 2017

Time: 5.30pm – 7pm

Location: The King’s Centre, Norwich City Centre

R.S.V.P: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/233466379/

Take the risk out of Digital MarketingMarcus Hemsley Fountain Partnership

In this talk Marcus Hemsley will outline how the most successful Digital Marketing Campaigns minimise risk through accurate forecasting and testing. He will outline the three most important numbers to consider before you take a product or service to market, and discuss the most common mistake businesses make when launching a new marketing campaign. He will conclude the talk by running through the most effective strategies for business growth in 2017.

Machine Learning Darren Cook,QQ Trend

Darren will be speaking about machine learning, specifically with H2O, a fast, scalable, open source machine learning system with APIs in R, Python, CoffeeScript (and quite a few others). After an introduction there will be a live coding session to show using deep learning on a hard machine learning problem. There might even be time for Q&A and to give away a couple of copies of my book: Practical Machine Learning with H2O, published by O’Reilly. All in 30 minutes.

Pre-Conference Dinner

Location: The Library Restaurant, Norwich City Centre

Time: 7.30pm – late

Price: £30 pp

An intimate dinner at a lovely local restaurant, limited to 25 places. Attended by speakers and organisers and affiliated sponsors and guests.

Find the menu here

R.S.V.P: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/233466479/

New Affiliation, New Opportunities

TVC can announce our membership totheNuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC). Consquently, the opportunity to collaboratewith such experienced and innovative organisations is an exciting way to start our New Year.

Expertise and Innovation

The NAMRC works to bring together the pioneering ingenuity of academics with industrial wisdom and capabilities. Owned by theUniversity of Sheffield, they workclosely with The University of Manchester’sDalton Nuclear Institute.NAMRC apply their manufacturing research and knowledge to projectswith Dalton’s nuclear and materials innovation thus formingimpressive partnership.

The Dalton Nuclear Institute is a dominant force in the study of nuclear science and engineering. Commanding the UK’smost advanced academic nuclear research facility, their work is integral toadvancing towards a low-carbon future.

NAMRC also collaborate withHigh Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult. HVM Catapultwork with AMRC with companies such as Boeing, Castings Technology International and AMRC Training Centre. This gives them access to a network of resources of areas of expertise across manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, outstanding research and development facilities connect businesses and academia, enabling opportunities normally unavailable tomany UK companies. Ten Catapult networks operate currently, with plans for 30 more by 2030, ensuring UK manufacturing will grow further still.

HVM Catapult is backed byInnovate UK, an executive non-departmental public body. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Innovate UK work to drive science and technology. Accordingly, they grow the UK economy by working with companies to ‘de-risk, enable and support innovation’. With over 55,000 new jobs created already, UK manufacturing remains strong.

We will be welcoming the NAMRC to our premises next year,

Our latestWomen’s Leadership Programme graduation, run in conjunction with People & Performance, included an extremely inspiring talk from guest speaker Jane Cooke, who shared her top tips on how to propel your career while staying true to your natural style and unique strengths.

Up until recently, Jane was Director People & Organisational Development at Abcam in Cambridge. Having seen the organisation grow from around 40 to 1,000 staff globally, Jane talked passionately about building confidence as a key step to progress into more senior roles. Here’s five of the top tips she shared with the graduates.

1. Always say yes

Saying yes to new challenges will take you out of your comfort zone, but it will also provide new experiences which will help you to develop new skills and to build the confidence needed to develop professionally. The research study ‘Career Playbook Women in Leadership’ found that far more men than women are likely to seek out and say yes to different experiences which stretch their skills and help them to progress.

2. Put yourself forward

As well as saying yes to opportunities, look for opportunities to put yourself out there. Women tend to be more modest than men and are not as confident in speaking up about their ideas, shouting about their successes, networking to raise their profile or putting themselves forward for projects or promotions.

3. Be kind to yourself

Women often set incredibly high standards for themselves and strive for perfection. Allow yourself to make some mistakes and don’t feel guilty about trying to determine a work life balance which works for you. Focus on building your own sense of self-worth and look to learn from others in your industry without unfavourably comparing yourself against them.

4. Remain authentic

Find out what is unique about yourself and work that difference. Don’t be afraid to display the qualities you naturally possess as women often feel under pressure, whether real or imagined, to become something they are not in order to advance their career. An authentic leadership approach inspires loyalty and trust, and will also show others that they can progress without having to become something they are not.

5. Find external mentors and coaches

Finding an external mentor or coach is something women should do sooner rather than later in their careers. As well as providing advice and guidance, a mentor or coach can act as a cheerleader for you. They can remind you of your successes and strengths, help you to break down any doubts and mental limitations and encourage you to venture out of your comfort zone in order to progress.

First established in 2014, Pure runs the Women’s Leadership Programme twice a year in conjunction with strategic HR consultancy People & Performance. The programme includes four days of facilitated learning and two individual coaching sessions, focused on building confidence and a plan, increasing strategic awareness and influence, and being effective and authentic leaders. The first Women’s Leadership Programme of 2017 will take place in January and March. For more information email Lucy Plumb atlucy.plumb@prs.uk.com.

Big hearted staff at Great Yarmouth railway station have raised hundreds of pounds for a local charity by holding a Christmas extravaganza.

Laura Engelstone and Ann Kirkham, who work in the ticket office, organised a fun day with live music by ‘Knotted’, stalls, games, a cake sale and a huge raffle which featured over £700 worth of prizes.

Santa and his elf even made an appearance to give out presents, complete with a sleigh and gingerbread house which were created for him by the students of Great Yarmouth college, who also sold bunches of mistletoe to rail passengers on the day.

The event supported The Beach FM’s charity appeal “Help an East Coast Child”, which is close to the hearts of the station staff and many passengers who pass through the station.

The event raised £418.59 for the appeal which aims to make life better for less privileged children and their families on the East coast through grants and by working with schools, youthgroups, disabled childrenand more.

Greater Anglia’s Area Customer Service Manager, James Reeve, commented, “Ann and Laura pulled out all the stops to put on a fantastic Christmas event which was very popular with customers, but also brought the whole community together in getting behind the ‘Help an East Coast Child’ appeal. I’m amazed by what they have achieved and would like to congratulate them on their fundraising success and thank all the businesses who supported the raffle, as well as the students of Great Yarmouth college, who gave us so much help in the run up to the event and on the day.”