After months of scrupulous checks the Brook Hotel has just been approved to join the Best Western Group. The joining of the group means that not only are we a face you can recognise, you also have the quality assurance that the Best Western brand demands in order to be a part of their program. We hope that this will attract more corporate and leisure guests to the Best Western Brook Hotel here in Norwich which will in turn mean we will be able to employ more staff to boost the local area. We are delighted to have been accepted and look forward to the advantages this will bring. In case you are not aware, the hotel was purchased by new owners just over 3 years ago and has already benefitted from an investment of over £500’000 and this is still continuing! The Hotel not only offers 80 bedrooms but the Brook also boasts a fantastic restaurant open 7 days a week, a lounge and bar with Sky TV and the capability for 6 event rooms or one large suite for up to 200 delegates/guests. If you are interested in coming to have a look around the hotel or have any requirements that you would like to discuss our Sales Manager – Sarah Jones would love to hear from you, call her on 07436 162397 or mail sales@brookhotel.co.uk General Manager – Gareth Stone is always available at the hotel for you to speak to if you are passing and would like to pop in.https://www.brookhotel.co.uk
NORWICH, Tuesday 23rd April 2013 – Cologne Christmas Markets in a Day!
Festive treat in store direct from Norwich!
Those who look to get their Christmas Season off to a ‘flying’ start can look forward to a very special day out in December, with the news that Newmarket Holidays is to operate a day excursion to the great German city of Cologne, with flights direct from Norwich International Airport.
Priced at £339 and including transfers as well as the exclusively chartered flight, the festive day-trip, scheduled for Saturday 7th December 2013, will offer opportunities to explore the historic Rhineland capital that is home to perhaps the world’s most famous Christmas Markets, and to enjoy a festive lunch in one of the city’s famous brewery houses.
Following the early morning flight, the day will include a walking tour of Cologne, with its 2000 years of history. Set beneath the soaring twin-towers of its famous Dom cathedral, the hub of the city is the lovingly restored Old Town, or Altstadt, home to just one of several colourful markets, each with its own characteristics and traditions.
The largest and most varied is held on the ‘Dom Platz’ itself, in the shadow of the cathedral and an almost equally lofty Christmas tree. Over 150 wooden pavilions bustle with trade, and the convivial atmosphere is always added to by the waft of glühwein and the delicious aromas coming from the numerous ‘sweetmeat’ stalls.
Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International said: “We are delighted that Newmarket Holidays has chosen to offer this unique opportunity to visit one of the world’s most famous Christmas markets from Norwich. This day trip offers the region’s travelers a great opportunity to experience the nostalgic festive atmosphere”
For further information please contact Newmarket Holidays on 08743 3161129 or visit www.newmarketholidays.co.uk
The legal aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (the Act) came into force on 1st April 2013. It makes significant and wide ranging changes to the legal aid scheme and removes legal aid alltogether for most aspects of family law.
Are there any areas of family law which will not be affected?
There will be no change to legal aid for injunction proceedings such as non-molestation orders (which are aimed at preventing a person from using or threatening violence, intimidating, harassing, pestering etc) or occupation orders (which regulate whether a person can live in the family home or aim to prevent a person entering the surrounding area.)
Legal aid will also continue to be available for child abduction cases and also in cases concerning forced marriages. There will also be continued assistance for family mediation and separating couples are encouraged to attempt to resolve issues in that way.
Which areas of family law will be affected?
Most other private family proceedings such as divorce, the financial matters relating to divorce and matters relating to children (such as where a child should live or what contact a child should have with the other parent) will be affected. Initial publicly funded advice will only be available to those people who not only meet the previously existing legal aid criteria but who have also been the victim of domestic violence or, in private children proceedings, where the child is at risk of abuse by the other party.
Simply put, if the domestic violence or child abuse criteria cannot be met then a person will be unable to obtain legal aid in connection with a wide range of family law matters such as those set out above.
What constitutes domestic violence?
The definition of domestic violence within the Act has recently been amended to read as follows: “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (whether psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between individuals who are associated with each other”. Therefore domestic violence is no longer limited to physical violence alone.
How to prove domestic violence or child abuse
In order to qualify for legal aid an applicant must provide evidence of the alleged domestic violence or child abuse by the other party.
The Act sets out a number of ways in which domestic violence or child abuse may be evidenced. The scope of this article is unable to list each of those or address them in detail but they broadly include (but are not limited to) circumstances such as; where the other party has an unspent conviction for a domestic violence or child abuse offence, a police caution within the past 2 years for a domestic violence or child abuse offence, is subject to ongoing criminal proceedings for a domestic violence offence or child abuse offence or has been subject to a non-molestation or other relevant injunction within the previous 2 years.
The Act also enables an applicant for legal aid to prove domestic violence or child abuse where there has not been any police or legal involvement. For instance by providing a letter or report from a health professional setting out certain information, a letter or report by social services in respect of domestic violence or child abuse or by providing a letter or report from a domestic violence support agency confirming that within the past 2 years the application was admitted to a refuge for at least 24 hours.
If you are able to prove that you have suffered from domestic violence you may be eligible for legal aid. If you are unable to do so then you are unlikely to be able to claim legal aid to assist you with your family matters.
Where do the changes leave me?
There is clearly now an issue in that people who are unable to prove that they have suffered domestic violence, or in cases of private children proceedings that the child is at risk of abuse, will be unable to obtain legal aid in connection with their family matters.
Cases involving issues such as divorce, finances and children issues are often very complex and many people will understandably feel that they require assistance in navigating both the procedure and the law. Many people will consider that they would be unable to afford legal advice without the assistance of legal aid. However, there are options which should be explored.
Our family team at Leathes Prior offers free initial consultations with clients at which we can discuss your situation, give some initial advice and talk through your options. We can give an estimate of the likely or possible costs of taking a particular course of action to meet your needs. In certain circumstances we may also be able to agree a fixed fee for work or flexible payment options.
GoGo Gorillas is a fantastic art project which will hit the streets of Norwich at the end of June 2013 – for those who remember Go Elephants in 2008 (yes, it really is that long ago!), a colourful, community of Gorillas will take residence on our streets, in our parks and open spaces for local residents, area visitors and tourists to find.
Our Gorilla has been designed by Gillian Kenny and represents NCFC in vibrant, ‘Zingy’, yellow and green.
Find our Gorilla when the trail launches in June, tweet us your pictures posing with our gorilla @ZingInsights for your chance to win some fab prizes – We’re looking forward to seeing some creative posts!
For the second consecutive year Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure), a leading recruitment consultancy in eastern England, has been shortlisted for the Recruitment Firm of the Year Award at the 2013 FDs’ Excellence Awards.
Nominated by a record-breaking 1,380 chief finance officers, financial directors and other senior financial decision makers within the UK’s finance sector, the Excellence Awards applaud service providers including recruitment firms, auditors, business banks and financial software suppliers.
“We are very proud to again make the shortlist for this prestigious awards category,” said Lynn Walters, Director of Pure. “The nomination means a lot to us because it is based on the opinions of our clients. It is a true reflection of our services and it is great to know that our personal approach is highly valued by the people we work with. And, as a regional recruitment consultancy, we are honoured to be shortlisted alongside big players that operate nationally.”
The shortlisted businesses were judged on a range of criteria including business knowledge, innovation and quality of advice. Over the last year, Pure has continued to build on its reputation as an expert in its field by offering clients guidance and information on a variety of subjects, from recruitment and retention to employee engagement.
Pure has always strived to develop new and relevant initiatives within their region that add value. Recent examples include the Senior Finance Forum – a career development network for finance professionals – and Best Employers, Eastern Region – a survey that identifies and promotes the best employers and encourages employee engagement in the East of England.
The ceremony, taking place at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square on May 9th, will be hosted by ICAEW Chief Executive, Michael Izza, and the CBI’s Director-General, John Cridland. Also with comedian Fred MacAulay as compere, it promises to be a superb, entertaining and inspirational event.
To find out more about Pure’s professional recruitment services, contact Anna Hill, Marketing Manager, on: 01223 209888 or Anna.Hill@prs.uk.com. Or visit www.prs.uk.com.
For more information about the FDs’ Excellence Awards and the full shortlist visit: www.fdsawards.co.uk.
Our gardener is out today getting the gardens ready so it looks lovely for you all when you arrive next time you come and see us… we cannot wait until the new hanging baskets arrive, they make the entrance looking beautiful!
We will keep you posted with updates and photos so you can see what is “bloomin” in our gardens this Summer!
Melton Constable, North Norfolk: The Directors of Structure-flex Limited are delighted to confirm that Her Majesty the Queen has approved the Prime Minister’s recommendation that Structure-flex be awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade this year.
The award was conferred on Her Majesty’s Birthday, Sunday 21st April 2013.
Established in 1970, Structure-flex Limited is a subsidiary of Resolute Corporate Holdings Limited, an independent family owned group of companies. It manufactures high frequency welded flexible bulk containers, commercial vehicle curtains, crane testing bags, and liquid tanks. A first time winner of this Award, Structure-flex has increased its export sales by over 250% in the last three financial years.
Whilst Structure-flex Limited has consistently secured a significant proportion of international business within its total trading activity, in recent years its strong links to the worldwide oil and gas sector in particular, have been a key factor in delivering Award winning performance. The main markets are North America, the Middle East and Europe.
The company’s focus continues to be on developing long life products for demanding applications, using sound design, quality and innovation to differentiate itself from its global competition. For example the recent development of 50 tonne and 100 tonne crane test bags has secured a market leading position in what is technically a very demanding world market. In addition the Company has developed business models for using these products which have enabled its trading partners in North America and the Middle East to build significant market share.
In confirming this announcement, Structure-flex’s Ian Doughty said: “It is a huge honour to be selected to receive this prestigious Award against strong competition, and it is a testament to the hard work and commitment put in by our loyal staff to deliver quality products and service to our worldwide customer base. We also appreciate the valued contribution our customers and suppliers have made to our success. At Structure-flex, our strategy has always been to focus on our proven strengths in solutions based product innovation and our continued investment in the latest manufacturing technologies in our core capabilities. This will continue to be the case.”
Ian Doughty went on to say: “In addition to our growth in traditional bulk packaging markets, demand for our digital print commercial vehicle curtains following our substantial investment in this technology last year, continues to increase.”
-ends-
Note to editors: Structure-flex Limited is one of the UK’s most successful providers of specialised packaging solutions to the world’s food, chemical and oil and gas industries, and a leading supplier of vehicle tension curtains.
For further information and enquiries contact:
Matthew Doughty Structure-flex Ltd Tel: 01263 863100
An awful lot of small businesses could be in for a nasty shock unless they start seriously planning for IT upgrades over the next 12 to 24 months. There are many small businesses out there that are still using Windows Small Business Server to run a single server in their organisation, and in many cases it’s quite possibly an aging server. It’s probably running something like Windows Small Business Server 2003. And in their office, they’re probably running Windows XP. According to figures, 35-37% of computers are still running Windows XP, and an awful lot of those are still in businesses.
To give you the facts, Windows Small Business Server 2003 support ends in July of 2015. So you’ve got two years to plan an upgrade. With Windows XP, support ends in a year’s time, in April 2014.
Now, what’s the significance of that? Well, if you’re running a Windows Small Business Server and you want to upgrade, the latest version of Microsoft Windows, that’s Windows Server 2012, there is no equivalent Small Business Server product to what you’re currently using. Windows Server 2012 is available in a couple of different versions. The small business version, if you like. Windows Server 2012 Essentials, is designed for businesses of up to 25 users, and it doesn’t contain an email product. Microsoft are expecting you to combine Windows Server 2012 Essentials with Office 365, which is their hosted email and office product
For businesses larger than 25 users, well you’re stuck with the full version of Windows Server 2012. Again, what Microsoft expects small businesses to do is to combine Windows Server 2012 with an Office 365 subscription.
If you’re a business that is currently using Small Business Server and you have your own onsite email server and you want to be able to do that in Windows Server 2012, you’re going to have to combine a Windows Server 2012 license with a full license for Microsoft Exchange Server with the appropriate user licenses as well. That works out far more expensive than buying a traditional small business server product. So what you’re going to find is there’s going to be an awful lot of businesses who are going to be enticed by the allure and pricing benefits of moving to Office 365.
What may not be immediately obvious is that moving to Office 365 has some hidden upgrade implications of its own – how so? Well Office 365 customers are currently going through an automated upgrade to the latest ‘2013’ versions of the software making up your chosen plan (e.g. Exchange 2013; Lync 2013 etc). For those businesses whose Office 365 plan includes desktop Office software, this means you have to upgrade Office ProPlus on each of your computers to the latest version (confusingly called Office 365 ProPlus – but basically Office 2013). Not so bad? Maybe, oh but did I mention that Office 365 ProPlus requires your computer to be running at least Windows 7? If that isn’t enough – as a final nudge from Microsoft to move you away from your old Windows XP machine – if you don’t upgrade to Office 365 ProPlus by April 8th 2014 your current subscription version of Office will go into a ‘reduced-functionality mode’, effectively preventing you from doing anything but looking at your documents.
Now, Office 2013 can’t be installed on a Windows XP Server or on a Windows XP desktop. So what you’re going to find is there’s an awful lot of businesses out there with old software that are going to have to go through a transition in the next 12 months, of upgrading desktop machines to either Windows 7 or Windows 8 and upgrading their small business server to a Windows Server 2012 product, probably with Office 365.
That’s a great deal of change for most businesses, and they really need to start planning for it now, both in terms of cost and impact. You may be using some applications that aren’t going to work with Office 365. If that’s the case, then you really need to plan for it now.
Contact Breakwater IT if we can help you in any way in relation to these changes. We offer IT Support in Nowich, Norfolk and beyond. Call us now 01603 709300
The Brook Hotel, Norwich has recently appointed a new management team to get the Hotel on the map as one of Norfolk’s finest! Gareth Stone and Sarah Jones join forces to make this happen…
Gareth Stone joined the Hotel at the end of 2012 as General Manager, Gareth has always worked in the Hotel industry and has a chain/branded hotel background offering a very structered way of working which is sure to see the Hotel’s already highly improved standards continuing to climb! Gareth has already seen great improvements in the bedrooms, restaurant and conferencing standards.
Sarah Jones joined this month as Sales Manager, Sarah has worked in the Hotel and Sales industries since school and has a background in smaller privately owned hotels with some corporate sales training from some time in Estate Agency. Sarah plans to get the hotel on the map and everyone talking about it.
“The Brook Hotel has some really great features with a beautifullounge bar andrestaurant, capability of up to 6 event suites or one large suite for up to 200 people, gardens and of course the bedrooms and not enough people know about themand take advantage of this lovely hotel which is ideally situated for the A47, city centre and Norwich International Airport”
The owners who purchased the hotel 3 years ago have already invested over £500’000 and there is still more being done… so watch this space!
Special Offer . . . sponsor a corporate duck in the Grand Norwich Duck Race in August for just £80. . . normal price£100.
This is a great opportuity to promote your organisation to over 1,00 people and other corporates. You can provide your banner for thebanks of the River Wensum, outside the Ribs of Beef Public House, and we hvae a strong presence on facebook and twitter where we will aslo promote your involvement.
We provide you with everything you need – you get a large duck to decorate as you wish and acrylic paints – but you just need imagination!
If you are an SME with aspirations to save money through energy, water or waste efficiency measures or technologies then the Grants4Growth programme can help. A much wider range of interventions then you perhaps think can potentially be funded including;
New heating systems
New lighting units
Building fabric improvement
Fenestration upgrades
Fleet and vehicle replacements
New plant and machinery, and much more
If there is a more efficient alternative to what is currently in use then it is likely that funding can be made available to assist with the capital expenditure.
Equally if you are a Low Carbon and Environmental Products and Services SME company then a small revenue grants fund is available to assist with marketing and promotional activities.
Both ERDF funding streams are subject to eligibility criteria and approval of a Grants Panel. Grants of up to 28% for capital expenditure and up to 30% revenue expenditure are available. Typical grants range from £1,000 to anything up to £20,000 depending on the total cost and whether jobs are secured and created as result.
Specialist Business Brokers are employed by the programme to assist SME’s with checking their eligibility and suitability, and completing the application forms required.
Within the first 8 weeks of the programme businesses have already benefited and many others are in the process of applying for grants. The programme runs until 31st March 2015.
If you are not sure whether your proposed investment qualifies or just want to know what we can fund then please get in touch for an informal chat. If suitable then one of our Busines Brokers can come and see you and talk you through the simple application process.
Patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions in Norfolk are set to get more support following the opening of a new centre.
Officials and supporters from the Norwich and district branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society gathered yesterday for an open day at their new base, which will provide a range of support, treatment and therapy services. The official opening of the £250,000 centre, near Norwich International Airport, follows 12 years of fundraising by volunteers and an extensive search to find larger premises in the Norwich area. The facility replaces the branch’s cramped headquarters in Witard Road and was funded solely on local fundraising and donations. Officials from the MS Society branch hope to double their membership, which currently stands at 400 people from across Norfolk, with the opening of the centre at Iceni Court in Alkmaar Way, which has consulting and therapy rooms as well as educational facilities and a meeting place. Diane Proctor, head of service development at the MS Society branch, said the centre would make a huge difference to patients, particularly when a stair lift is installed and the first floor of the building is fully operational. “It has taken so long and I am absolutely thrilled. “We have built some strong relationships with colleagues at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and colleagues at social services so patients get the best deal,” she said. The venue was officially opened by Jeff Cochius, clinical director of neurology at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with Norwich’s Lord Mayor Ralph Gayton also attending. Dr Cochius said the last 12 years had been a “roller coaster” of emotions for the volunteers and it had been a “monumental task” to get the centre opened. The centre received the support of Norfolk adult social services, MS Society, Norfolk and Waveney NHS, and Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust. For more information, contact the centre on 01603 488561 or email mscentrenorwich@gmail.com.