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Pioneering technology to be trialled in Leeds Delivering carbon neutral manufacturing COVER STORY

Georgia HALSTON

Serial entrepreneur

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This issue

Group Editor Gill Laidler

Design

Rob Blackwell

Business Executive Mandy Taylor

Associate editor Ed Asquith

Distribution Manager James Longbottom

Official Photographers

Roth Read Photography

Legal Matters

Ramsdens Solicitors Chadwick Lawrence

Recruitment Stafflex

ADMINISTRATOR

Charlotte Hall

Cover : Georgia Halston Image : Roth Read Photography - https://rothreadphotography.com

Barclays Bank

Delivering carbon neutral manufacturing

page

Georgia Halston A serial entrepreneur

page

Dubit raises $8m for sports events

page

Pioneering technology to be trialled in Leeds

page

Bridlington returns to the spotlight

page

Printed By: Charlesworth Press Wakefield

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Banking

18 26 61 62 76

workplace innovation Tim Guest

To Partner TopicUK

Tel: 07711 539047 editor@topicuk.co.uk

The views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those held by the publishers and therefore, no responsibility can be held by the publisher for misinterpretation. Reproduction of this magazine without the express permission of the publisher is prohibited.

Whilst every care is taken in the production of this magazine, the publisher/editor and staff cannot accept any responsibility for errors in articles, advertisements or programme schedules. To subscribe to this magazine contact 07711 539047 or email editor@ topicuk.co.uk. Published by Ghost Publishing Limited, . Law pages are written by Chadwick Lawrence & Ramsdens Solicitors LLP and TopicUK is not responsible for any advice given.

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Editors notes

By group editor Gill Laidler As we close another year, I must admit I am looking forward to taking a short break over the festive season.

Things have been rather hectic since the lockdowns have lifted and there seems to be more events and parties than ever before.

Thinking of short breaks, on our motoring pages we feature the Nugget Camper which inspired me to book my own camper, so I will be taking to the road in early Summer for a few days, I will let you know how I get on with that. In the meantime, have a look at the article, it might just inspire you to head for the open road too.

Our cover features Georgia Halston from Halston Marketing, Georgia is a true entrepreneur and is on the edge of something very special. Read her story on page 26.

This edition we also feature another lady entrepreneur Hazel Savage.

Hazel co-founded her music business and in early 2022 will become the first tenant in the new Tileyard North, being developed in Wakefield. As TopicUK partners, we can’t wait to pay a visit to what is going to be an amazing creative space in the city.

For the past two years we have supported Wakefield Hospice with free promotional space. Although we will continue to help where we can,

we now welcome our new annual charity, The Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice. Based in Huddersfield, the hospice supports children and their families across West Yorkshire, and we will be bringing you their news and updates.

I would like to offer my c o n g ra t u l a t i o n s to Wa ke f i e l d businessman Sir Rodney Walker who has been awarded the Freeman of the City of London. Sir Rodney has been a huge supporter of TopicUK over the eight years we have been publishing. Do read his story on page 55, I was exhausted just reading about his achievements over the years.

I would like to welcome two new partners joining us for 2022. Ventur the prestige travel company in Harrogate and Kirklees Council.

Contents & Comments

EDITORS NOTES

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our partners and readers, a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Until next time

Gill TopicUK December 2021

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NG Bailey welcomes latest cohort of apprentices NG Bailey, the UK’s largest independent engineering and services business, has welcomed 32 new apprentices to the company. The apprentices will be joining teams across the UK in roles of electrical, mechanical and technical specialisms, as well as a number of businessbased roles.

The company offers 20 different types of apprenticeship in total.

From site-based to office based, the apprenticeships prepare people for their career by offering extensive experience in their chosen field. The apprenticeships offer the opportunity for apprentices to work on wide a range of projects and in some cases set them up for other qualifications, such as a RICS accredited training scheme.

NG Bailey has a long history of providing successful apprenticeships, having welcomed 5,700 apprentices since 1934. Many of the company’s apprentices have won national and industry awards and progressed into senior management positions. This commitment to training the next

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generation continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as the company continued to recruit for its apprenticeship programme. The company’s 2020/21 apprentices have just successfully completed their apprenticeship programme and attended their graduation ceremony alongside their fellow graduates and their families.

Frank Clayton, group head of learning explained: “Our apprenticeship programme is something we’re really proud of. We’re a member of The 5% Club, a group of companies committed to increasing the number of apprentices and graduates in the workforce. We’ve also been recognised as a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer by the

Government which is testament to our great history of training apprentices and enabling them to go on to have long and successful careers.

“We’ve just congratulated our latest graduates, who remained dedicated and determined, and continued to conduct themselves with true professionalism during the COVID pandemic to complete their apprenticeship on time. We now welcome our latest cohort and look forward to supporting them as they start their careers with us.”

David Keil, a quantity surveyor apprentice, discussed his apprenticeship so far saying: “My apprenticeship has enabled me to

learn a lot from my colleagues who have huge amounts of experience and knowledge. NG Bailey is known for encouraging further education and promotion from within, so, if you’re willing to grasp the opportunity an apprenticeship gives you, then as clichéd as it may sound, the sky really is your limit.”

A recent apprentice programme success story comes from Jess Baker, heating and ventilation apprentice who advocates for women in construction apprentices. Jess has recently been shortlisted in the Apprentice of the Year (over 21) category at the H&V News Awards. Talking about the achievement, Jess said: “I enjoy that every single day is different. I’m really thankful to NG Bailey for the opportunity to train in heating and ventilation within a role where I’m constantly on the go and always have a task to do.

I can see myself becoming more and more confident in my ability every day, and from knowing very little at the start, I can now install entire floors and areas of pipework and valve set-ups independently.”

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With four new recruits Interiors firm continues to expand Fast-growing Yorkshire interiors, architecture and design business Richard Grafton Interiors, which has showrooms in Harrogate, Ilkley and Wetherby, is continuing to expand with another four recruits joining the 25-strong team.

Ellie Severn joins as ecommerce and marketing assistant having previously worked for local property developer MODA where she assisted with administrative and marketing work. In her new role, she will be working alongside recently promoted brand director Charlotte Grafton to further develop the business’ social media platforms and build its ecommerce platform to become a ‘fourth showroom’ for the business.

Catherine Fryer takes up the role of project coordinator, joining from Asda’s head office in Leeds where she was a home textiles buyer. She will assist Richard Grafton Interiors’

11-strong team of designers with the coordination and fulfilment of architectural and interiors projects, ensuring the company’s standard is consistent as well as improving communication across all of its showrooms as the business expands.

In addition, Michelle Wilson will boost the business’s accounts function. AAT qualified, she will work as an accounts assistant, helping the existing accounts team with day-to-day invoice management and purchasing for all interiors and architectural projects, having held similar roles in the hospitality sector.

Finally, Shaun Sutton joins the Harrogate team as warehouse assistant, having worked in

warehousing across various sectors, most recently in interior design and retail. With further growth expected, he will support the business’ warehouse manager and be responsible for all showroom stock and e-commerce orders.

of our successful e-commerce platform, we now need to invest in people to ensure we have the right team in place to support our designers and front-of-house advisers and to facilitate our next phase of growth.”

“With our ability to offer all services and products under one roof, we’ve enjoyed an extremely busy 18 months as increasing numbers of people have turned to us to manage their home renovation projects, large and small,” explains Richard Grafton.

“We’ve seen a move to more projectled work with a growth in demand for our bespoke cabinetry and bathroom installations in particular as we have become better known for this type of turnkey work.

Charlotte, who is working closely with Richard to drive business strategy, added: “The skills of our four new recruits will be a welcome boost with Ellie helping drive our online presence, Catherine supporting the designers’ interiors and architectural projects, Michelle stre ngthe ning the accounts team and Shaun adding to our warehouse function. By investing in strengthening the team now, we will be in a solid position to support future growth, driven by our showrooms and ecommerce offering.”

“The showrooms also remain very popular, and, with the addition

TopicUK December 2021

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A Harrogate travel agent is celebrating a return to travel as it rebrands and plans a relocation to Montpellier Parade.

Ventur Luxury Travel, which was formerly known as Traveltalk and based on Leeds Road, is moving to the town centre location in January as it celebrates its new identity amidst government announcements that more destinations will be removed from England’s red list.

Founded in Harrogate more than 35 years ago, the travel agent specialises in luxury package holidays tailored to customers’ needs, from bespoke honeymoon packages to solo adventure holidays and family beach trips, managing everything from travel, accommodation and in-destination touches.

Backed by the Evans family of the Evans Property Group in Leeds, it joins the Ventur group which also includes the firm’s corporate travel arm. Focusing on business, professional sport and group travel via its Leeds and Edinburgh offices, this too underwent a rebrand in spring 2021, to better align itself with its customers and the consultative service it provides.

Katherine Scott, manager at Ventur Luxury Travel, said: “We are incredibly excited to be sharing the Ventur experience with our customers and to be celebrating our new home on Montpellier Parade. Everyone knows it’s been a tough year for the travel industry but we’re proud to make such a statement with this move – we’re stronger than ever! It’s wonderful to be moving to a more prime location while continuing to offer our customers the high-toucholiday booking experience they’ve come to know and love.

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“We’re stronger than ever” says Harrogate travel agent “As more travel restrictions ease our customers are busy booking winter breaks and planning well into 2022; they know they can trust our team with creating their dream holidays with all the perfect finishing touches – whether that’s finding just the right private dining experience to celebrate a special occasion or ensuring all the details are taken care of for a seamless trip.”

Ventur Luxury Travel will open its doors on Montpellier Parade in January.

Paul Millington, CEO of Ventur, said: “It’s an exciting time for Ventur Luxury Travel and we’ve seen from the increase in customer enquiries over Autumn that the appetite to travel is certainly there.

While we’ve undertaken a rebrand, customers can be reassured it’s the same excellent service they’ve been receiving for many years – and with our upcoming move to Montpellier Parade, we’ll be even better placed to serve the people of Harrogate in creating their dream travel experiences.”

Traveltalk will rebrand to Ventur Luxur y Travel in January 2021. To find out more, contact 01423 872 516, visit www.gotraveltalk.com or head in-store 63 Leeds Road, Harrogate.

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CityFibre partners with Geeks Room CiC to support digital inclusion

CityFibre has teamed up with Leeds community interest group, Geeks Room CiC, to provide equipment, including laptops and monitors, to support a new programme helping older students gain employment.

Geeks Room CiC provides an alternative environment to the traditional school, with children (aged 8-18) given the opportunity to learn through gaming (known as Game Education) and practical lessons. Its inclusive approach is intended to pull down barriers and ensure children with differing abilities and needs feel valued, connected to others and able to make positive contributions to the group and wider community.

The team’s inclusive centre is host to a range of courses, including coding clubs, technical classes and

design workshops. The partnership with CityFibre has enabled them to expand the programme, including additional support for older students (aged 16-25) to help develop employability, educational, social and life skills.

Kim Johnston, regional partnership director, CityFibre, said: “Digital exclusion is such a major challenge for people in the region, so helping these leading initiatives that enable access and build confidence is very important to us as we work to bring future-proof connectivity to Leeds.

“We’re delighted to support the essential work of Geeks Room CiC in helping young individuals that may fall through the gaps of traditional education, by building their confidence and abilities through tech and gaming.”

B e c k y We t h e r i l l , h e a d of Management and communication at Geeks Room CiC, added: “At Geeks Room CIC, we want a future where a child’s ambitions are never limited by their circumstances and learning styles.

“We believe in applying our passion and dedication to each and every young person who steps through our doors,

as well as striving to make every person’s experience the most nourishing and enjoyable that we can. Technology donations play an essential role in this and we are grateful for CityFibre’s support as we expand our offering even further to help students gain employment.”

Geeks Room CiC, based in Armley, is in the build area of CityFibre’s state-of-the-art full fibre roll-out, meaning its residents will soon be able to access the fastest, most reliable connectivity available.

Construction of the network formally began in 2019 and upon completion, it will be in reach of nearly every home and business in the town.

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OSL Cutting Technologies receives prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise

The Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, Andrew Coombe, visited the Sheffield based factory of leading manufacturer OSL Cutting Technologies to present the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category.

The Lord Lieutenant was given a tour of the manufacturing facilities by head of manufacturing operations Chris Parkin and recent regional winner of Make UK’s Apprentice of the year award Freddie McDonnell.

The royal Grant of Appointment scroll, and a commemorative crystal bowl was received by OSL Group CEO Matthew Grey and OSL Group MD Stuart Adams at a reception which also took place

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at OSL’s factory on Burgess Road in Sheffield.

Now in their 55th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses

and organisations which excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunities.

Established in 2015 and boasting

offices across Europe & the USA, OSL Cutting Technologies is one of the 205 organisations nationally, to have received the recognition which is considered to be the highest official UK awards for British businesses.

Lawyer becomes associate member of disputes association Lawyer Kelly G il bert has become an associate member of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS).

Senior solicitor Kelly works in the dispute resolution team at Lupton Fawcett, advising clients involved in personal and commercial disputes.

She has completed a two-year course to become an associate m e m b e r o f A C TA P S w h i c h provides a forum for lawyers w h o s p e c i a l i s e i n d i s p u te s regarding wills, trusts and probate.

Kelly specialises in several areas of dispute resolution including contentious probate, Inheritance

Tax claims and partnership and shareholder disputes.

She said: “I’m thrilled to have become an associate member of ACTAPS which will enable me to share experience and knowledge with other dispute resolution specialists, thereby providing up-to-date, high-quality advice to clients.”

Now able to use the globally recognised emblem for the next five years, the prestigious award comes in recognition of OSL Cutting Technologies position as a global leader in the design and manufacture of cutting tools.

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Yorkshire Water partners with Leeds agency to launch ‘genuinely customercentric’ experience

Employing more than 100 people its brands include Rotabroach, GJ Halls, Taylor & Jones and Unibor. In 2019 the business also announced the acquisition of Universal Drilling.

and support they need from us,” explained Andrew Bush, digital communications manager and product owner at Yorkshire Water.

“These changes have helped do that as we’ve seen a substantial reduction in customers contacting us about their bills in the first three months since launching the new website,” continued Andrew. “Crucially, we also have a wealth of new digital data that will help us continue to make customer experiences better and further reduce the need for them to get in touch.

Speaking of the award OSL Group CEO, Mathew Grey, said: “To have received the award is a real honour.

It was a privilege to share this with our team, who have made winning this possible.

“We are proud to represent Sheffield as the only business to have won the award within the city this year, as well as the only to win the international trade category, it feels great to continue to represent its industrial heritage in a modern light.

“Having a prestigious award behind us as we represent Sheffield in international markets will help us to grow our footprint and drive us to higher levels of excellence.

Company of the Month

Yorkshire Water recently undertook a project to improve its services for more than five million customers as part of its digital transformation.

Working in partnership with Leeds-headquartered strategic communications agency CDS,

Yorkshire Water’s digital platform has already reduced the number of people getting in touch with the company about their bills by 20%, by making it easier for customers to pay bills, update their addresses, and access financial support online.

CDS’s nine-month overhaul of Yorkshire Water’s digital footprint included futureproofing its website by rebuilding it. The latest version of the content management system adds flexibility and enables Yorkshire Water to deliver a better user experience.

The project reflects Yorkshire Water’s commitment to providing more efficient, customer-focused and inclusive services. “We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to get the help

“More importantly, Yorkshire Water has a detailed playbook that includes ten accessible and inclusive communication and design principles that we can use to underpin improvements to our digital services for years to come – this sets us up to really enhance the experience customers have with us.”

The project exemplifies client and agency collaboration – with the hybrid team comprising of 14 specialists from CDS and eight inhouse experts. The website build was centred around shifting Yorkshire Water away from a legacy system – that restricted its ability to give customers a better digital customer experience – and towards a solution which worked for each one the firm’s unique customer personas, user patterns, habits, and behaviours.

The new website is now a platform for growth and development and is a game-changing enabler for Yorkshire Water’s future.

TopicUK December 2021

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Christmas is back, bigger and better at The Piece Hall The Piece Hall is bringing the festive cheer back to Halifax this winter with an exciting programme of events to make sure there is something for everyone this Christmas.

During November and December, more than 40 events will take place at the Grade I-listed cultural venue including star-studded music performances; a winter makers market; a special Father Christmas experience; and cinema sessions featuring Christmas favourites and sing-along classics.

Setting the scene for a magical season, the venue’s 66,000 sq ft courtyard will be transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with a spectacular 30 ft Christmas tree and traditional carousel.

A host of big-name performances are scheduled for the giant circus-style ‘Spiegeltent’ which is returning to the courtyard. These include Ibiza legend Ellie Sax who is back at The Piece Hall after two sell-out summer shows. Also, following New Order’s highly-acclaimed live gig this September, legendary drummer Stephen Morris and DJ Dave Haslam will be talking life, music, inspiration and best-selling books, before playing some of their favourite tunes.

independent trading heritage, bringing in some of the region’s favourite independent craft stalls, artisan makers and pop-up food and drink stalls for two weekends of traditional winter fun.

Children can also enjoy a magical journey of storytelling and imagination in a speciallycreated Christmas experience which leads them through an enchanting interactive tour of The Piece Hall, culminating with an opportunity to meet Father Christmas himself.

Taking place from 19 November 2021 to 31 December 2021, some of the key dates in the festive diary include: •

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• Meanwhile, the Winter Makers Markets will capture the essence of The Piece Hall’s

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Father Christmas comes to The Piece Hall – 4; 5; 11; 12; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24 December Legendary New Order drummer Stephen Morris in conversation with DJ and author Dave Haslam - 9 December 1940’s and 1950’s dance music artists, Jump, Jive and Wail – 11 December

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Buzzcocks plus support – 11 December

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International jive and swing band, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys – 12 December

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Sheffield ukulele parody band, Everly Pregnant Brothers – 15 December

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Premier Yorkshire brass band, Elland Silver Band – 19 December

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Hacienda legend Graeme Park - 19 December

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The Best of Clinton Baptiste – 20 December

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The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club – 21 December

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Award-winning Abba tribute band, Abba Revival – 29 December

ever this year. It’s a time to share with family and friends and remember those who are no longer with us. We want to get back to the true spirit of Christmas, so we’re celebrating kindness, caring, generosity and gratitude but we’ll also be in the party mood and up for some good old fashioned fun.

“We’ve got a wonderful programme linedup for a magical Christmas including the Winter Makers Market, the Father C hristmas storytelling experience, Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, Chief Executive w reath making and kids craft at The Piece Hall Trust, said: “Christmas is back at The Piece Hall and we can’t wait. workshops. And in the fantastic circusIt’s such a special time and more so than s t y l e S p i e g e l t e n t t h e r e a r e s h o w s For a full list of Christmas events head to thepiecehall.co.uk

from Ibiza legend Ellie Sax and a Q and A with New Order’s Stephen Morris with more big-name announcements coming soon.

We want to make sure this festive season is really special for everyone.”

Tickets for all events are now on sale. For more information, please visit https:// www.thepiecehall.co.uk/support-us/ become-a-member The Piece Hall wants everyone to enjoy Christmas safely and will continue to ask all ticket holders aged 11 years and over to show their COVID status upon entry.

TopicUK December 2021

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Chris Harris awarded Lifetime Achievement Award at The Calderdale Community Spirit Awards 2021

including being a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Calderdale NHS, being a Non-Executive Director for Yorkshire Bank, was awarded the Paul Harris Award through Rotary, and is a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.

The Calderdale Community Spirit Awards ended in a c r e s c e n d o aw a r d i n g Chris Harris the Lifetime Achievement Award 2021.

Chris Harris was a Co-founder of the Community Foundation 30 years ago and started with just a plastic garden chair and table and has played a huge part in getting CFFC to where they are now with an endowment fund of £13.2 million.

Steve Duncan commented, “It’s very fitting that Chris should receive this award as The Community Foundation celebrates our 30th anniversary as she has contributed so much. There are 46 Community Foundations in the UK, and we rank the 5th in terms of endowment pot and population. Chris has worked tirelessly to contribute to where we are today and she should be proud to have created something so successful.

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Eddisons grows team machinery valuations specialist Abbie Hickman.

Property consultancy Eddisons has strengthened its presence in South Yorkshire with its new Sheffield office, featuring a 13-strong team of property professionals.

Earlier this month Eddisons’ acquisition of long-established S h e f f i e l d f i r m o f c h a r te re d surveyors, Fernie Greaves saw additional colleagues join the firm’s South Yorkshire operation. Further hires are planned for the coming months as the consultancy, which is already one of the region’s largest property consultancies, grows its presence in Sheffield.

Eddisons’ operation in the city.

Adrian was joined earlier this year by former LSH colleagues James Dale, who heads Eddisons’ Sheffield valuations team, and plant and

This summer, in a major win for the firm, Eddisons was appointed as a supplier to the Government’s £500m Crown Commercial Service estate management services

The team is headed by director Adrian Lunn, who left his role as Lambert Smith Hampton’s regional director for South Yorkshire and the East Midlands to establish

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framework, enabling the business to provide property support services to the public sector.

Adrian said: “It’s exciting that we are playing an instrumental role in the major changes that are happening in South Yorkshire as regeneration projects take shape and Sheffield becomes an even better city in which to live and work.

“We have hit the ground running: having only launched the new office at the start of the year we are already working with a diverse range of clients in the region, including banks, universities, local authorities and government departments.”

L-r: Eddisons Sheffield team members George Thomson. James Dale, Adrian Lunn, Paul Oddy and Stephanie Brooks

Huddersfield BID appoints new digital marketing agency Huddersfield BID, a notfor-profit organisation, first appointed Beanie Media in February 2021 to manage the content development, scheduling and audience engagement of their sub brand, Hello Huddersfield.

The acquisition of Ne wman & Bond, which provides reside ntial and comme rcial property advice, family l aw a n d w i l l s , p r o b a te a n d estate planning, complements and stre ngthe ns Ridle y and Hall’s service offering as well as extending its geographic reach.

The deal sees Jane Munden and Jill Leece joining Ridley and Hall as partners along with the rest of the 15-strong Barnsley firm, to work alongside family, property and private client law colleagues.

The team will continue to be based at its premises in Church Street, Barnsley.

office in Leeds in 2018 as well as organic growth as the number of client has kept rising.

This follows the acquisition of Pontefract firm Bashforth Young in 2019 and the opening of an

Emma Pearmaine, managing director said: “Newman & Bond has established a strong reputation as a prospect companies on a strategic level.

Stafflex announce new team leader promotions Award winning local recruitment agency Stafflex has appointed three new team leaders as it continues restructuring plans for the next phase of its growth strategy.

Stafflex has seen four new management promotions, with Donna Blezzard promoted to the

sales team leader, Aiden Wood promoted to office team leader and Poppy Stahelin appointed as education team leader.

Donna Blezzard will be responsible for driving the team’s sales activity and client acquisition including b u i l d i n g re l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h

Aiden Wood continues to expand the client base supporting local businesses with office based staffing requirements. Aiden has been instrumental in growing the desk over the last 18 months and the plans to bolster the team are now under way.

Poppy Stahelin joined Stafflex in 2013 initially as a receptionist and having made the career move switch to the education team as a consultant a number of years ago has now been promoted to team leader. In her new role, she will have added responsibilities managing the team and implementing business development strategy.

ADVERTORIAL specialist, independent firm, and its services are a great fit with Ridley & Hall, further strengthening our family, private client and property law expertise. Like us, they are long-established, are known for the quality of their work and also provide legal aid services.

“This latest acquisition continues our strategy of joining forces with like-minded firms in other parts of the region who share our focus on providing outstanding and affordable legal advice.”Jill Leece comments: “We are really pleased to join Ridley and Hall. Jane and I both consider this to be a fantastic opportunity for our people and our clients, all of whom will benefit from being part of a larger firm who share our values and dedication to quality legal services.”

Picture (R to L): Melissa Roberts, Director of Beanie Media, Sam Sharp, Huddersfield BID Manager, Sherree Atkinson, Business Liaison Officer at Huddersfield BID, Anna Coleman, Social Media Executive at Beanie Media Brian Stahelin, managing director said: “We are delighted to recognize the contributions made by Donna, Aiden and Poppy following their hard work and determination throughout such a challenging period for our business. “ We b e l i e v e t h e s e n e w appointments will boost performance across all teams improving the candidate and client customer experience as well as reinforcing our strong values and commitment to upskilling and developing Stafflex employees.”

Stafflex is a local family run business that provides thousands of quality workers each year to the education, office, industrial and engineering sectors throughout West Yorkshire.

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Yorkshire recruitment agency secures fiveyear lease on Brighouse headquarters Th e f a s t- g ro w i n g Yo r k s h i re firm was established in 2016 and specialises in supporting companies based all over the UK with their staffing requirements — and working across a variety of sectors including industrial and warehouse, automotive, construction and engineering, finance, sales and marketing, office support, and logistics management, to name a few.

Recruitment group Venatu has expanded its West Yorkshire network and signed a five-year lease on a 2,200 sq ft suite within the recently refurbished Parkview House — part of Woodvale Office Park in Brighouse — which is owned and managed by commercial lettings specialist and landlord, Towngate PLC.

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The company — whose headquarters lie in Doncaster city centre — required an additional space to meet and interview candidates as well as house the four-strong West Yorkshire team.

Suite 1A is a modern, open space comprising natural stone features and a contemporary open canteen

area. The space forms part of two units within the first floor of Parkview House — a former silk mill which was built in the 1800s.

Speaking of the move, branch manager of Venatu, Nicky Battye said: “We had been searching for a suitable office to facilitate further growth for the company, and after viewing the Parkview House suite, we jumped at the opportunity to move into the premises.

“This partnership with Towngate PLC is an ideal match, which will give us the space we need to continue de veloping our organisation.”

Julia Ford, marketing manager at Towngate PLC, added: “We are thrilled to be able to welcome Venatu to the Woodvale Office Park. The space fits the team’s needs perfectly and we very much look forward to working with them over the years to come.”

ADVERTORIAL being developed to solve an existing problem.

Mette Lykke, for instance, decided to use technology to tackle an issue that has a huge impact globally - food waste. In order to tackle this problem, Mette developed the Too Good To Go app which lets users buy and collect food from restaurants, hotels, shops and manufacturers which would otherwise have gone to waste. The app has more than 40 million active users in 15 international markets and has saved more than 80 million meals from going to waste.

Digital heroes are improving our lives with new tech In a world where technology has become central to our lives, many of us have apps, platforms, and digital services that we rely on every day. Whether it makes daily tasks easier, or helps us take care of our health, much of this technology is a force for good. And, behind each of these digital innovations are the individuals who came up with the ideas and design, although, more often than not, you won’t know their names.

For example, with 30 million users across 190 countries it’s likely you have heard of the app Headspace, but have you heard of its designers Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson? The two men created the app to help people access meditation to improve their mental health. Andy and Richard are just one example of the digital heroes who are working to improve people’s lives through digital technology and connectivity.

While we celebrate some of our digital heroes, we must also recognise the role connectivity plays as an enabler. Reliable

connectivity ensures that people can access this fantastic technology where and when they need it. That’s why CityFibre is working to deliver its multimillion-pound investment in their full fibre network rollout here in in Yorkshire, bringing fast, reliable connectivity within reach of almost every home and business locally.

Our full fibre network will future-proof towns and cities across the UK and ensure that as new connected technologies and digital tools emerge, everyone can access them. But where is this innovation coming from? In many cases new technology is

Another example is WorryTree, which was designed by Louise Stevenson as a way of helping her anxiety. The app uses Cognitive Behaviour Therapy processes to help users manage stress.

There are so many others we could mention, including those behind the most used platforms on the planet such as - Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who created YouTube and Brian Acton and Jan Koum who founded WhatsApp. This is just a snapshot of some of the many digital heroes whose new technology is having an immeasurable impact on the world.

With the constant development of new technology, the potential it has to change our lives is endless, but what remains constant is the role of digital connectivity as an enabler, and our full fibre rollout here in Yorkshire will ensure everyone can benefits from our digital hero’s innovations.

To find out when you can connect visit: www.cityfibre. com/gigabit-yorkshire

TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E

Cranswick delivers carbon neutral manufacturing

Cranswick plc moves closer to its vision to become the world’s most sustainable meat business by reaching a major goal certifying 14 of its UK manufacturing sites as carbon neutral. The business has worked collaboratively from boardroom to shop floor to reduce its relative Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 18% in the last financial year.

Our ambition is to become the world’s most sustainable meat business...

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To achieve this milestone, it has invested in a raft of measures across its sites to rapidly reduce emissions, including efficiency projects, clean energy investments and waste reduction initiatives across its entire network.

Jim Brisby, chief commercial officer commented on the achievement: “Our ambition is to become the world’s most sustainable meat business, but this goal is about action, not just words. It is crucial

that all food manufacturers work together to recognise their role in tackling the climate crisis. We have led the way by signing up to Science Based Targets, committing to halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching Net Zero by 2040, but we can’t make a difference on our own.

“Tackling climate change isn’t easy. We have made significant changes to the way we operate our business, from how we source our feed, power our sites and reduce our waste. We have a long way to go, but I’m proud of our teams who have embraced climate action with such vigour and helped us reach this first step of carbon neutral manufacturing.

“We will continue to invest in decarbonisation

N E W S U P D AT E programme for all senior leaders with over 150 CPD certified team members, including all Board members. It has also established Net Zero governance teams at every site, which help the UK economy provide the ‘green skills’ required to support the Government’s target to deliver Net Zero by 2050.

In a combined pork and poultry industry first, it has confirmed the verification of 100% certified deforestation-free soya feed, which will result in a 21% reduction in carbon compared to the previous system.

As part of its action to reduce emissions in Scope 3 - the area which provides the greatest opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint – the business continues to focus on reducing the impact of soya used in their animal feed and is committed to improving the sustainability of the supply chain.

and collaborate across the sector to play our part in the critical transition to a resilient, low-carbon world.”

Cranswick’s action on climate change has been embedded across all areas of the business, and it is one of the only UK food manufacturers to have set an approved 1.5 degree aligned Science Based Target (SBTi) across Scope 1 (direct), 2 (power-related) and 3 (indirect) to reduce emissions by 50% across its entire value chain by 2030.

Cranswick has recognised that tackling climate change is everyone’s responsibility and has invested in a Climate Leadership upskilling

The business works collaboratively throughout the supply chain and believe the commitment to the full mass balance system will encourage other businesses across the industry to step up and build on current activities being driven by the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soya, The Soya Transparency Coalition (of which Cranswick are founding members) and the CGF Forest Positive Coalition Soy Roadmap. The business supports the Amazon Soy Moratorium and is a signatory to the Cerrado Manifesto.

In addition to the supply chain measures outlined above, Cranswick continue to focus on soya reduction and replacement within the procurement of animal feed. In pig feed, the soya inclusion rate has been reduced from 16% to below 10% and they are reviewing options to replace

Jim Brisby Chief Commercial Officer Cranswick plc

soya, including recent trials on the use of insect protein as part of the diet. Its new soya sourcing model means paying a higher price for feed but puts the business in a positive position to meet its goal to halve Scope 3 emissions in ten years (80% of Scope 3 targets are feed-related).

These latest announcements form part of Cranswick’s Second Nature roadmap to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions across all operations by 2040, which includes scaling up regenerative agriculture and soil health programmes and achieving carbon neutral farms by 2030.

TopicUK December 2021

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Kirklees College officially opens the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre speeches and slideshow to show the transformation of the building. Cllr Nigel Patrick, Mayor of Kirklees was also presented with the Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative plaque.

Kirklees College marked the official launch of the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre in October.

The event marked the official opening of the college’s latest building which originally opened to students in November 2020.

The building was opened with a plaque unveiling from Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire and Council Leader Cllr Shabir Pandor,

Guests visited the Gormley art exhibition which featured work from the Schools’ Engagement project.

Working in collaboration with local schools, the college invited three local artists to work with students to respond to sculpture as a form of making and to explore the different ways in which artists work across the artform.

Palvinder Singh, Principal and Chief Executive at Kirklees College said: “Pioneer House is a well-known landmark in Dewsbury which many people from in and around the

ADVERTORIAL

area have very fond memories of visiting. Now we have begun the latest chapter in the life of Pioneer House in converting it into a higher skills training centre. Our aim has been to respect and celebrate the great history of the building which is now here to stay and will be for future generations.”

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire added: “I am honoured to have been welcomed to the formal opening of the new Pioneer Higher Skills Centre in Dewsbury. This fantastic state-of-the-art facility will allow thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds to not only develop their skills but to also gain new skills which will open them up to new and exciting career opportunities.”

BOOK THE WESTON FOR YOUR NEXT BUSINESS MEETING RESTAURANT | GALLERY | SHOP Enjoy a delicious, seasonal menu of locally and sustainably sourced produce in The Restaurant at The Weston, with stunning views across the landscape of Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Restaurant open Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays, 9.00 to 17.00 To make a reservation, please phone 01924 930004 or email weston-restaurant@ysp.org.uk Free parking at The Weston car park for Weston customers Entry to YSP is by ticket only – book online ysp.org.uk The Weston, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Huddersfield Road, Haigh, Barnsley, S75 4BX | 0.75 miles from M1 J38 Photo © David Lindsay. Courtesy of YSP, registered charity 1067908.

N E W S U P D AT E

The Kirklees Business Response Network launches

Foundation or by volunteering to use their professional skills to support a charity.

This feedback gave Jason Taylor, our business and community connector, the idea of starting the Kirklees Business Response Network, so that leaders with a social conscience could work collectively togethe r to support the local community and network with likeminded organisations”.

The event, which was held at Manor House Lindley, welcomed over 70 people including 10 charities who had the chance to showcase their trustee opportunities to the audience of businesses which included representatives from Thornton and Ross, Tog 24, Lucas Lee, Kirklees College and many more.

One Community Foundation Kirklees chose Trustee Week to launch the Kirklees Business Response Network. The inaugural event was supported by Third Sector Leaders Kirklees and local businesses including Manor House Lindley, Kirklees College and VXR Technologies.

Trustees’ Week (1st to 5th of November) is an annual showcase to highlight the great work that trustees do and present opportunities for people from all walks of life to get involved and make a difference.

Emma Woods-Bolger CEO

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of the One Community Foundation said, “The team at One Community Foundation have seen demand from charities for financial support grow exponentially during the pandemic. To meet those requests, we have awarded local charities and community

groups over £1m of grant aid.

We could not have done this without the support of local businesses who want to give back to the local community and choose to do that via our Foundation.

Businesses have generously supported their local communities during the pandemic and the feedback we had was that they wanted to do more - learn about what charities were delivering locally, find out what impact they were having with the inte ntion of supporting financially by donating to the

Aidan Grills, Chair of Trustees at The Huddersfield Town Foundation, gave a passionate and thought-provoking talk about his experience of being a Trustee. He talked about what it means to be a trustee and how to choose who to offer your support to saying, “Think about which charities you would choose to donate cash to if they were fundraising and that will give you an insight into the type of charity you would be best suited to helping with your skills”.

Jason commented “Trustees help to make the UK the sixth most giving country in the world. They play a vital role, volunteering their time and working together to make important decisions about the charity’s work”.

Daneile Moore is the communications and marketing manager at AD:VENTURE, a support programme designed to help young companies succeed.

AD:VENTURE

A helping hand for start ups As the economy starts to recover from the pandemic, entrepreneurs are picking up the pieces and building for the future.

Tim Gillies.

Behind the scenes some of the region’s entrepreneurs are being given a helping hand by a dedicated team of experts.

These business advisers work for the support programme AD:VENTURE and are usually hidden away from view, quietly beavering away in the background making sure new and fledgling companies survive and thrive.

They know that the small and medium sized businesses, which provide 60 per cent of all jobs, are the backbone of our economy and essential to the recovery. And they know that helping those companies in the first three years of their life is vital to help them grow.

One of those advisers is Tim Gillies.

His patch is Bradford, where he has helped businesses from digital startups to niche manufacturers.

“I wanted to become an adviser as I love to help people to reach their potential. There are so many interesting businesses out there that want to create jobs and give back to their local communities and I like being able to help them on that journey,” says Tim, who used to work in recruitment.

“Often they come to you with passion and enthusiasm and great knowledge

of their area. They might have a brilliant business idea, but just don’t know how to get it off the ground, or they might have been going for a year or two and want to expand. That’s where we come in.

“We can give them one to one advice, point them in the direction of webinars and masterclasses or longer courses.

We can help with access to finance and put them in touch with suppliers and potential clients.

“I might be the person they have the most regular contact with, but behind me is this amazing framework of support, backed by the local authorities, several universities and everything else from the Prince’s Trust to the British Library.”

Michaela Young

Michaela Young, AD:VENTURE’s new business adviser for Harrogate and north Leeds, agrees. “I joined AD:VENTURE because you can build relationships with clients and be useful on an ongoing basis.

“We are on a journey with the client all the way through and they can come to me and ask almost anything, and if I don’t know the answer, I have a team behind me that can help.”

But with 13 years in business support, backed up by 14 years in business, including working with several of her own start-ups, there isn’t much about business that Michaela doesn’t know.

“When I was in business I made all the common mistakes and l learned as I went along by trial and error. And now I can bring that experience to help others in their early days in business.”

Launched in 2017, AD:VENTURE has helped more than 3,500 businesses and given out more than £1.5m in grants. Businesses must be less than three years old to be eligible for support and be based in the Leeds City Region.

AD:VENTURE is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and has funding and delivery partners across the Leeds City Region, including the nine local authorities, Huddersfield University, Leeds Beckett University, the Prince’s Trust, Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Make it York.

One of those to have benefited from support from an AD:VENTURE adviser is Gemma Dunn, who quit her job as head of marketing, PR and communications at Bradford College at the end of 2020 to set up Elite Marketing and Communications, offering 360 degree marketing audits to organisations.

“I had been a PAYE employee all my working life and had mainly worked in the public sector. I realised I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

So, I needed someone to fill in the blanks,” says Gemma.

Gemma says: “It was like having a colleague in the background to sense check things. I was so used to working in big organisations with a team around me. I left a corporate role and suddenly I was in an office all on my own.

“But with Tim I could run ideas past him and no question was too daft.

As well as the practical issues like the business plan, he helped build my confidence and helped me along the roadmap of a new business.”

Since setting up just ten months ago, Gemma’s business has gone from strength to strength, and she now has 30 clients on her books, as well as being an approved supplier to several colleges.

As Tim says: “What I love about my job is being able to meet with so many different business owners and getting to understand their passion for their products and services. It is fantastic when you see a business grow and start to achieve their goals and ambitions.”

If you need a helping hand from one of AD:VENTURE’s business advisers please get in touch at support@ad-venture.org.uk or on 0845 524 0210.

For more information about AD:VENTURE and how it can help you, go to https://ad-venture.org. uk/

That’s where her business adviser came in. Gemma was allocated Tim Gillies to work with. He helped her create a business plan and put her in touch with others that could help, like an SEO expert, and he was there for regular catch-up chats.

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N E W S U P D AT E clients in a professional environment, use of the boardroom and afterwork drinks for our team.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s first drop-in clinic took place on 10 November with a focus on wills and probate, where the firm offered free legal advice in relation to the preparation of Wills, Probate and Powers of Attorney.

Chadwick Lawrence joins Empire House in bid to reach new area of Huddersfield A 250-strong local law firm is the latest brand to join a business members’ club in Slaithwaite, Huddersfield.

Chadwick Lawrence has signed up to a ‘Business Member Plus’ membership a t E m p i r e Ho u s e – t h e highest tier of membership available. The membership unlocks marketing benefits and business support, which will help to power Chadwick Lawrence’s ambitions of becoming Yorkshire’s number one law firm.

Joining 25 other brands, including Venari Group, Red Diamond Executive, Redbak and Cloud Gateway,

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Chadwick Lawrence will use its membership to improve its reach within the Colne Valley without the need for a fixedcost physical office presence.

Empire House will host regular, free drop-in clinics with an expert from Chadwick Lawrence, offering other members and the public free advice and guidance in various areas of law.

Sarah Power, partner and head of the family law team at Chadwick Lawrence, said:

“As local business continues to evolve, it has never been more important for us to seek new ways to stand out, whilst increasing our reach and deepening our relationships.

We recognised Empire House as a new, exciting, and unique business that is building momentum locally, and we were keen to work them from the outset.

“We are impressed by the other brands that have a presence at Empire House and we look forward to building new local business relationships, whilst taking advantage of other benefits, such as being able to meet

Amy Byram, founde r of Empire House, said: “We are delighted to have Chadwick Lawrence on board as a member and admire their growth plans. Part of their membership gives them exclusivity for their sector, so it’s a shrewd business decision. We look forward to helping them drive their ambitious business objectives whilst simultaneously seeing the value they add to our community. It’s already a really strong partnership.”

Commenting on the de velopme nt of Empire House since its launch in July, Amy continued: “We are proud to see how organically relationships happen at Empire House. It’s a laidback place to network but it’s also given people the opportunity to meet others who they may never have crossed paths with before. In the past, members’ clubs were seen as being elitist, but we want people to feel at home here. Empire House is for people who expect more of themselves and their workplace – proper e ntre pre ne urs and selfmade people – and there is a real positive energy about the place. Now is a great time to join.”

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G E O R G I A HALSTON At the eve of the five-year anniversary of Leeds-based B2B marketing agency Halston Marketing, we speak to founder and director Georgia Halston about her journey, her plans for the future and glean insight into the mindset of a solo founder.

The serial entrepreneur

is known for her passion, drive and fierce resilience having built a ten-(wo)man strong specialist agency from scratch. Now, as she continues to build out her business portfolio, she’s on the edge of something very exciting and we couldn’t wait to find out more…

COVERSTORY I’m asked this question a lot. You’d think I’d have a well-rehearsed dialogue ready to roll out like a barrel of rum but honestly, it’s still a difficult one to explain.

I could say that I’ve had the entrepreneurial spark since birth or that the concept of commerce runs in my veins through some ancestral industrious archetype but that’s simply not the case.

I think if you ask those who’ve known me the longest, they might tell you that steadfast to my nature are traits resembling stubbornness, aversion to authority and the need for, and uncanny ability of, getting my own way, you could say that these are at least elements of an entrepreneurial outlook. But when it comes down to it, I guess it was more about creating a little more gratification from work and from life, creating something meaningful.

Ha l s to n G ro u p : w e’ v e been hearing murmurs, rumours, whispers…

Can you put us out of our misery?

Sure, so Halston Group will be launched at the end of this year with the new site and branding all ready for a full launch in January 2022. The group structure will comprise of Halston B2B, a reflection of the core B2B marketing work we’ve become s y n o n y m o u s w i t h , Re g Te c h Talks, my technology initiative where we create conversations a ro u n d t h e i n t ro d u c t i o n o f cutting-edge technology to bring about efficiencies within heavily regulated industries, Sustainability Partnerships, a company I acquired last year concerned with bringing about sustainable change and creating clarity and efficiencies in the procurement processes within the NHS and our new events brand Mercury.

At the core of all of these brands and businesses is an element of what I think are the most pertinent conversations and it was time to bring everything under one umbrella brand and ethos.

What does a good business mindset look like?

There’s an inherent problem in ‘business’: we’re constantly l o o k i n g f o r c o h e r e n c e . We want business to be simple, we want doing business to be straightforward, yet businesses aren’t real. ‘Business’ is a term for an ephemeral concept and, in reality, what’s underneath

it all, is people, people are not straightforward, nor are they simple.

I find, as I imagine most people in my position do, not only strife but indignation in navigating that incoherence, when expected outcomes, inevitably, do not, come out. I don’t have an all-encompassing answer in overcoming this frustration and it might be that this point doesn’t resonate universally, but from the little experience I do have, I know that flexibility, adaptability and agility are at least three major munitions for your business mindset arsenal, at least

in the mission of keeping yourself sane.

What inspires you?

My team, it might sound cliché but some of the most fundamental truths always are. I gain inspiration from watching those around me grow. I’m constantly surprised by the innovation and creativity teeming from the people that work at Halston Marketing and seeing a young person really come into their own as a professional is the only inspiration you need to keep fighting when things get tough.

I also find myself taken aback by the power of positivity. I don’t TopicUK December 2021

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COVERSTORY

claim to be the most spiritual person in the world, that area of the human experience has always alluded me, but what I will say is that when I’ve deliberately and wholeheartedly pushed positivity into the ether, it’s always come back to me in spades, maybe not straight away and maybe not in the way you’d expect but there’s always some element of karmic compensation.

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We know that a lot of entrepreneurs hold themselves to a higher degree of scrutiny and we wonder, what do you think you could be doing better?

Celebrating success. It’s a major part of business and it’s something I think everyone could be better at.

Too often we reach a new milestone

and are already focused on the next, I personally find that I don’t give enough time or onus on the power of just taking a step back, looking at the big picture and really appreciating how far you’ve come.

Being a solo business and now Business Group Owner and CEO, can you tell us, is it really that lonely at the top?

It’s a journey. Emotionally, it’s a fierce dichotomy of fear and freedom that ebbs and flows on a daily basis. From the very beginning I’ve been careful about the people I surround myself with, the people who support me and the people I invite into my business and my life.

If you have an inspiring network, amazingly supportive friends and family, an aggressively loyal team and an unquenchable thirst for

COVERSTORY knowledge and advice, you’re never really alone.

So, what are your plans for the future Grow the group, build on the core businesses, and bring success to my team, I want to see where their journeys go, but in more concrete business terms, it’s really hard to speculate, five years ago, I honestly couldn’t have expected to be where I am now. In essence, a personality with tendencies opposed to the typical will always orienteer a journey off the beaten track, so I’d say the future really is yet to be written, but what’s life without a little mystery?

What one piece of advice can you give to someone just starting out, that can help them navigate their first five years of business?

Everyone’s experience is different, so it’s difficult on to pontificate in terms of blanket

advice but remaining humble is a big one.

It might seem like a played out turn of phrase, one commoditised to the edge of meaninglessness but to me it just means waking up every morning knowing there’s something new to learn and every new person you meet, no matter their age, status, or background, knows something that you don’t. In the same vein, you need to be OK with making mistakes, try and be aware that you are on a journey, and you can’t crucify yourself for every misstep, it’s no good for your psyche, you need to be kind to the parts of yourself that are still learning, you deserve your own patience. Don’t be afraid of your emotions, if you have an emotional reaction to something that happens in your business it only means you’re doing it right.

You’re not a CEObot 3000. Don’t repress your emotions, that’s like robbing yourself of your fire, instead try to learn how to channel and transform that energy into constructive action. I guess that’s three but it’s hard to choose!

‘Business’ is a term for an ephemeral concept and, in reality, what’s underneath it all, is people,...

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S P E C I A L U P D AT E

Designs for the two new Leeds hospitals revealed & Prasad with Schmidt Hammer Lassen.

Perkins & Will emerged as the preferred bidder as architects for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s (LTHT) new Hospitals of the Future project in September following an international design competition.

Simon Worthington, the Trust’s director of finance and senior responsible officer for the Hospitals of the Future Project, said: “We received some exceptional concept designs in the competition and those from Perkins & Will are particularly exciting.

“These concept designs provide links to the natural environment, including a rooftop plaza with gardens containing local plants and trees, inspired by the local landscape, for both patients and staff to enjoy.”

Striking new designs for a state-of-the-art hospital for adults and a new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital have been revealed.

The design for the new Leeds hospitals, which are being built on part of the existing Leeds General Infirmary site, come from the Perkins & Will team, led by Penoyre

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Daylight and open views have been incorporated into the designs, which when combined with the easy access to green spaces, will promote calm and restfulness throughout the hospital environment and help relieve stress and support recovery.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with Perkins & Will in developing these concept designs, which we believe will deliver not only world-class health care facilities, but also a fantastic landmark building for Leeds,” said Simon.

Perkins & Will managing principal, Mark Rowe, said: “It’s obviously a huge privilege to be entrusted with the design of such a prominent site in one of the country’s most important cities. Working closely with the Trust, we believe we can deliver an outstanding building that not only supports exemplary clinical care and treatment but that over time can become as cherished a part of the Leeds cityscape as George Gilbert Scott’s exemplary original hospital.”

The Trust’s Hospitals of the Future project represents a once in a generation opportunity not only for Leeds but also for the wider region and is part of the

S P E C I A L U P D AT E country, that will incorporate a dedicated midwifery-led unit and co-locate all inpatient m a te r n i t y s e r v i c e s a n d neonatal services on one site.

It will give expectant mothers more choice about how they give birth, helping to make sure they are able to stay with their new babies, even if they need extra care.

Government programme to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. The outstanding new facilities will benefit not just patients in Leeds, but also those from across the Yorkshire and Humber region, and in some cases even further afield.

The new facilities will include: •

The brand-new Leeds Children’s Hospital that for the first time brings all clinical services for children and young people under one roof, enabling it to expand its services.

•

A new Maternity Centre, one of the largest centres in the

•

The new adults’ hospital will provide a state-of-the art facility to enhance the already outstanding clinical services currently provided.

•

A 24-bed extension to the hospital’s critical care unit.

•

A new ambulatory imaging unit which will bring a state-of-the art diagnostic service.

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, recently visited Leeds General Infirmary and were impressed with the progress being made. During the visit they heard from some of the hospital clinicians about how the new development will enhance the excellent care currently delivered to patients.

The latest concept designs for the new Leeds hospitals will be developed over the coming months, a process that will involve a range of stakeholders, including staff, patients and partners.

There remains strong support for pressing ahead to deliver the much-needed investment for Leeds as quickly as possible, and the Government’s New Hospitals Programme team are working with the Trust to plan completion of the works, with the new facilities planned to be fully operational in 2027.

TopicUK December 2021

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N EE CWRSU IUTPMDEANTTEU P D A T E R

Jobs Outlook: Spotlight on Yorkshire An in-depth look at Yorkshire's economic and recruitment activity

Job vacancies across Yorkshire and the UK rise at a survey-record rate as businesses struggle to fill positions in an extremely competitive jobs market.

The pandemic has caused many people to revaluate their career options as some opt for more flexible working arrangements or less taxing workloads in a bid to improve their work life balance.

Warren Middleton, senior partner at KPMG commented: “With the decline of both permanent and temporary staff availability and such high demand in the jobs market for people with certain skills, we are seeing salary inflation as organisations compete for staff.”

From a UK wide perspective, the first official estimate of UK GDP revealed that the UK economy grew by 4.8% in Q2 2021. Furthermore, the country’s economic output is now 4.4% below its pre-pandemic level.

Job vacancies Recruitment agencies across Yorkshire reported a six successive months of rising permanent staff appointments,

which is the longest sequence since the pandemic began early last year.

In addition to this, demand for staff is rising at an accelerated rate compared to previous record set in Q1 and the North of England report the fastest rate of the region’s in the UK.

Staff availability The availability of permanent staff has declined at an alarming rate – the drop in supply is the worst on record.

The declines were widely associated with a reluctance among employees to switch roles due to the pandemic, fewer EU workers, furloughed staff and skill shortages.

Pay pressures Starting salaries for permanent new staff has increased to a new high compared with data from earlier in the year. This is a direct consequence of businesses having to raise salaries

in order to attract candidates in a scarce job market.

The same trend can be seen when looking at temporary pay rates, which has seen record acceleration – the highest for over 23 years.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that average weekly earnings across the UK rose 5.1% on an annual basis to £600 in Q1 2021. If you are a jobseeker then it is certainly a great time to be looking for work with the recent surge in job opportunities and spike in pay salaries.

Demand for skills The shortage of lorry drivers has widely been reported in the news and the demand for skills carries over to many other sectors including all types of accounting/financial positions, blue collar manufacturing, engineering professional services including HR, legal and marketing, medical/nursing, retail, administrators.

Impact of ending furlough scheme

It is difficult to know what the impact of the job retention scheme will be, as employers seem to be keeping this matter close to their chests. There has been no clear signs of redundancies starting to pick up in recent survey data ahead of the furlough scheme beginning to wind down.

We hope there will not be a significant loss of jobs now the scheme has ended even though the country currently has over 1,100,000 unfilled vacancies We believe the Government made the correction decision to implement the job retention scheme during the worst of the pandemic. It certainly helped reduced the damage to Stafflex, particularly during the first lockdown when most of our client requirements disappeared almost overnight. Under other circumstances this would have led to downsizing of the business.

For further information, contact Nemi Alexis, Marketing Manager at Stafflex on 01484 351010 or at nemi@stafflex.co.uk.

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S P E C I A L U P D AT E provide efficient ways to automate workflows, be it through an API or purpose-built tools, ready to go, or fully customisable solutions. Whether you have one track or 100 million, Musiio solutions are affordable and scale for every need.

Editor Gill Laidler caught up with one of the Founders CEO Hazel Savage who told us a bit about her career. With 15 years’ experience in the industry, Hazel is a music-tech lifer and guitarist. She began her musictech journey as an early employee at Shazam and spent time understanding the pain points of the industry at Pandora, Universal and HMV before launching Musiio in 2018.

Hazel travels the world speaking at conferences and educating catalogue owners about the value of artificial intelligence integration and digital transformation in the music industry.

As a female CEO in the heavily male dominated industries of music and tech, Hazel offers a breath of fresh air and insight.

New European office for Musiio in Tileyard North Standing next to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield is a collection of derelict mill buildings that date back to 1872. Derelict for years until Paul Kempe of City and Provincial Properties, one of Tileyard London’s founders saw and was intrigued by the building and was inspired to expand Europe’s largest creative community to the site. Welcome Tileyard North.

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Work is now well underway on the flagship scheme which has been described by the leader of Wakefield Council as a ‘gamechanger’ for the city. There are exciting plans for workshops and music studios, bars, restaurants, cafes, conference spaces and even a new hotel.

Creatives will want to visit Tileyard North, work there and be part of this exciting project. One of those creative businesses, one of the first to sign up with a proposed moving in date of Q1 2022, is Musiio an artificial intelligence company for the music industry. The founders have built an AI that can ‘listen’ to music and supercharge the capabilities of companies to tag and search music catalogues at scale. They

Growing up, Hazel wanted to be a rock star! “I always wanted to be a famous musician/guitarist/singer,” she said.

“Of course, I played in bands for years and still do. I think I was average at best and luckily found the business side of the music industry for where I seem to have more talent!”

Hazel’s first job was a paper round. “I used to deliver the free Wednesday papers to about 400 houses in my hometown. It was back-breaking work for only £4 if there were no advertising inserts, but up to £9 if there was,” she said. “Luckily my sister used to help me, mainly for the company. The paper round is somewhat a brutal right of passage,” she laughed.

After leaving school, and that paper round, Hazel attended Newcastle University to study politics and

S P E C I A L U P D AT E

English literature. “I didn’t particularly like university, I actually preferred my weekend job,” she explained, “I met more like-minded people at work and I’ve always preferred the practical to the academic.

With experience under her belt, Hazel co-founded Musiio three and a half

years ago. “From day one I was CEO, although I always found that funny when there were only two of us!” she laughed. “I love being the founder of a company whose goal is to add a netpositive effect to the music industry and create more opportunities for artists. The industry has given me my whole career and I just love being a

part of it. Not everything is wonderful though,” she continued. “It’s horrible when you have to fire someone for example, even if it’s the right thing to do for the team and the company.

Of course, there is a right and wrong way to let people go and I always try and be on the right side, but it still doesn’t make it any easier.”

Is the music industry difficult for a woman to succeed in we asked? “Yes and no. Both music and tech have been industries dominated by men in the past,” Hazel continued, “and often are less frequently chosen by women as a career. However, if you want to work in these industries and set your mind on it, you can make it happen, there are great champions of women. I think the biggest issue has been people like Denis Handlin (Sony Australia), men who ruled with fear and misogyny for years. I am delighted to see people like that taken down by

the me-too movement. Long may that continue!”

So, what is a typical day like for Hazel? “I’m currently working from the UK, but we have both UK and Singapore offices, so usually the mornings are taken up by speaking to the team in Singapore, since it’s the best time of day for cross over, then afternoons are always a ton of emails with existing clients, or calls with new ones. We always put the customer first. We are excited to be expanding our UK office into the new Tileyard North renovated Mill complex, this is the perfect place for us to build our European office. I’m delighted with how things are going for us, looking back, I don’t think I would change anything, except maybe I should have looked at taking a different course at University and maybe buy Bitcoin in 2010,” she laughed.

TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E

TopicUK lends support to Children’s Hospice Each Year, the team at TopicUK selects a charity to support with free publicity and promotion.

As we conclude 2021, we say farewell to Wakefield Hospice who we have supported over the last two years, extending the time due to the pandemic and say hello to the forget Me Not Children’s Hospice who support children and their families across West Yorkshire.

It was ten years ago this year that the charity got the keys to the brand-new purpose-built Russell House, the keys that unlocked vital care for children and their families all under one roof.

Since then, Russell House, named after the son of a mum who started it all, has become a home from home for hundreds of families where they can feel safe, supported and able to make the most of every moment together.

To celebrate this milestone, the charity recently welcomed their royal patron HRH Princess Beatrice who said: “I am immensely proud and delighted that

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2021 is the 10th anniversary of Russell House being built. I know that over the last 10 years hundreds of children and families have benefitted from having this real home-from-home where they can get the care and support, they so desperately need.”

The hospice provides support to families from West Yorkshire with a very wide range of conditions, not just cancer and end of life care and is a place where children and their families can come and have fun and lead the best lives they can. However, they need to raise around me £4 million each year and with just 4% of that coming from the government at TopicUK we feel compelled to offer our support and goodwill and conform it as our “charity of choice” for 2022.

Another reason we are proud to support, in 2004 when just £300,000 had been raised to establish this important

charity, TopicUK sales executive Mandy Taylor volunteered her services to help raise vital funds, becoming a member of staff the following year to help spearhead the campaign working on brand development, fundraising, marketing and recruitment.

Over the next 12 months we will share with you news and updates from the hospice and if you would like to get involved or make a donation please contact them directly https:// www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk/

How to raise finance for your business

N E W S U P D AT E

By: Ian Parsons - Managing director Parsons Accountants

If you’re interested in raising finance for your business, there are some key points it’s vital to consider first. Whether it’s deciding which option you choose, or what steps to take first, here’s what you need to know.

develop a robust and reasonable business plan, giving you the best foundation for making informed choices about how to raise the finance you need.

All finance starts with a business plan

Raising finance through equity investment

Creating a solid business plan is the best way to work out exactly how much finance you need to

raise in the first place. You’ll need a series of scenarios to work through – some optimistic, some less so – in order to understand the scale of what you might need to borrow.

Working with an accountant is the smart way to get an external view of your business plan. Choosing an accountant w i t h a breadth of experience and expertise in advising a range of businesses means you’ll be able to

Enterprise Investment Scheme for new businesses, that can make the investment seem much more attractive.

Asset finance

A popular option for raising finance for business, equity investment is the type featured on BBC One’s popular show, “Dragon’s Den” in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment. If the idea is considered worthy, the investment is granted in exchange for shares in the entrepreneur’s company.

You don’t need to appear on a TV programme to secure this kind of investment, though - you could start nearer to home with family and friends. Or you may be able to attract interest from so-called angel investors willing to invest in exchange for ownership equity.

There are tax advantage schemes such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme or Seedcorn

If you’ve ever leased or taken out a Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) contract on a car, you’ll understand the fundamentals of asset finance.

If your business needs expensive equipment to grow, asset finance enables you to spread the cost over time. This makes it a useful way to fund a wide variety of business essentials, such as vehicles, plant, machinery and IT equipment.

Invoice finance A way of borrowing money against the value of unpaid invoices, invoice finance can be a lifeline for companies struggling with cashflow.

You effectively sell your invoices to a third party for a percentage of their value. It comes at a cost, but it is a particularly useful strategy if your invoices tend to take a long time to be paid.

Crowd-funding and peer-to-peer lending Made popular by platforms such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe, crowdfunding is a way of generating smaller investments for your business from the general public.

Peer-to-peer investing entails cutting out the banking middlemen.

Sometimes you give away equity in return for pledges, or alternatively people will invest in exchange for future products.

TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E

Harrogate Borough Council welcomes CityFibre’s latest full fibre milestone Harrogate Borough Council has welcomed the news that CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has announced an agreement with Boundless Networks, under its retail brand Boundless Internet.

With Ultrafast broadband from TalkTalk already available in Harrogate and Knaresborough, this means that residents in both towns will soon have a choice of reliable, gigabit speed broadband services.

CityFibre is currently engaged in an up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme and Boundless will be the latest

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consumer internet service provider to join its rapidly expanding open access networks. Harrogate and Knaresborough are among the first locations set to enjoy access to Boundless’ competitively priced services (with speeds of up to 900Mbps), with the first customers expected to go live in Harrogate and Knaresborough in November. Work to build the full

fibre network will expand in to Ripon in the new year.

Kim Johnston, Regional Partnership Manager at CityFibre, added: “The two services will transform customers’ digital capabilities, providing sufficient bandwidth to ensure the ultimate broadband experience.

As our £46m private investment network build continues, we look forward to reaching almost every home and business across Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.”

Wallace Sampson OBE, Chief Executive of Harrogate Borough Council, said: “This is a fantastic milestone for residents and businesses across Harrogate and Knaresborough who will soon be able to choose broadband packages that utilise the fastest and most reliable network technology available – full fibre. We are excited about seeing

even more homes and businesses take advantage of the huge benefits that this type of future-proof digital connectivity has to offer and we look forward to the expansion into Ripon early next year.”

Full fibre networks, unlike many of the copper and cable TV-based ‘fibre broadband’ services available today, use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection. This gives users speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps for upload and download (up to 1,000 Mbps), near limitless bandwidth and connectivity users can depend on.

Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost with a full fibre-enabled service can find out more about the build in their area and register their interest at www.cityfibre.com/PR-Register

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INnEf W o rSmUaPt iDoAnT TEe c h n o l o g y & W o r k p l a c e I n n o v a t i o n

Practising what you preach…

By: Tim Guest - Managing Director, Contedia

Despite being a full-time advocate of workplace innovation through the adoption and constant adaptation to digital systems and methodologies, I have to hold my hands up and admit that like most SMEs, we too suffer from a lack of

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resource that prohibits us spending as much time as we would like innovating within our own business.

Just like so many others, my colleagues and I are often so focused on our customer projects, that without roles that are internally focussed, we prioritise

I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y & W o r k p l aN c eE WI nS nUo Pv D a tAi T o En on only our fee-earning outputs, whilst grappling with our growing operational issues.

Now, this isn’t to say we’ve never addressed the needs of the business, quite the opposite. For an SME of our size and nature we have an above average culture of systems and methods adoption as you might expect, and we’ve invested time and money to help manage the more complex aspects of our work and improve efficiency. But just like every other business, ours has changed in recent years and continues to evolve, becoming more involved.

Our problem isn’t that we don’t see what can be done in the business, nor that we don’t have the skills and experience to execute on a plan. Instead, it’s that a lack of free resource, dictated by steady growth, leads to periods of being busy fools, which then affects our progress internally.

At the beginning of 2021 my team and I agreed that we would proactively address some recurring issues and begin by understanding what a quality management system (QMS) needed to look like in our own business. We had aspects of a QMS, but they were too informal in places, too rigid in others and non-existent elsewhere.

In spring we had some valuable sessions with a consultant gaining a better understanding of the breadth and scope of an ISO 9001 QMS. We established the components we certainly needed to address, which were somewhat non-specific, as well as reflecting on how the development of an appropriate QMS would directly contribute to areas of improvement within the business we wanted to concentrate on in the short to medium-term.

Beyond some early work to adapt

or introduce organisational and reporting methods we were lacking, what became clear to us was that we needed to leverage our own skills and knowledge to begin a new programme of (software) systems development to pick up where we’d essentially left off when we implemented the existing iteration of a custom business management system (BMS) a few years earlier.

we quickly elected to integrate those within our existing BMS. Since it already integrated with our accounts system, it made sense, for example, to control and visualise an ‘approved supplier list’ within BMS. Not every staff has access to our accounts system, but by managing approved suppliers and other referenceable information in our BMS we could make that information visible to everyone. These were ‘quick wins’, but to a degree also ticks in boxes.

We’re very fortunate in that as a business that specialises in creating custom and bespoke software But this year was meant to have applications for businesses, as much more of an effect on well as implementing customised addressing areas of our business Microsoft 365 environments in that had become unwieldy and Teams, SharePoint and so on, we inconsistently managed, so having have a great deal of experience in addressed the quick wins in the what our customers have previously QMS sense, we established a wanted to achieve and how we plan of how we wanted to better subsequently went about it. With manage many different processes every new customer, despite being throughout the business. able to leverage our experience, we’re continually presented with The overearching goal was to remove unnecessary objectives that differ manual task from every other management, build business we’ve defined routines worked for…because, that could be either ultimately, every With the bit fully or partially business is unique. between our teeth, leveraging automated within the BMS, and W h i l s t o u r o w n our skills and create a framework BMS had become experience, a fundamental part there’s so much we for how we could continue to add of our day-to-day can achieve, ... to this so that business and service as many repeat management, we, activities within the like so many of business became our customers, had highly visible, easy essentially found ourselves in a position of creating to action at the appropriate time too many ad-hoc and inconsistent and, importantly, transferrable sources of information management between staff to allow continuity to serve what were repeating with consistency. scenarios, i.e., things that we do time and time again in the normal Now, we never usually advocate course of our business that come to re-inventing the wheel when it need a way of managing a process. comes to advising customers what to develop a custom solution for.

So, for some basic elements of If an off-the-shelf solution exists routine quality management system that is appropriate, we advise that information sources and reporting, you shouldn’t develop something

that does the same job for the sake of it. However, with our new ‘task’ framework, and for the relatively small, additional investment it represented, we took the decision to benefit from further reducing the number of different systems we relied upon within the business and create our own support ticketing system, which was tailored to us.

Contained wholly within our own BMS, we agreed a minimum viable product specification to allow us to do all of the things we need to do when managing customer support tickets, discarding the bells and whistles in favour of reporting that is unique to our interests, and integration with Microsoft Teams. We believe that having the ticketing system within our own BMS is going to be more beneficial to our continued efficiency in the long-term.

Presently, we’re some way from completing our current programme of digital innovation and it’s fair to say that the specification will continue to grow. But, now we’re a good way in to the project, the benefits of having drawn a line in the sand and actually started to address our own operational issues, prioritising those that will have the greatest effect on our outputs, are already being seen.

With the bit between our teeth, leveraging our skills and experience, there’s so much we can achieve. And yet, it’s only the same we’ve been communicating to our customers for years, since we last administered some care and attention internally.

The lesson we’ve re-learned is, as ever, that you really should practise what you preach, and that for any business with operational challenges involving information and the flow of work, solutions of a custom nature exist and can be empowering.

TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E developed an approach that involves an initial consultation with Neil Jaggar who identifies the right strategy for growth and brings in the required specialist to implement the changes.

Neil said this approach is key to helping manufacturers invest in the right areas to get the biggest change and ROI within their business:

Yorkshire manufacturing experts team up to launch specialist advisory group A new specialist advisory company has been launched in a bid to help develop, improve, and grow manufacturing within Yorkshire.

Dubbed the Manufacturing Advisory Directorate (MAD) Yorkshire, its focus is on providing manufacturers with a single point of contact for a multitude of business services which can help drive growth, increase profitability, and prioritise efficiency.

Its team of experts will be able to help manufacturers identify the core areas to strengthen in relations to business compliance, finance and legal, sales and marketing, growth and business strategy, Logistics, IT, and Energy.

MAD is made up of a board of highly experienced consultants and interims who have over 100 years combined experience

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of delivering their specialities within the sector.

It is headed up by business strategist Neil Jaggar, IT specialist Tor Mackenzie and R&D specialist accountant Vicky Newham who have worked together in the industry for over a decade.

Its team of consultants include financial planner Andy Bennett, electrical compliance expert Richard Carr, commercial and employment lawyer Richard Newstead, marketing strategist Steven Burles, environmental architect John Pickup, health and safety specialist Tony Eckersley, business efficiency expert Chris Parker, technical sales specialist

Carlyn Wiltshire, security specialist Luke Appleby, ISO consultant Richard Clegg, logistics specialist Howard Mould, insurance broker Lucy Thornhill, and funding/grants specialists Jenny Hill, Katie Wytwyckyj and Rob Woollin.

The group came together in 2020 in response to the disruption caused by the pandemic and Brexit, and the need for specialist support within the manufacturing sector.

To g e t h e r, t h e f o u n d e r s identified the core issues facing the sector and the support services they would require in order to bounce back and keep the sector thriving in Yorkshire.

They partnered with the relevant consultants and

“Often, it’s rather difficult for business owners to identify the areas in which they need to invest, in order to get the biggest change. There’s noise about digital transformation, compliance, branding, innovation and more, and it can be confusing to those so close to their own business, meaning investment is often made into the wrong things,” he said.

“We’ve created the approach of having that initial consultation with a business strategist so that we can help manufacturers make the right choices, and then put them in touch with our trusted consultants to implement the changes,” he added.

Tor Mackenzie said: “The sector has seen a lot of changes and disruption over the last 2 years with Brexit and the pandemic, and as specialists who’ve worked with manufacturers for most of our careers, we felt we needed to do something positive to help them navigate the new world.

“The response within our existing network since launching has been phenomenal, and we can’t wait to see the change we can bring about for more manufacturers in the Yorkshire area.”

ADVERTORIAL octane finale to the celebrations for children and adults alike with mini family raves courtesy of Boom Chikka Boom and the grownups can dance their way into 2022 with lockdown star Dale Castell and his Our House parties featuring DJs Allister Whitehead and Rob Tissera with live performances from house legends Julie McKnight and K-Klass.

But as many people get ready to party hard, the store owners here at The Piece Hall are getting ready to work hard, it’s the busiest time of the year for many of our independent shops, and restaurants.

I LOVE Christmas By: Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, CEO The Piece Hall Trust

I LOVE Christmas. Every bit of it.

Huge trees chock full of shining vintage baubles with carefully chosen, beautifully wrapped gifts underneath, sparkly decorations and twinkling fairy lights brightening up the dark nights, the joyful sound of carol singers lifting our spirits with their voices. And most important of all, of course, spending precious time with family, friends and loved ones and taking time remember those who are no longer with us.

This year I’m determined to get back to the true spirit of Christmas, celebrating kindness, generosity and gratitude. Perhaps because festivities were so limited last year I’ve found myself reminiscing

about and yearning for the glorious technicolour Christmases of my childhood, but after the challenges we’ve all been facing I’m also craving some good old fashioned fun this party season.

It’s a combination of all these things that you’ll find at The Piece Hall this Christmas as we offer something for everyone. Our magnificent Courtyard will be transformed into a real winter wonderland with our spectacular 30ft tree joined by a beautifully painted, traditional carousel.

Our brand new Father Christmas experience is sure to be a hit with the little ones. Children are taken

on a magical storytelling journey around the building before they get a chance to spend some time with the big man himself.

Our augmented reality Christmas trail is far from a traditional experience. This hi-tec free to download app lets children meet virtual elves, reindeer and snowmen as they dance around courtyard.

The festive fun continues in our fantastic circus-style Spiegeltent, which is returning from 4 – 24 December for a sparkling programme, including family shows, live music, DJ gigs and stand-up comedy, alongside cinema days and family craft workshops.

As more of us see the value of shopping local the Piece Hall really is the perfect place to find the perfect present. From traditional children’s books and toys, to quirky and unusual handmade gifts, the coolest home wear, locally sourced and made Yorkshire produce and of course a shop solely dedicated to Christmas, there really is something for everyone.

So Christmas is back in a big way and I can’t wait. A big pile of presents, a big sense of nostalgia, a great big dinner with all the trimmings, and I’m even looking forward to the big old arguments.

Last Christmas…was a memorable one for all the wrong reasons, and taking inspiration from the iconic song words of George Michael, this year, we’re going to make sure it’s VERY SPECIAL.

There are more than 40 events in total from music legends The Buzzcocks, to breakthrough grime star Graft and including Ellie Sax, New Order’s Stephen Morris in conversation with Dave Haslam, Abba Revival and DJ sets from Craig Charles and Graeme Park.

Ne w Year’s Eve sees a high TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E years we have expanded our offering to include a diverse selection of fresh and frozen produce. The acquisition of Saxon Foods is a great opportunity to build on the good work Abbeydale Food Group has done with the business and the fantastic team it has established.

“We believe we are best placed to d r i v e t h e c o m p a n y ’ s continued de velopme nt, taking it to the next level and adding significant value to the UK frozen food sectors with the benefit of our global procurement capabilities, as well as our plans for exporting added value cooked British potatoes products globally.

Fast-growing vegetable supply group acquires Saxon Foods Tuber Group, based near Hull, has acquired plant-based convenience foods manufacturer Saxon Foods in Scunthorpe from the Abbeydale Food Group, for an undisclosed sum.

Having acquired Country Chef in 2011 and renamed it Saxon Foods, Abbeydale Food Group has developed it from a B2B business serving food manufacturers into a major provider of added value frozen vegetables, supplying most of the UK’s leading supermarkets and wholesalers as well as the food service market. Its products are also sold into continental Europe.

The company’s range of

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allergen free frozen products includes jacket potatoes, mint and chilli peas, mushy pea pots, potato skins, healthy baked chips, and curry sauce Andrew Hayes pots. Saxon Foods employs (leftw),managing an 80-strong team. director of The acquisition of Saxon Fo o d s b r o a d e n s T u b e r Group’s offering. Based in Hessle, the company was founded in 2017 by Steven Humphrey to supply potatoes to f o o d p ro c e s s o r s and

packers in the UK. It procures a wide range of fresh and frozen produce for food processors and food service businesses worldwide. It supplies over 30 different fresh and frozen food commodities at any one time, ranging from its own brand ‘Chefs Best’ mayonnaise to potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and citrus.

“We aim to double the current turnover within three years and, after achieving this, we will have established a sizeable operation that will be buying in excess of 250 tonnes of fresh potatoes and 150 tonnes of sweet potatoes every week.”

Andrew Hayes, managing director of Abbeydale Food Group, explains: “After being part of Abbeydale for the last 10 years, we believe that Tuber Group is a natural home for Saxon, enabling the business to gain from the group’s purchasing benefits. The new owner also has some exciting plans to build on Saxon’s success and take it to the next stage in its development.

Following the purchase and its accredited BRC AA grade processing facility, Tuber Group will retain the Saxon Foods trading name and all jobs at the North Lincolnshire Abbeydale Food site have been transferred to “The sale will also allow Group Vicky Wake, Abbeydale to focus on the new owner. general manager developing other parts of the of Saxon Foods; group, including our Summit Steven Humphrey, managing and Steven Foods business which has director of Tuber Group, Humphrey, already doubled in the last comments: “Having started managing director 24 months.” as a potato supplier, in recent of Tuber Group

Business Support

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Promoting inward investment, business growth, supporting trade, job creation, business news and events.

Get in touch and find out more about how we can support your business.

01924 306630 info@wakefieldfirst.com wakefieldfirst.com

N L EE GWASL UMPADTATTEER S

What you need to know about Child Maintenance Family lawyers are often approached by clients seeking advice in relation to child maintenance payments.

When a couple with a child or children separate, both parents ge ne rally continue to pro vide financial support to the children, sometimes in different ways. Often this results in one parent paying the other child maintenance. The level of child maintenance can be agreed between you directly which is commonly known as a ‘familybased arrangement’. If, however, you are unable to reach an agreement, you can ask the Child Maintenance Service to calculate the amount for you. If you are experiencing domestic abuse or controlling behaviour then you should contact the Child Maintenance Service

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(CMS) in the first instance to avoid having to communicate directly with your ex-partner.

How is child maintenance calculated?

The child maintenance calculation takes into consideration how many childre n you have, the paying parent’s income, how much time the children spend with the paying parent and whether the paying parent is paying child maintenance for any other children. This operates on a sliding scale and is linked to the amount of overnight care the paying parent has.

AR TS E L EN G EAW L SM U AP TD TE or claims cannot be resolved, court action might be required.

When do child maintenance payments stop?

The rules which govern civil court proceedings in England and Wales are called the Civil Procedure Rules. Sitting alongside the Civil Procedure Rules are what are called practice directions.

You are normally expected to pay child maintenance until your child is 16, or until they’re 20 if they’re in school or college full-time studying for A-levels, Highers, or equivalent. Full details of approved education or training can be found on the gov. uk website. Child maintenance might stop earlier, for example, if one parent dies or the child no longer qualifies for child benefit.

O ne such practice direction relates to steps parties should take before court proceedings are started. At paragraph 1, it states: “Pre-action protocols explain the conduct and set out the steps the court would normally expect parties to take before commencing proceedings for particular types of civil claims”.

When can the court make child maintenance orders?

Generally, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) deal with the vast majority of matters concerning child maintenance. There are however the following exceptions where the Court has the power to make orders:The CMS does not have jurisdiction.

•

The parties agree a child maintenance order by consent.

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The order is of a prescribed type, including:

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orders for educational expenses;

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orders for costs attributable to a disability;

•

top-up orders; and

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orders against a person with care (PWC).

It is important to know where you stand with child maintenance, whether you are due to receive it or whether you should be paying it. Early advice can help to reduce potential conflict and uncertainty.

Professional Negligence

By Kathryn Hunt, Associate Solicitor

Members of the public are entitled to expect certain standards from professionals. Where advice given by a professional falls below the standard required, that might give rise to claims.

Examples of professionals are accountants, architects, surveyors a n d s o l i c i t o r s. A l l p r o v i d e advice to customers in different circumstances, for example, a customer might be aggrieved if a surveyor did not advise the custome r that Japanese Knotweed was present in the garden of a property they were intending to buy in circumstances where the surveyor should have advised

of such and the property was actually worth a lot less than indicated.

In addition to any terms agreed in a contract which governs the relationship between the professional and the customer, a professional may have additional expectations set on them by law.

Ultimately, if the customer’s claim

A particular pre-action protocol applies to professional negligence claims. The aims of the protocol, in summary, are to enable people on both sides of a potential professional negligence claim to: understand and pick out the areas of disagreement; share documents and information; decide whether or not to take the case forward and how; try to bring an end to the dispute or part of it; avoid and limit cost; and, help the court deal with the case if necessary.

Some of the steps expected in a potential professional negligence claim are for the customer to give the professional a preliminary notification, followed by a formal letter of claim and for the professional to acknowledge the letter of claim, undertake investigations and respond. The professional and customer are encouraged to try to sort the dispute out without the need for court intervention.

As particular deadlines apply in relation to bringing claims, it is important that advice is taken as soon as possible.

TopicUK December 2021

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Mediation of of Business Business Disputes Disputes Mediation Mergers, Acquisitions Acquisitions and and Disposals Disposals Mergers,

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Residential Property Property Residential

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Road Traffic Traffic Cases Cases Road

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Planning & & Licensing Licensing Planning Starting In In Business Business Starting

The Law Law & & The The Elderley Elderley •• The

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Wills, Trusts Trusts & & Probate Probate Wills,

L E G A L M AT T E R S

Plans for new social caretaxes Employers, employees and the self-employed face temporary increases in the national insurance they pay from April 2022 when primary Class 1 national insurance contributions (NICs) (paid by employees), secondary Class 1, 1A and 1B NICs (paid by employers) and Class 4 self-employed NICs will each rise by 1.25 percentage points.

Dividend rates will also rise by 1.25 percentage points from April 2022, so that the basic rate increases from 7.5% to 8.75%, the higher rate from 32.5% to 33.75% and the additional rate from 38.1% to 39.35%.

Shareholder/directors of small limited companies, who often take part of their income from their companies as dividends rather than salary, may need to reconsider the relative proportions of each they take, or even convert to sole trader or partnership status.

Where an individual is employed, both the employee’s and their employer’s NICs will increase by 1.25 percentage points...

The Treasury has published ‘Illustrative analysis of the impact of “Building Back Better”: Our Plan for Health and Social Care on households’ to show the immediate, short-term changes in income as a result of the increases in both NICs/the new Levy and dividend tax.

Where an individual is employed, both the employee’s and their employer’s NICs will increase by 1.25 percentage points, making the rise in NICs payable in respect of that individual 2.5 percentage points in total. The same is not true for the self-employed, where total NICs payable per individual will only rise by 1.25 percentage points.

Then, from April 2023, these NIC rises will be reversed. A new 1.25% tax called the Health and Social Care Levy will be introduced instead, which will operate in the same way. For example, employers will continue to enjoy the same reliefs in relation to the Levy as they did under

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NICs - such as where an employee is under 21, an apprentice is under 25, or an employee is a veteran or works in a freeport.

Businesses will need to decide whether to absorb any extra NIC/ Levy costs (resulting in reduced profits), make savings elsewhere in the business (for example, by reducing property costs, laying workers off or adjusting wages) and/or put prices up.

Another option for businesses with employed sales staff may be to consider appointing as sales agents, although this should not be done without specialist advice on the legal implications.

Employees can download the Treasury’s illustrative analysis from the GOV.UK website.

Government launches national disability strategy

Disabled employees and their employers are checking out the details of the government’s new National Disability Strategy and associated developments and considering what changes they may need to introduce to improve the workplace for disabled workers.

The new Strategy contains 100 practical commitments (for which £1.6 billion has been allocated), including:

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An online advice hub for disabled employees and their employers.

L E G A L M AT T E R S

Temporary new rules make it easier to apply to wind up limited companies that owe you money Small businesses will welcome temporary, new rules from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 which allow them to apply (‘petition’) to wind up a debtor company in certain circumstances, easing the pandemic-related restrictions on presenting a petition that applied previously.

unsatisfied statutory demand could not be used as a basis for the presentation of winding up petition.

The conditions that must apply before bringing a petition are: •

The debt must be for a fixed (‘liquidated’) amount, now due, of at least £10,000 (either one debt or the total of a number of debts due from the same debtor).

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The business must give the debtor written notice of the debt, containing prescribed information and giving the debtor an opportunity to make proposals for paying it.

• Note, however, that the temporary rules do not allow presentation of a petition if the debt is for non-payment of commercial rent by reason of the financial effect of Covid-19 (or any other sums payable under a business tenancy) •

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A disability work ‘passport’, to be piloted shortly, to help disabled students transition more easily to the world of work and existing workers to move between jobs more easily, by making the type of reasonable adjustments required for each disabled person more transparent and understandable.

A requirement for statutory company reports for larger companies (250+) to include

– referred to in the new rules as ‘excluded debts’.

Rece nt ame ndme nts to the Corporate Insolvency & Government Act 2020 have repealed the restriction that an information on numbers of disabled workers employed by the company (to be consulted on later in the year).

The launch coincides with: •

The government publishing its response to the consultation ‘Health is Everyone’s Business’, which aims to reduce health-related job losses by encouraging employers to be more proactive and act earlier to support employees

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The business can apply to the court to forego or ease certain of the conditions – for example, to order that the 21-day time limit be reduced, or that the business need not ask the debtor for a proposal for paying the debt. If a proposal is made but rejected the business must include its reasons why the proposal is not satisfactory in the subsequent petition. Again, though, the new rules do not set out the criteria to be satisfied on such applications.

The petition must also contain other wording generally, reflecting that it is submitted under the temporary rules.

It is not yet known if the new rules will be extended after 31 March 2022.

Tw e n t y - o n e d ay s m u s t have passed after service of the written notice without the debtor having made a satisfactory proposal for paying the debt (although the rules do not contain criteria for determining whether a proposal is satisfactory).

Businesses should ensure they are equipped to use the new, temporary procedures to allow them to present a winding up petition against a debtor where the conditions can be satisfied, including setting up appropriate policies, procedures and staff training, during the temporary period.

with long-term health issues.

the government response to the ‘Health is Everyone’s Business’ consultation on the GOV.UK website, consult with staff and review their policies, procedures and practices to identify whether they could introduce upcoming changes now to improve the workplace for their disabled workers.

The government’s Green P a p e r ‘ S h a p i n g Fu t u r e Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper’, asking for ways to help the disabled live more independently, do better in the workplace and interact better with the benefits system.

Employers may wish to view the Strategy, the Green Paper, and

Ramsdens Solicitors TopicUK December 2021

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for all your legal needs, call your local solicitors

Ramsdens

With 14 offices across Yorkshire, we’re never too far away

01484 821 500 www.ramsdens.co.uk

ADVERTORIAL

A technological turning point for the criminal justice system?

The legal profession has long been criticised for a lack of diversity, particularly when it comes to attracting candidates from economically deprived backgrounds. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has, from Autumn 2021, introduced the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), one of the aims being to create greater flexibility in the routes to qualification. It is hoped this will help attract candidates from more diverse backgrounds.

www.law.ac.uk

at Court from custody for the hearing) should now be resigned to history.

Further, an arguably unintended but most welcome consequence of reducing such incidental and entirely unnecessary costs of travel across the country by advocates, is the reduction of the carbon footprint of the criminal justice system.

After the Courtroom doors were the “Herculean effort” which had sealed shut back on the 24th March already been made it was stated that: However, the use of CVP was dealt a warning shot last month when 2020 it was with speed and genuine enthusiasm that new technologies “The pandemic has changed our society Liverpool Crown Court published emerged. Advocates across the forever. In our Courts and tribunals guidance setting out that only in country embraced a new way of it has cemented the need for remote “exceptional cases” would advocates working. A quarter of a billion participation in hearings to be available be permitted to attend remotely. Is pounds was made available by the and as we move forward we want the CVP system perfect? No. But to Government, not merely to keep the effective use of audio and video abandon the technological advantages the wheels of justice turning, but technologies to remain an integral part we have achieved would mean accepting, at the very least, the loss to propel them forward at a pace of our justice system.” of increased accessibility for everyone which would address the rapidly increasing number of outstanding There are some types of cases in the criminal justice system. cases. A total of 3,200 Courtrooms where a remote hearing will always became ‘virtual’ thereby providing be unsuitable. But for cases of an As a higher education provider, the the facilities for more remote Court administrative or case management University of Law recognises that it is hearings. nature, the advantages of using the essential to equip students with skills CVP are apparent. The flexibility to navigate the digital future. Whilst After a very short period of time the of permitting advocates to attend face-to-face teaching has now been Cloud Video Platform system (CVP) remotely means that there can be reinstated it is important that the established itself as the principal a greater and more efficient use of lawyers of tomorrow accept change alternative to in-person hearings. the Court time which, in itself, will and learn to adapt. The combination of reduce costs. There are also benefits our students being taught by qualified On the 4th June 2021 the Lord to the criminal justice system through practitioners, an extensive selection of legal technology courses and the Chancellor gave an unequivocal increased transparency. creation of the Legal Technology message about the continued use of technology when he outlined The days of an advocate having to Society all promote the ethos that the Government’s plans to recover travel hundreds of miles to conduct technological advancement offers a t h e c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e f ro m t h e a ten minute bail application (where better future for the criminal justice pandemic. Whilst acknowledging the Defendant is not even produced system.

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N E W S U P D AT E

Bradford food business celebrates more than doubling export in just five years Regal Food Products Group, a Bradford-based food manufacturer which initially developed products for the local Asian market in the UK, has seen its export revenues more than double since 2016, with the company now selling products in over 40 countries.

Established in 2001 by a Bradford family which continues to run the company, Regal Foods started as a baking business providing a small range of South Asian products to Asian consumers in West Yorkshire via local convenience stores, before moving into small grocery retailers. In 2008, it began exporting to Europe and, with demand for its goods growing from consumers around the world, in 2019, it expanded its export operations into Northern America.

The company has continued to invest in its facilities, establishing a number of manufacturing sites

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in Bradford, as well as a distribution ce ntre and an online store. It has expanded to provide almost 400 different product lines under a number of brands, including its ‘Regal Foods’ a n d ‘ Yo r k s h i r e B a k e r y ’ brands, covering baked goods, confectionery and drinks products. The multi-millionpound turnover company now employs around 200 people and supplies over 3,000 small retail outlets as well as all of the large supermarket chains.

Faz Ali, group sales marketing director, comments: “The business started from humble beginnings, serving Asian corner shops in Bradford, but

our growth over the last 20 years has been phenomenal.

We are immensely proud of what we have achieved, not only with the huge popularity of our ranges in Asian communities, but also reaching beyond this and taking our products to a diverse selection of markets within the UK and worldwide.

We remain very much a family business and have never lost sight of our strong values, working hard to look after our team and local communities.

“Looking beyond Britain has been vital to our success, with ‘Made in the UK’ having huge value and being recognised and respected throughout the world. We expect our export operations to continue to flourish and, while I would encourage other Yorkshire business to be brave and explore the export opportunities.”

N E W S U P D AT E and the owners of the newly formed Wakefield AFC. Adding to his responsibilities, Sir Rodney is also chair of the London Marathon Charitable Trust. The trust owns London Marathon Events who organize mass participation events including the London Marathon, Ride London & Swim Serpentine.

He accepted the invitation to become chair of the Yorkshire Society in 2019. The society promotes the county as a place to work and live and is responsible for organizing the Yorkshire Awards Dinner, now in its 32nd year.

Additionally, is Hon President of the Community Foundation of Wakefield.

Freeman of the City of London for Yorkshire businessman At a ceremony held in November at London’s famous Guildhall, Yorkshire businessman Sir Rodney Walker was installed as a Freeman of the City of London by Special nomination for services to sport in the UK. In his letter of invitation from the Clerk to the Chamberlains Court sent on behalf of Sir D avid Woot ton, chair of the freedoms Application Committee and the City of London Corporation reference was made as follows: “The Corporation wish to mark your lifelong achievements in sports administration and charitable and cultural activities particularly in your home county of Yorkshire”

Separately, reference has also been made to his role in bring about the new Wembley Stadium and his work as chair of London Marathon Charitable Trust who own London Marathon events, who for 40 years have organised the London Marathon raising more than £90 million for mainly London based good causes.

Sir Rodney, who has been married to wife Anne for 47 years, and has two sons, has received many honours for his work over the years. In 2006 he

was Knighted by Her Majesty the Queen, awarded the Freedom of the City of Wakefield in 2012 for services to the city, sport, business and for leading campaigns which have raised an estimated £40 million for a variety of charities and good causes. Additionally, he has received Hon Doctorates from the University of Bradford and the University of Huddersfield, was admitted as a Knight into the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem for his services to health and awarded Yorkshireman of the Year in 2008.

Sir Rodney is currently chair of Galaxy Construction Services Plc. The company is to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange in Spring 2022.

He is chair and controlling shareholder of the Romiro Group, a Yorkshire based company involved in the sale of workwear and sportswear

He is vice chairman of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park having had a role in its establishment via his chairmanship of the Wakefield Festival in 1977.

He is chair of the Appleby Estate Trust and a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors Sir Rodney is an Honorary Life Vice President of the Rugby Football League having served as chairman between 1993 -2002.

He was chairman of Wakefield Trinity RLFC between 19861993. In 2015 he became a Hon Member of the Parliamentary All-Party Rugby League Group.

He i s a n Ho n o r a r y L i f e Member of Leicester City Plc of which he was chairman between 1997-2002.

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N E W S U P D AT E Hence, Tim is photographed amongst roots with the tree flourishing overhead.

Clothing wise they are both dressed as they would be if they in a client meeting. (What to wear for a photoshoot deserves a column all to itself so look out for that in a future edition).

Lighting the Way Lighting is prominent in all our images . . . we always rock up to a shoot with lights and modifiers.

Lights creatively enrich an image but are also use to direct viewers to the essential parts of an image.

How to Direct Consumers to your Selling Points Lincoln & Perrin from TopicUK's officially appointed agency Roth Read Photography, contine to share their advice with us: An Enticing Insight

Leading the Way

A corporate image’s job is to provide an enticing insight into your company’s world.

Imagine a kid eagerly peering into the window of a brightly lit colourful sweet shop; that’s how images tempt consumers into your website (only without the sticky finger marks).

Leading lines can be seen in most pictures, whether it’s photography, paintings or film. These lines guide the viewer towards a specific point of interest.

However, with all the colours, lights, objects and stickiness, consumers need to find their way to all the important selling points of the picture.

Photographers mainly do this through composition and lighting. Here we share a few techniques to help you highlight your own important bits:

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Subtle Yet Essential Tells Tells are subtle nods within a corporate image that explain more about you and your business, without shouting it from the roof-tops.

Back to Marianne, drinking a coffee and looking out into Leeds City Centre. It’s easy to imagine she is smiling at her client who has just arrived at the venue for an informal meeting.

And Tim’s logo is a tree with roots, signifying how the foundations of a business cause it to thrive.

Over to Marianne and the strobe light is obviously focussed on her. However, the view is also bright because Leeds City Centre is an important part of her story.

Tim is also lit by a strobe because he is the focus of the image.

However, the root leading towards him is also partially lit (to make it poignant) and the natural light is brightening the leaves above.

That’s all for now, we hope this has given you some ideas for your own corporate images.

In the image we created for Doo Marketing, the direction of the window sill steers you directly towards the Founder, Marianne Smith.

Likewise with Tim Calverley, who is a business turnaround specialist, the tree roots direct you towards Tim. L i ke w i s e , t h e b r a n c h e s above do the same job and draw your eyes back into the picture.

Lincoln & Perrin Roth Read Photography www.rothreadphotography.com

TILEYARD NORTH IS OFFICES STUDIOS EVENTS FLEXIBLE WORKSPACE COMMUNITY CREATIVITY MUSIC TECH FILM ART

THE NEW CREATIVE DESTINATION OF THE NORTH FOR ENQUIRES AND NEWS VISIT TILEYARDNORTH.CO.UK

ADVERTORIAL

Leeds workspace launch first of its kind eco initiative as part of its ongoing sustainability strategy, with more initiatives set to be announced in the coming months.

CEO Tom Almas explained, “We’re thrilled to announce that anyone who books one of our meeting rooms is now helping us to protect an entire acre of rainforest on every booking.

Flexible workspace provider, Wizu Workspace, has just launched a first-of-its-kind eco initiative with charity Rainforest Trust UK, in a new commitment which means that for every meeting room booked on a Wizu

site, the business will protect an entire acre of rainforest.

Wizu, which has six workspaces across Yorkshire offering coworking, offices and meeting rooms, announced the new partnership

“We are committed to improving our impact on the environment and this new partnership is the first of many initiatives we’ll be announcing as part of our ongoing strategy.

“We researched and considered various options but ultimately we chose Rainforest Trust UK due to their transparent nature, the incredible work they do and

the fact they work to protect the environment we already have.”

A spokesperson for the Rainforest Trust UK said: “Safeguarding existing rainforests is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to fight climate change, as every acre safely stores thousands of years’ worth of carbon that could otherwise enter the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas CO2.

“Through this exciting partnership between Wizu Workspace and Rainforest Trust UK, every meeting room booking will help protect our planet’s wild spaces - for the benefit of endangered species, indigenous communities and the climate.”

The business will be keeping its members updated with the impact of the new partnership by releasing stats every quarter on how much rainforest has been protected through the initiative.

Award for online bathroom retailer Doncaster-headquartered online bathroom retailer Victoria Plum has been named winner of the retail supply chain excellence award category at the Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2021.

The prestigious awards, which are now in their twenty-fifth year, are regarded as the benchmark for supply chain best practice. Attracting entries from across the UK and Europe, the awards are renowned for their rigorous judging process.

Held at the London Hilton on Park Lane, Victoria Plum won after being shortlisted alongside five other retail businesses. Led by operations director, Andy Svenson, Victoria Plum’s supply chain and logistics capability sees the company source, secure and ship more than 13,000 products from factories to its customers’ homes.

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Commenting on the award win, Andy said: “To be recognised by the Supply Chain Excellence Awards for our team’s capabilities is a fantastic achievement for us. Our dedicated team excels across our supply chain and operational needs by having an agile and flexible approach, and by building strong supplier partnerships.

We look forward to continuing to grow our excellent supply chain capabilities to meet the needs of our continually expanding customer base.”

Victoria Plum’s chief executive, Paul McClenaghan, added: “Winning this award is testament to the constantly

exceptional efforts and achievements of our supply chain and logistics team. Thanks to their hard work and

commitment, we continue to be able to deliver products to customers throughout the UK.”

N E W S U P D AT E apps to connect with their children’s school; 300 million messages are delivered between schools and parents each year, and more than £15 million worth of transactional payments are processed each month.

One in five UK employees is paid via IRIS payroll solutions and globally, IRIS processes six million payslips every month.

IRIS Software Group acquires education compliance and HR management software specialist IRIS Software Group (IRIS), one of the UK’s largest providers of specialist education software, announces it has acquired Every, a leading compliance and HR management solution provider for the education sector.

Founded in 2010, Every is a leading provider of compliance and HR management software to schools and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) in the UK. Schools trust Every’s compliance modules to provide an end-to-end system for ensuring adherence to statutory compliance requirements relating to policies, facilities and equipment, enabling them to reduce risk across the entire school estate. In response to educators’ requests, Every developed an integrated HR solution which launched to market early this year.

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Set to add to the scope of compliance and HR offerings within IRIS Education, Every is closely aligned with the IRIS Software Group’s vision to provide and strengthen mission critical services in schools and MATs. With a new academic year well underway, schools and MATs have their own unique challenges to consider. Senior leaders need real-time intelligence so they can make quick decisions for the good of the school and MAT and have the bandwidth to focus on what matters most – improving the life chances of pupils.

The move marks the next stage in IRIS’ mission to rapidly expand its IRIS Education HR software offering, at a time when many schools and MATs need seamless, integrated solutions. HR is more complex in education due to specific pay scales, salary structures and pension filings. Every’s solution provides integrated, centralised, real-time digital records for HR and finance teams that saves significant time and resources on reporting and tracking and managing staff absence.

More than 12,000 UK schools and trusts use IRIS, with four million parents and guardians using IRIS

Simon Freeman, MD of IRIS Education says, “We are delighted to welcome Every to the IRIS family.

This is another step towards creating the most comprehensive end-to-end software offering for schools and trusts – one that takes the pain out of important day to day activities, and ensures they can focus on what matters most, teaching. We’re very excited about continuing to support Every’s growth and market leading people and products to benefit both existing and new customers.”

Ian Bond, founde r of E v e r y s ay s , “ It ’ s n o w more important than ever to make sure education professionals have the tools to make their jobs more manageable, empower them with better decision making, and identify more efficient ways of working.

Joining the IRIS family allows us to build on what we’ve achieved to date and add greater value to our customers. We are excited about the future with IRIS and reinforcing our commitment to service excellence for our customers.”

N E W S U P D AT E enter the metaverse, such as through our Metaverse Gaming League. The investment will also allow us to create massively interactive live events in music and fashion that brands can partner with. It’s an exciting time for Dubit, putting all of our experience and expertise to work in the metaverse.”

Jean-Charles Capelli - Metaventures and Investor 01

Dubit raises $8m for Roblox esports events Dubit, the Leeds headquartered games studio and developer of virtual worlds for twenty years, has raised USD $8m to launch the world’s first live esports league in the metaverse, starting in Roblox. Dubit works with companies s u c h a s D i s n e y, Facebook and Lego, and is already taking brands into Roblox.

The funding round was led

by Metaventures and French investor Jean-Charles Capelli,

valuing Dubit at USD $55 million. The company will now expand its existing metaverse activity, introducing Metaverse Gaming League (MGL) to pioneer branded gaming events and esports tournaments. Metaventures and Dubit are also creating consumer lifestyle experiences such as concerts and fashion shows for the metaverse.

Currently in beta, Metaverse Gaming League hosts regular live-streamed events in Roblox, the gaming and social platform with over 200 million monthly users. Events take place in popular games, and

unlike professional esports events MGL offers everyone the chance to participate and win prizes, not just the elite players.

As an entrepreneur and musician, I’m proud to invest in Dubit...

Metaventures’ Jean-Charles Capelli

Following its launch on Roblox, it will expand to other leading metave rse gaming platforms, such as Minecraft and Core.

Announcing the raise, D ubit co-founder, Matthew Warneford, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with Jean-Charles Capelli to pioneer new ways in which brands can

Metaventures’ Jean-Charles Capelli added: “D ubit is in the perfect position to take advantage of the new opportunities in the metaverse. No other company has 20 years’ experience in developing and launching virtual worlds, combined with a great network of brands and organisations that it works with around the world. As an entrepreneur and musician, I’m proud to invest in Dubit, and I’m excited to help scale up the incredible experiences it creates for users of Roblox and other metaverses.”

Dubit was founded in 1999 by a group of teenagers who created the first Flash virtual world for young people. Now a global team of over 100 people, Dubit creates games and experiences for brands around the world, and has built a world class Roblox team, experience in building games with billions of plays.

As well as creating games for brands, Dubit also partners with many of the top existing Roblox games to introduce branded content for their millions of monthly players.

Dubit’s network of partner games already has hundreds of millions of monthly players. In 2022, Dubit will further expand its US presence by opening a studio in New York City.

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Pioneering technology to be trialled in Leeds A forward-looking Yorkshire-based business that was launched in spring 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been awarded a £271,000 grant by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to enable it to develop and manufacture products using pioneering FAR-UVC light technology.

222Protect is a safe Far-UVC light fixture which can be installed in overhead lighting and air handling units to destroy COVID-19 found in exhaled microdroplets in indoor environments.

M o o r e M e d Te c h , a h e a l t h technology provider, has joined forces with indoor environment experts Free Running Buildings in Rotherham on a six-month trial of its new 222Protect products in the busy coffee shop of the White Rose Park in Leeds. Moore MedTech’s Far-UVC in duct sterilisation units will be installed into existing air handling units and

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downlights at The Hub, one of the business park’s main hospitality areas, to create a safe, continually sanitised environment.

The 18-month project, which will be launched in December, has been made possible with f u n d i n g f r o m In n o v a te U K which drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

Moore MedTech CTO Jamie Moore, who is leading the project, said: “Our focus is on utilising the latest technologies, techniques and

N E W S U P D AT E

applications to combat pathogens in order to tackle the pandemic and help organisations create safer, cleaner working environments in order to bring people back to shared spaces.

“We were aware that Far-UVC light was likely to be a valuable tool in our armoury and are excited that, working with our partners Free Running Buildings, this grant enables us to trial the technology in the truly testing environment of a busy hospitality hub with hundreds of customers using the coffee shop every day. Our thanks go to the White Rose Park for supporting us in

this important trial and providing access to their facilities.

“The funding is vital to enabling us to further develop this innovative technology in a real-life situation in an environment which will give us the opportunity for exhaustive testing.”

David Aspin, founder & CEO of Munroe K, owners and operators of the White Rose Park, said: “We’re all adjusting to a new reality where we have to be innovative in the way we use space and technology in order to keep people as safe as possible whilst trying to minimise the impact of physical restrictions

o n e v e r y d a y l i f e . We w e r e impressed that a Yorkshire venture has taken the lead in adapting this proven technology for facilities like ours, and we recognise the potential to improve protection for our tenants and visitors. We are working together to help Moore Medtech gather the important data and evidence of the system’s efficacy so that other landlords also have the chance to benefit from this tool as we all adjust to the new normal.”

Dr Ruby Hughes, technical director at Free Running Buildings, added: “It’s well-known that heating,

ventilation, and HVAC systems exacerbate airborne transmission of COVID-19, particularly with unplanned air currents moving smaller respiratory droplets. As experts in providing thermally comfortable indoor environments, we have been able to work with Moore MedTech to use safe FarUVC technology in an innovative light fixture to combat the risk of infection via airborne viruses indoors. We will also utilise our expertise in virtual simulation to simulate the hospitality facility in order to validate the right location and quantity for fitting these FarUVC light units.

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S P E C I A L F E AT U R E

Wakefield Council hold first Inward Investment Round Table Images: John Clifton 202 - John Clifton Photography Ltd

Wakefield Council is changing its approach to the way it works with developers and private sector.

Working closer with businesses, Wakefield aims to hold bi-annual round tables to gain the thoughts, ideas and suggestions from a wide range of businesses across a number of the districts key sectors. The first of these events took place in October at The Hepworth Gallery, located on the city’s waterfront.

Those in attendance were: Mike Dove, Partner, Dove Haigh Phillips Nick Arundel, Director, AWS Myles Hartley, MD, Caddick David Aspland, Director, Illuminating Investment Edward Marshall, Director, Frank Marshall Estates Amar Chima, Director, AAA Property Group Tom Hutchinson, Business Development, Trade & Investment at Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership Steve McBurney, Strategic Land Director, Highgrove Strategic Land Matthew Payne, Partnership Manager for Yorkshire, Department for International Trade Representing Wakefield Council was: Mark Lynam, Corporate Director for Economic Growth Clare Elliott, Service Director for Economic Growth Mike Denby, Service Manager for Economic Growth Lucy McDonald, Place Manager in order to bring people back to shared spaces.

Wakefield is putting a lot of energy into economic wellbeing, something which places its people and its place at the centre of their economic ambitions. The plan is to build an economic system which will provide long-term sustainable prosperity for

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Wakefield not just growth to fund negative outcomes of our economy.

Earlier this year, Wakefield Council adopted its new Business Support and Inward Investment Strategy which focuses on attracting the

right investment to Wakefield district, bringing quality jobs and opportunities for residents.

The strategy looks at key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, creative, digital & tech, greener logistics, healthcare and construction and explores what Wakefield district has to offer these sectors and how it can

attract quality investment from these sectors. Working closely with developers and the private sector is crucial to delivering this for Wakefield.

The first round-table e ve nt provided many key themes and ideas that were taken away from the event. Mike Dove suggested

S P E C I A L F E AT U R E

for developers to encourage them to submit applications. that Wakefield needed to consider working with academia to create specialist training centres for key sites. The work of local universities such as Huddersfield and Leeds and a centre of excellence for Manufacturing or Advanced Logistics would suit the aspirations of the investment strategy.

Nick Arundel agreed and suggested that planning is key to making investment a success. He believes the team at Wakefield Council are experiencing pressures due to staff turnover and this must be addressed. Mark Lynam agreed and said a number of changes are being implemented to speed up the process and make it run smother

Two members of the group, Myles Harley and David Aspland suggested that local authorities needed to think more commercially in order to attract strategic investment and consider taking the head lease on buildings to ensure its more commercially viable will help to secure investment that will be long term suitable for the district whilst attracting quality, skilled employment opportunities.

phenomenal, and we’ve let all except one of our units. We will certainly be working with the investment team to secure more sites in the future.

The group discussed the importance of an anchor tenant in the city centre to revitalise the office / city centre working sector and the transformational impact this would mean for Wakefield and the knockoff effect this would have on the wider district. This was an opinion shared by all those attending.

All attendees agreed that working with the council’s investment team has been a really useful initiative, with one member suggesting ‘they are always willing to help get an investment to completion’. Wakefield Council work commercially and have a really good understanding of the industry and what investors require. This isn’t emulated across all local authorities and should be commended.

It was felt that flexibility and connectivity is more considered by investors than ever before – along with best-in-class facilities, grade A office space that is sustainable and offers people the same quality environment they have when working from home. Wakefield needs to explore a number of niche areas, differentiating itself from other areas and be bold with its planning and ambitions.

Ed Marshall from Frank Marshall Estates said: Nano park is the first development we have undertaken in Wakefield. The response has been

The next meeting will take place in April 2022 where discussions on how investment can be brought to Wakefield will continue.

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SN PE EWCSI AULPF D E AT E URE Driving the vision of transformative learning, The Skills Network is introducing a new predictive analytics tool, developed in response to the 2019 updates to the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF), new courses in sustainability, tailor made to reflect the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, as well as content tailormade for different generations dependant on preferred learning styles.

The Skills Network repositions to revolutionise online learning industry The Skills Network, one of the UK’s largest technology and content houses, has repositioned its brand to drive a new vision of transformative learning, sustainability solutions, and make online learning experiences more enjoyable and accessible to everyone.

The online learning provider is revolutionising its business model through various developments, such as enhancing the future of education through its use of extensive learner insights and most notably, its commitment towards listening to market demands. With growing demand to learn skills in sustainability and eco literacy, courses have since been developed to reflect this.

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Having created award-winning content for over ten years, The Skills Network is levelling up through using learner insights and modern technology, to create the ultimate bespoke learning experience at scale.

In line with the ongoing transformation of learning, a huge brand focus is on course accessibility and inclusion of generational nuances.

After in-depth research and

greater understanding of its learners’ behaviour, the online learning provider has enhanced its technology and content whilst adapting its online experiences for every kind of learner from varying generations, genders, abilities, and backgrounds.

The rebrand is changing the perceptions of The Skills Network, reintroducing an avant-garde “technology business” that delivers the highest quality learning and skills to both the education and business-to-business sector while also providing to individual learners.

Kyle Fedyszyn, director of ecommerce and marketing said: “The business is evolving like never before and with our latest technology and commitment to listening to the market, we recognise the needs of those working in education and the importance of adapting the way in which individuals can access learning.

“With the latest news on job vacancies being at a recordhigh due to the widening skills gap, our recent Skills Trend Report has helped reveal where the current skill shortages lie.

Using this insight, our future business model will ensure the relevant courses are developed to help learners gain qualifications for the most in demand skills.

“Our rebrand is also dedicated to listening to our learners, which is why we’ve developed a sustainability course in response to the growing need of training and resources in this area. We all have a social responsibility, and at The Skills Network, we’re proud to be in a position to educate other businesses, schools and universities on ways energy usage can be managed and monitored.”

N E W S U P D AT E

It’s only au revoir not goodbye It’s two years since we were asked to support Wakefield Hospice as they celebrated their 30th Birthday year. We were delighted to be involved, helping to promote them where we could, offering free space within TopicUK. Then the Pandemic struck, and all events and fundraising were put on hold. So, at the beginning of 2021 we offered to support the Hospice for a second year.

Our official partnership is now ending at the end of this year, but of course we will always continue to help and support them where we can, they are an important part of our community.

“I sincerely hope that local businesses will continue to s u p p o r t , w i t h o u t h e l p from the community their

vital work would be in jeopardy”said TopicUK editor Gill Laidler.

In 2 0 2 2 To p i c U K w i l l b e supporting The Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice with free space and keeping readers up to date with their news and fundraising efforts. I do hope that our readers will get behind us.

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N E W S U P D AT E

New home rental brand to launch in Yorkshire The home rental brand, Casa by Moda, is set to change the way people live in the UK, starting in Yorkshire. Setting a new bar for rental housing in the UK, Casa aims to address the nationwide housing shortage, providing much-needed high quality 1-4 bed family homes at an accessible price point for renters.

or book clubs to baking and board game groups, Casa’s teams and technology will enable residents to access and engage with the community around them.

Casa will deliver an initial 5,000 new family homes for rent in target suburban markets by 2025, which will have a combined value of £1bn. Some 200 Casa homes are already planned in the Yorkshire region, with the first set to start on site in Bradford, next April and the first residents to move in before the end of 2022.

Technology will also enable Casa homes to give a strong environmental performance, through its partnership with Utopi. All new homes will be fitted with environment sensors that will monitor the performance of the buildings, measuring everything from room temperature to air quality and light pollution.

The technology serves the dual purpose of making sure homes are at the optimum living conditions for residents, and ensuring the building is performing as efficiently as possible.

The neighbourhoods will be designed, developed and operated by Casa, which is part of Yorkshire-based leading build-to-rent brand Mo d a L i v i n g . T h e n e w proposition will deliver much needed and price accessible housing across the UK, designed around Moda’s core principals of leading technology, strong ESG credentials and a focus on delivering outstanding health, wellbeing and service to its residents.

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Unlike traditional rental, residents won’t need to pay deposits and pets are more than welcome.

W ith a technology-first approach, all residents will have access to an app that enables them to contact the virtual concierge and access on demand services from logging maintenance issues to booking a dog walker. Casa

by Moda will also provide true security of tenure on long-term renewable leases for up to three years.

Casa aims to create social, integrated and safe neighbourhoods. Organised reside nt e ve nts such as community barbeques, food and drink pop ups and mental health workshops will allow people to mix with their neighbours. In addition, community-led groups will bring like-minded people together. From running clubs

Moda’s parent company, Yorkshire-based Caddick Group, is responsible for the construction and delivery of the homes, as well as coinvesting alongside leading global institutional capital.

Rob Gill, head of acquisitions said: “Casa by Moda has been

years in the making, and we are thrilled to be able to share this terrific new venture with the public. Work is already underway at a number of sites so we can start delivering new homes as soon as next year.

Lydia Eustace, marketing director and head of wellbeing said: “Casa by Moda will raise the bar for rental in the region, creating beautiful new family homes for rent. Our aim is to address the shortage of high-quality homes and improve the experience of residents let down by the current market.

“Changing the way people live for the better, all our residents will be offered on demand mental health services, access to wellbeing workshops and the opportunity to regularly connect with their neighbours. We know that 61% of renters feel lonely and that doesn’t need to be the case. By connecting our communities together and offering secure tenancies of up to three years, we’re able to create long-term, integrated neighbourhoods.”

THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Pebble Shore Travel opens shop in Scarborough market

shop like this, but fortunately I’ve had the full support of Inde pe nde nt Travel Expe rts and The Travel Network Group consortium, and I’m now open, and up and running”

Set up by Rachel Dartnall-Smith over seven years ago as a homeworking company, Pebble Shore Travel has made the move to retail premises and opened its first shop within Scarborough Market Hall.

to do was months and months of nothing but cancellations, refunds and re-bookings. But I wanted to stay in the industry I love, and it made me more determined than ever to open a shop.”

The shop - which is open MondaySaturday, 9am-5pm - is a big break with the past as up until this point Pebble Shore Travel had traded solely online, in conjunction with Independent Travel Experts.

It was at this point that fate stepped in when a hairdresser friend mentioned the retail units in the indoor market, which is spread across three floors of an historic building in Scarborough’s St Helen’s Square. “I knew the time was right to branch out,” she adds and decided to make a go of it.

“We’re finding that existing and new customers are keen to come and see us in person to help them through the paperwork and forms that now accompany travel and holidays abroad. Even though we’re only a phone call or email away, it’s been a genuine surprise just how many people still prefer that face to face interaction.

“I had originally planned to open a store early last year,” explains Rachel, “but the Covid-19 pandemic changed all that. Like many travel agents, all I seemed

“It has been a big investment for me, even with a relatively small

Pebble Shore Travel has also been supported throughout the pandemic and in her new shop b y Jet2holidays. “The y have been a fantastic support for us throughout and it’s great to work in partnership with the UK’s second-largest tour operator.”

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TH E SY OURPKDSAHTI E RE COAST N EW

One of the Yorkshire coast’s newest restaurants has taken seafront dining to a new level.

Be peppered with surprises at the new Salt restaurant

The Salt on the Harbour at Bridlington is a triumph for owner Michael Harrison and his team - in a venture that has created 30 jobs.

Diners are greeted with a scene of candle-lit, white-clothed tables, upholstered jade chairs and smart, muted decor - an engaging scene, with friendly and attentive staff.

The a la carte restaurant overlooking the harbour supports the town’s fishing community and also serves locallyreared beef and lamb.

The Bridlington-landed lobster, crab, fish and local produce offers a quality menu - a must for visitors from throughout Yorkshire and elsewhere who head to the East coast for a break.

Starters include generous and tasty Bridlington Bay Crab Trifle, layered with avocado mousse and tarragon (£9.95) and Asian Sweet chilli beef with oriental salad (£9.95), tasty and not overly-sweet.

The main menu includes excellent Flat Iron Steak served with Parmesan and truffle, mushroom and vine tomatoes (£23.95) and Bridlington Bay lobster with garlic and parsley butter and lobster bisque (£18.95).

Desserts include a well-crafted brulee with light shortbread biscuits, and orange and passion fruit tart with Chantilly cream.

The wine list is wide-ranging, including a South African Franschhoek Chenin Blanc at a very fair price.

Salt on the Harbour, Bridlington

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Specials included pan-fried sea bream with mustard and tarragon sauce (£22.95).

THE YORK ST N SE H WI SR EU C PO DAT E

Salt on the Harbour view

As a first-timer to the Salt on the Harbour, it was an enjoyable surprise - and a great boost for Bridlington.

Michael Harrison’s bold takeover of the two-tier Salt on the Harbour h a s c r e a te d a n i m p r e s s i v e , comprehensive refurbishment with skill and effort, and created seven chic bedrooms. The accommodation is another plus for the area.

The new venue has many dimensions, including a restaurant and bar area on the ground floor with a bistro offer, breakfast club, Sunday Lunch, ice cream selection and a fish and chips take-out restaurant.

The venue is next to South Quay, within walking distance of the Bridlington Spa entertainment centre, and was previously the Blue Lobster and Rags, with parking that could not be nearer to the busy working harbour.

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THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Back to black... joy at Goths return A Yorkshire photographer has recorded the return of the Goths to Whitby the first big autumn event since covid reduced the popular spectacle.

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THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Peter Bartle has been photographing the Goths at the coast for six years and has captured the latest visit for TopicUK. When the Goths began in 199394 as a music event, they came once a year but it’s now back to the normal spring and autumn calendar, with more stunning and outlandish costumes that attract big crowds.

It was inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. The Dublin-born author visited Whitby for research and the town’s landmarks are featured in the book.

Peter, whose mother was from Whitby and lived at Love Lane, said: “I spoke to a lot of the Goths because I’m always interested in where they come from - Durham,

Leeds, Worcester, Sheffield, all over the country.

“Covid has still kept the numbers down and there wasn’t as many regulars I think but it was still a huge attraction - and still a boon for pubs and restaurants.

“Also, for me, it’s good my mental health to cover events like this.”

Using a Canon 400D with a Tamron lens, his portfolio also covers architecture, landscape, wildlife, events and portraits.

Images here can be obtained from Peter on peterbartle@gmail.com Peter, 55, works under the name of BARTOGRAPHY and is on Facebook.He is originally from Keighley and has lived Scarborough since 1990 TopicUK December 2021

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TH E SY OURPKDSAHTI E RE COAST N EW

A woman has turned a career devoted to health and lifestyle sciences into a fledgling business.

Why Julie is urging everyone to get back into rhythm with nature Dance movement psychotherapist Julie Marsay of Scarborough has created her well-being based venture from the ‘taking stock’ that came out of the covid lockdowns.

“Dancing gives people better wellbeing and can help them cope better with health issues,” she said.

Medical Association as a qualified, professional complementary medical practitioner.

Julie studied Contemporary Dance Theatre at the former Scarborough campus of Hull University and was an Adult Education Teacher in Arts for Health, a Holistic health Applied She is also a herbalist and a member of the Complementary

“We need to rethink lifestyles holistically,” she said.

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“We are out of time with nature.”

expressive art the rap y, the ‘authentic self ’.

Julie calls her style of dance and movement for health as

The dance movement psychotherapist has established

THE YORK ST N SE H WI SR EU C PO DAT E

The Dance for Health Carawagon Trail rooms at Scarborough Market Hall Vaults - adorned with colourful art, cultural and flamencoinfluenced decor

“ We h a v e t o t u r n b a c k t o natural rhythm of time and ourselves,” said Julie.

“Dance is healing – it has a magical

quality in physical, mental, emotional ways, and the root is ancient healing.”

to the café afterwards as many of the patients feel isolated.

She worked for nine years as a hospital healthcare assistant and worked in the arts team for the stroke unit.

“Health issues have moved on and I have space outside the unit to turn into a ‘vintage’ mini-theatre and show old Super 8s Charlie Chaplin, with a vintage record player for old time music.”

Her portfolio includes teaching dance movement for people with autism, past trauma, dementia, Parkinson’s or mobility issues.

She said: “The community unit is interested as the sessions could be a social event where people can go

Julie added: “It’s time to return to a lot of different things and how we think – worry, stress, anxiety all create physical problems in the body that manifest into hospitalisation sometimes.”

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THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Ale trail ... Three Bs

Why Bridlington is ‘hoppy’ to have its turn in the spotlight Bridlington’s new real ale trail is helping to give the town a resurgence thanks to brews such as Yorkshire Legend, Down the Hatch and Hoppy in Brid.

Six bars have banded together to create the beer beat, promoting the wide range of artisan ales and encouraging more visitors to the town.

“Seaside towns are not generally known for real ale, so I suggested that we work together to create more business and for something quirky that would attract more people from away,” said Mark Bates of the Three Bs micropub who created the concept with his wife Cheryl.

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Ale trail creator ... Mark Bates, of the Three Bs, real ale trail founder

“It’s about raising the profile and being part of a lot of new developments that are happening in the town - 12 new businesses this year, new eating places, new tapas bar, the new Salt on the Harbour, and there’s the Premier hotel and maybe a new multi-storey car park.”

THE YORKSHIRE COAST

The micropub also offers more than 10 ciders and he is a big supporter of Camra.

The Stackhouse Bar is a hidden gem off the Promenade with local and national ale.

These include Helmsley’s Yorkshire Legend bitter, Lilley’s Rhubarb cider and a huge range of spirits and drinks of all types, with more than 80 gins and craft keg and craft cans.

“We hope that the town will benefit as a whole from the ale trail. People are surprised to find us tucked away along an alley but we get customers from all over Leeds, Batley and we had visitors from Scotland who had been recommended by their B&B,” said bar manager Kyle Lawless who moved from Doncaster.

He said that it could be “Brid’s turn” to be in the spotlight and hopes that the real ale trail will spark a talking point.

“We are asking accommodation providers to help by promoting our ale trail leaflet,” he said.

Mark who moved to the town from Birmingham, has offered 180 ales this year so far.

They have included the 3.8% Nailmaker Wappentake pale ale and the 4.5% Scarboroughproduced North Riding Treacle

Toffee full-bodied porter.

His bar has been developed from a former sweet shop which was previously a printing business. It has bookshelves and local history spotlights instead of with music, TV sport or gaming machines.

From behind the handpumps of the Bridbrewer and Taproom, owner Stuart Fisher was offering his own brews on the premises such as Berry Christmas, and also Hoppy in Brid made with ingredients including amarillo and citra. CONTINUED F TopicUK December 2021

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THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Kyle Lawless of the Stackhouse Bar

His ‘pins’ (half a firkin) contain 36 pints each and his new outside seating area has proved popular.

Bridbrewer and Taproom

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Stuart, a former engineer who worked for the environment agency, moved to Bridlington from Ilford.“I’m an Essex boy, selling cloudy beer to Yorkshire folk,” he said.

Stuart Fisher, brewer

He also creates a range of bottle-conditioned beers s u c h a s I PA , R y e , Fr u i t , Pilsner, Porters, Mild and Stouts.

John’s Street, Quay Road, Manor Street, King Street, Promenade and Marshall Avenue, and convenient for the railway station.

The real ale route venues run in an arc between St

The Ale Trail is supported by the Yorkshire Coast BID.

THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Old Ship Inn

The Telegraph

The Old Ship Inn, a traditional cask marque and beer accredited real ale pub that supports Camra and which featured Yorkshire Heart’s Quaffer, Buckeye from Rooster Brewing and Kelham Island Easy Rider.

The Telegraph, which had Bosun’s Down

the Hatch, Lincoln Green’s Archer American IPA, Pennine Rocket Fuel and Wold Top’s Angler’s Reward.

The Brunswick Hotel, one of the oldest hotels in the area, which sells Wold Top ales More detail is available at https:// www.bridrealaleguide.co.uk/ TopicUK December 2021

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N E W S U P D AT E

Kirklees College joins Good for Me, Good for FE campaign

With demand for food banks remaining high, the Good for Me Good for FE scheme will ensure that Kirklees College is able to continue supporting its young people with its on-site student food banks.

Jane Simpson, Executive Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Kirklees College said: “We are proud to be named as the latest college to join the Good for Me, Good for FE initiative. We recognise the positive impact that the scheme will have on both the college and wider community and our involvement will support the shared goal of creating long term social change. Wellbeing is a key priority for the college, and we hope that this initiative will raise awareness of the mental health benefits of volunteering for our staff and students.”

Working with the support of its voluntary and employer partners, Kirklees College will also be raising awareness and providing

Follow @kirkleescollege on social media for the latest updates about the Good for Me, Good for FE campaign.

encouraging volunteering and fundraising across the country.

The campaign builds on the huge success of FE Foodbank Friday in which colleges around the country came together during the pandemic to raise over £47,000 and collect more than 20,000 items for local food banks.

Kirklees College is the latest college to pledge its support to the FE sector’s new community action initiative: Good for Me, Good for FE.

With 100 colleges signed up to the initiative, the campaign aims to generate £1 million of social value by creating a long term, sustainable programme of community wealth,

opportunities for staff and students to be involved in promoting local charitable initiatives in Kirklees.

Business of the Month Award win for Easy Bathrooms A successful bathroom retailer has been awarded the Eaton Smith Business of the Month Award for October 2021.

Easy Bathrooms is the consumer and trade arm of Cubico UK Ltd. Cubico was founded in 2012 to sell bathroom products to independent retailers. However, the strategy developed a few years later and the company opened a network of their own showrooms across the UK and Easy Bathrooms was born.

Since then, the company has seen rapid growth, employs hundreds of people and makes a significant contribution to the region.

Deborah Melluish, Senior Partner at Eaton Smith and member of the judging panel said; “Easy Bathrooms is an incredibly impressive business

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with ambitious plans. The judging panel highlighted the company’s commitment to the region through their desire to acquire new premises due to growth but to remain in the same location in order to retain their existing staff. Furthermore, during the pandemic the company created more than 300 new jobs and opened 35 new stores.”

Lee Reed, head of marketing at Easy Bathrooms commented; “It is fantastic that the team’s hard work and achievements have been recognised by this award. We invest in our staff who work hard and deliver excellent customer service

which is what makes the business so successful. It is an exciting time at Easy Bathrooms as we move to new premises and look forward to a very promising future.”

Easy Bathrooms is the fifth winner

of the Business of the Month Award in the 2021/22 series and now goes through to contend for the Business of the Year Award in July 2022. The awards are run in conjunction with the Mid Yorkshire Chamber and the Department for International Trade.

Yorkshire

YORKSHIRE BUSINESSWOMAN

Practicing ‘Self-Care’ through Ayurveda - The Science of Life

By :

Ja n e t

M i l n e r-Wa l k er

-

F o und er

o f

Besp o ke

A dvantage

More than eighteen months our lives changed significantly globally. Cocooned in the comfort of our homes, we have more time to spend on improving our diet, health, and wellbeing and to reflect upon the way in which we go about our day-to-day lifestyle. The quality of our mindset, mental health, fitness, wellbeing, reducing stress levels, improving our sleep and our happiness has been on our horizon since pre-Covid, but has risen in importance following the onset of the pandemic.

Whilst Ayurveda, an ancient Hindu practice that focuses on holistic wellbeing, has been around for more than 7,000 years, only recently it has become more mainstream, perhaps not surprising considering the turn of events over the past few months.

Ayurveda – pronounced as ‘ahyer-vey-dik’ – originates from Sanskrit words ‘Ayur’ which means ‘Life’ and ‘Veda’ which means ‘Science’.

Ayurveda, or the ‘Science of Life’, focuses on achieving balance. It is

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based on the premise that optimal health and wellness depends upon balancing our mind, body, and soul. It is about what we put into our bodies, what we apply onto our skin and about managing our thoughts and our mindset.

It helps us to focus on slowing down - ‘less is more’. From gut-healing foods and wellness products to rituals that help to improve the vibrancy of our skin, Ayurveda touches upon every aspect in our lives, some of the fundamental lifestyle Ayurvedic principles include

5.

Dry body brushing and oil massages

6.

Eating warming food

Doshas

1.

Drinking water at room temperature

Ayurvedic medicine is based on the concept that the world is made up of five elements – space, water, earth, fire, and air. A combination of all five elements results in three doshas which are known as Vata, Kapha and Pitta.

These doshas are responsible for our physiological, mental, and emotional health, and form the blueprint to achieving our optimal wellbeing.

2.

Prioritising digestion

Vata

3.

Practicing yoga

4.

Incorporating seasonal skincare

Consists mainly of air and space, and is generally described as cold, light, flowing and spacious. People with a Vata dosha are described

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YNO R KSS H EW U IPRDEABT U ES I N E S SWO M A N as slim, energetic, and creative. strong leaders, highly motivated, They think outside the box but goal-oriented, and competitive. can become easily distracted.

Strengths – intelligent, Strengths – learn quickly, are purposeful, learns quickly, selfhighly creative, a multitasker, determined, successful, natural k i n d - h e a r t e d , n a t u r a l l y leader, good circulation, healthy slim, and flexible. skin, and hair.

We a k n e s s e s – f o r g e t f u l , anxious, unstable moods, easily overwhelmed, sensitive to cold, have trouble sleeping, poor circulation.

Lifestyle – need to manage their stress through meditation and keeping their body warm by avoiding cold weather and eating warm food and drinks.

Khapa Consists mainly of earth and water. It is described as steady, stable, heavy, slow, and soft.

People with this dosha are described as strong, thick-boned, and caring, they keep things together and rarely get upset.

Strengths – emphatic, caring, trusting, patient, calm, wise, happ y, romantic, healthy immune system.

Weaknesses – gain weight quickly, slow metabolism, breathing issues, heart disease, need regular motivation and encouragement.

Lifestyle – focus on regular e xe r c i s e , a h e a l t h y d i e t , maintaining a warm body temperature and a regular sleep pattern.

Pitta Consists mainly of fire and water.

It is described as hot, light, sharp, oily, liquid. Pitta people have a muscular build, are athletic, are

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Weaknesses – impatient, prone to conflict, always hungry, mood swings, prone to acne and inflammation.

Lifestyle – need to focus on achieving a work-life balance and avoiding extreme heat (weather and spicy food) Yoga and Meditation Yoga and meditation are popular exercise methods used to overcome stress and anxiety and have also been around for thousands of years, introduced by sages and seers of India.

Practicing yoga and meditation are a key part of following an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

The word meditation stems from ‘meditatum’ a Latin term that means ‘to ponder’. Meditation enables a better connection with our body in everyday moments and helps to create a stronger awareness of how our emotions influence our behaviour. It is about practicing mindfulness.

Meditation keeps our mind sharp, relieves stress and anxiety.

Yoga allows us to achieve the highest level of perception and harmony and improves our flexibility, physical strength, awareness, helping to keep us grounded. When practiced together meditation and yoga create a connection between our mind, body, and soul, to achieve overall wellbeing. There are several different types of yoga we

can practice, including laughter yoga, or hasyayoga, which is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. It is encouraged to create and sustain positive energy, with great health benefits, helping us to relax and unwind.

Ayurveda and Beauty Industry

the

Beauty in India is performing extremely well, with several direct-to-consumer brands gaining momentum over the

Ayurveda, or the ‘Science of Life’, focuses on achieving balance. It is based on the premise that optimal health and wellness depends upon balancing our mind, body, and soul...

Y O R K S H I R E B U SNI N E SSS U WPODMA A EW TN E

1.

1.

a hair oil to help keep the hair and scalp moisturised.

and cultural tradition of Ayurveda and holistic medicine.

Mustard Seed Oil was banned in 2012 by the FDA as a cooking oil due to its high levels of erucic acid, however it is used in the beauty industry for hair growth, condition, and shine. High in selenium, it is an antioxidant that protects cells. High in omega-3 fatty acids, to nourishes hair from the inside out and protein, essential for hair growth.

Forest Essentials produces skin and hair care products for women and men, based on Ayurvedic herbs and local ingredients – like soaps with pure ghee, whole cream milk, raw organic honey, and cane sugar.

Backed by Estee Lauder they have recently launched into the UK.

Te a Tr e e O i l h a s a n t i i n f l a m m a to r y a n d a n t i microbial properties and is traditionally used to treat acne. It helps to calm redness, swelling and inflammation and may help to prevent and reduce the appearance of acne scars.

Mauli Rituals is a skincare brand based on blending natural essential oils and Ayurvedic ingredients to achieve healthy and radiant skin.

With the seasons changing, days become shorter, darker, and colder, perhaps now is the time to really invest in practicing self-care, through the ancient science of life called Ayurveda.

Ayurveda Beauty Brands

past few years including Lakme and Nykaa. Following an Ayurvedic lifestyle is not only good for our body and our minds, but it also elevates our beauty regimes. When considering how to treat conditions like acne, Ayurveda considers diet, stress levels, sleep as well as the way in which our skin is being treated.

Seeking out superstar ingredients native to India – from Neem to Saffron, Henna, Moringa, Rose Water, Turmeric and Ashwagandha to name but a few – in our beauty products, helps to ensure our skin looks radiant and we feel better. Ayurvedic beauty brands also use several oils in their products, which have great benefits:

1.

1.

1.

Almond Oil is rich in Vitamin E, it contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits and boosts immunity. It is used to treat minor cuts, eczema, and psoriasis. It can improve the complexion and skin tone, help with sun damage, reduce the signs of ageing and fade scars.

Coconut Oil is used in hair care products to improve the health, length, and shine of hair.

Jasmine Oil helps to lock moisture into the skin, it has antimicrobial benefits, boosts the mood, and is also used as

In India beauty is about adopting a 360-degree approach, and there is a far strong emphasis placed on self-care and self-love. With so many benefits to be reaped by following an Ayurvedic lifestyle, we are pleased to note that more Ayurveda beauty products and brands are popping up online in the UK. Fable & Mane is a plant-based hair care brand. O iling your scalp is a common practice in Indian households, helping to hydrate, nourish and balance your hair and scalp.

Uma Oils is a luxury beauty and wellness collection made of rare, precious botanicals grown in India and built around the wisdom of Ayurveda. UMA is the culmination of rich tradition and science; the founder of the brand Shrankhla Holecek was raised in India and was immersed in the knowledge

About Janet Milner-Walker Janet is the founder of Bespoke Advantage, a brand management company that build brands across the beauty sector, she is also a consultant, and a speaker. Over the past twenty years she has developed and launched products and brands for M&S, Harvey Nichols, Boots, Body Shop and Crabtree & Evelyn as well as worked with many start-ups.

Their award-winning portfolio of clients include beauty and wellness brands, professional spas and salons, investors and entrepreneurs based in the UK and internationally – www.thebespokeadvantage.com.

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YNO R KSS H EW U IPRDEABT U ES I N E S SWO M A N

About us

TopicUK are delighted to welcome back our columnist, the UK’s leading sales and communications expert Nicky Pattinson. sterile denominator. The most unemotive denominator.

The world is driven by emotion and so are you.

Maybe as part of your 2022 planning try this exercise. Rewrite the ‘story of the business’. Maybe for the about page. Maybe just in a notebook.

Then write the future and believe it.

Read it every day. A massive future where you win. Rock the cash. Are the most loved at what you do, and all your hopes materialise.

Reconnect you to your business through its story. So many of us have lost our why in the affray this year. Totally understandable. But let’s get cracking now.

Who are we? What brought us here and where is it all going?

HIYA - RecentlyI put a small event on at Dakota Hotel in Leeds – just what you need at the end of the year. It was twelve people in a lovely room with lovely food.

Twelve ‘about pages’ on twelve websites.

Now I’m no best-selling novelist, I don’t even have ‘O’ level English, but I do have a way of working with other people’s words, more than my own actually.

It’s not even the qualifications that make you a star performer. Everybody has qualifications, but there is only one you! And, there is only ‘one’ story of your business.

So, before the event I looked at everyone’s ‘about page’ and how they described themselves, then looked at who they actually were. What twists and turns had created the genius?

Innocent Drinks are the masters of telling a good story. We all wanted to be them. The two lads who went to a festival with a couple of blenders and some fruit. Asked the customers to put the empties in one of two boxes.

Yes, this could be a business. And no go, back to the regular job on Monday.

The rest is as they say is history. Part of all our histories now in fact.

It’s never just the qualifications that make you a star performer.

Actually, let me rephrase that.

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We used very conversational word formations to describe how people got to where they were in a much more emotively charismatic way than previously written. Our band of guests then all commented on ‘how they felt’ in the presence of the words on the screen. How connected to the person and the business they felt as opposed to the original.

It’s our choice. And the world is driven by a very good story. Always has been. You’ll be driven by your own good story.

We saw the person and we saw what motivated them, what made them do what they’ve done and crucially why it all matters so much to them and why that really did matter to us.

It is.

But, the crazy thing is when we look at ourselves, we just don’t always see how big we are, or how well we’ve done to keep standing.

We take ourselves to the most

Read it daily.

Believe your great story. Imagine generations to follow saying ‘that was her’ or ‘that was him’.

March into 2022 knowing we are not looking back.

Nicky will be hosting another ‘Just 12’ event in February – drop her an email nicky@nickypattinson. com if you’d like details. Two tickets gone already. And it’s not even advertised until now!

YORKSHIRE BUSINESSWOMAN forward to working with local businesses in a bid to support their recruitment needs.”

Charlotte began her recruitme nt caree r in London working with temporary and permanent candidates in a commercial office. She then moved into a business development corporate sales role with the responsibility for securing all new business over 12 central London branches.

A change of direction led to Charlotte relocating to Yorkshire running her own successful businesses and during the pandemic has been involved in business consultancy work for a number of York businesses.

An opportunity earlier this year to project manage a large piece of recruitment for a local Yorkshire company has resulted in Blonde Brown Recruitment.

Blonde Brown Recruitment launches in York Blonde Brown, a new recruitment firm specialising in contract and permanent positions, has launched in Yorkshire. Set up

by Charlotte Watson and Kate Chandan, the company will operate nationally to match people with businesses across a range of sectors including accountancy and finance; engineering and manufacturing; hospitality; retail; human resources; logistics; and sales and marketing.

Collectively, Charlotte and Kate have a proven track record in the industry, spanning over 20 years, managing the recruitment process on behalf of independent employers through to major blue chip organisations from junior positions to management and board appointments.

As independent expert recruiters, Charlotte and Kate are on hand for people looking for their next move or step on the career path.

For businesses seeking to expand teams, Blonde Brown offers a bespoke recruitment process that will help secure the very best talent.

Charlotte commented: “The UK labour market is experiencing unprecedented times following the aftermath of Brexit and the ongoing pandemic. Businesses across many sectors are struggling to recruit staff or fill long-term vacant roles.

It’s very much a candidateled industry as people who were either furloughed or made redundant over the last 18-months and took on temporary positions as a stop gap are now seeking new roles. It’s an exciting time to be launching Blonde Brown and we’re looking

When Kate left university with a marketing degree, she had no idea what she wanted to do.

Eventually she was offered several roles as recruitment consultant working initially for an agency in Leeds focusing on marketing positions.

After a break from the corporate world Kate became a full-time mum to her three children. Re-entering the world of sales earlier this year.

An opportunity to work on a project for a large employer reignited her passion for recruitment and Blonde Brown Recruitment was born.

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YNO R KSS H EW U IPRDEABT U ES I N E S SWO M A N

Presenting: an ambassador for all Yorkshire Businesswomen Many people reading this article will recognise Christine Talbot as she has graced our screens each weeknight for many years as the popular presenter and anchor on ITV’s news programme Calendar, alongside copresenter Duncan Wood.

Christine left Calendar at the end of June this year to pursue new interests and Yorkshire Businesswoman editor Gill Laidler caught up with Christine to find out more.

Journalism has always played a part in Christine’s life. Growing up in her native Lancashire, the first newspaper Christine worked

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on was a family newspaper that she created with her sister, reporting on anything All images: that was going on in their Ant Oxley Photography family life.

moving in front of the camera and reporting live.”

In 1994, Christine, who lives in Wetherby with her husband Chris and daughter Beth, moved to ITV where she presented the Tonight show for four years and a programme called Wellbeing. At the same time, she was working as a reporter for evening news programme Calendar, before becoming their main presenter and news anchor alongside Duncan Wood where she stayed until June this year.

After leaving school, Christine attended the Lancashire Polytechnic School of Journalism where she qualified as a journalist in 1985. She began her career at the Southport Visitor and the Lancashire Evening Post before moving into television journalism, working on BBC North West on the Tonight programme. “I was ready for change and loved “I loved my time at Calendar,” working in television, although I she explained. “Live television did start at the bottom, working is very unpredictable and I am behind the scenes first, before always nervous before a big

Y O R K S H I R E B U SNI N E SSS U WPODMAA EW TN E lots of times about her many amazing achievements, she was a real inspiration to all of us.”

So, what’s next for Christine who we are delighted is an ambassador for Yorkshire Businesswoman?

“I needed a break. I had been at Calendar a long time and although I absolutely loved my time there and it was a huge wrench to leave everyone, I needed to take stock and think about what I wanted for the future as I needed to work a bit more flexibly for my family.

However, so many doors have opened, and I have lots of exciting projects in the pipeline for next year.

In the meantime, I was involved with Raworth’s Literary Festival and recently hosted Yorkshire’s first ever Climate Change summit, which brought together politicians, organisations and business leaders to pave the way forward for this region which was a huge honour.

I also hosted the fantastic Silver and Sassy fashion show, where all the models were older women which was great fun.” Christine is also on the appeals fund board of the Children’s Hospital in Leeds and is hosting the mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust Covid Carers award to thank the NHS staff for their work during the pandemic.

interview, particularly when it is a really famous person such as a prime minister or famous actor, I think I have interviewed them all during my time at Calendar, I don’t think people realise we don’t always have an autocue, particularly if we are interviewing away from the studio, nerves do kick in!”

So, who have been Christine’s favourite people to interview? “Oh, that’s difficult because there have been many over the years. However, two people really stand out for me

FACT FILE

Favourite holiday destination: The beautiful island of Capri Favourite car: Range Rover Evoke Favourite Restaurant: All of them in Boston Spa and Wetherby Favourite food and drink: Italian and white wine Favourite Gadget: My super strength hair straighteners

as being lovely genuine people and very professional, Cliff Richard and Lulu! I was very nervous meeting them, but they soon put me at ease, both were some of the loveliest people I have met. We generally find when interviewing, the more famous the person, the nicer they seem to be. Jane Tomlinson who sadly passed away in 2007 after raising almost £2m for charity, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1991 at the young age of 26 was also memorable for me, we became good friends as I interviewed her

Outside work, Christine who has twice been nominated for the Royal Television Society Best Presenter Award in Yorkshire and winner of the RTS TV Reporter 2016 and O2 Broadcast Presenter 2015 and O2 TV Journalist 2016, as well as Yorkshire Choice Media Personality 2015, and in September this year, the RTS Yorkshire Outstanding Achievement Award, enjoys the great outdoors, sport and walking in particular in the Yorkshire Dales, enjoying the fresh air. Spending time with her family is also important.

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N E W S U P D AT E

Women in tech: inspiring the next generation of female founders

The technology sector is thriving and continuously evolving, creating many exciting career opportunities. In the UK, areas such as AI, FinTech, Life Sciences and Green Tech are growing rapidly and require a diverse workforce to accelerate innovation. With such a fantastic outlook for the sector, female entrepreneurs are on a mission to inspire others to consider a career or build a business in STEM industries.

In October, The Female Founders Forum discussed their recent ‘Female Founders Report’ findings in Parliament, to help improve diversity in Britain’s tech sector and tackle barriers facing females in the industry and education.

Many successful female entrepreneurs from across the UK attended the House of Commons in support of the report. Yorkshire based female tech entrepreneur, Zandra Moore CEO at Panintelligence who is an advocate for improving diversity and inclusion in the tech sector attended the launch in the House of Commons.

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Zandra commented: “Reading through the Female Founders Report was so re-affirming. It encompasses many things I am deeply passionate about. I’m sure with more female professionals, entrepreneurs and innovators entering STEM roles. We will build better businesses; we’ll have more innovations and we’ll help create a more prosperous and inclusive society.

“All of the issues, challenges and gender biases raised in the report are ones I’ve personally experienced as a female founder in Data Analytics and AI but the recommendations are clear and easy to implement. I’ve been

lucky enough to have female role models and mentors in my life.

Particularly, my mum who worked in the emerging technology sector in Leeds in the 1990s. My mum often shares how she made a lot of people rich in the technology businesses she helped grow, yet despite this, she didn’t have any shares in these businesses, and never thought to ask for any because she didn’t have any role models or peer groups to turn to for advice or support back then.

Although we’ve come a long way since then, we’ve still got a lot further to go to be more diverse and inclusive to all.”

The report highlights the issues that are creating barriers for females in tech, such as discrimination facing female entrepreneurs when trying to raise equity finance. Shockingly, just 7% of equity finance raised in the UK goes to female-founded companies.

The report also shines a light on gender bias in venture capital firms - showing that only 13% of decisionmakers in Venture Capital (VC) firms in the UK are female and, almost half of firms don’t have any females on their investment teams at all.

Under-representation of female students in STEM subjects is still an issue for the sector. Only 17% of

N E W S U P D AT E

technology workers in the UK are currently female. This highlights that more needs to be done to represent females in STEM within education environments, such as turning to groups such as Founders For Schools to bring in female founders to share their stories.

Zandra added: “Female STEM ambassadors need to be proactive at supporting and inspiring fellow females. We need to be present at events, share our experiences and successes. We also need to be looking at enabling re-training and internship opportunities which I can vouch for, are just as beneficial

to our businesses to gain new ideas and skills to build a diverse freshthinking, talented workforce”.

Recommendations within the report on careers services show campuses and careers fairs need to introduce more females to the vast amount of STEM career opportunities.

The report shares an appalling statistic that 84% of women were never introduced to AI or machine learning careers on campus or at a careers fair. Employers also need to be doing more to adapt to the changing and more technologically advanced world by offering midcareer retraining opportunities, to

improve the diversity of their tech talent quickly. Increasingly popular organisations such as North Coders are collaborating with businesses like Panintelligence to help employees retrain to become software engineers.

Along with the Female Founders Re port, which is created in partnership with the Entrepreneurs Network, Barclays and Beauhurst; there is an increasing number of organisations and communities being created across the UK to inspire, educate and support people entering or working in tech, to help the sector become more diverse and inclusive, such as Women in Leeds Digital,

Barclays Eagle Labs, BUILD, The No Code Lab, Investing in Women Code and many more.

Some additional ways that we, as a society can improve support and inspire females to begin careers in seemingly male-dominated industries, is by creating more femalefocused and diverse networking and mentoring opportunities. Creating conversations around and highlighting the inspirational work of females in the media to publicise the role models who often get overlooked, to inspire young women to have the confidence to enter entrepreneurship, STEM and other male-dominated fields.

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N EOW M TO S RUI P ND G AUTPED A T E

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M O T O R I N G U P D AT E

Kia Xceed xcites By:Graham

Cour tney

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Motoring

Correspondent

Kia is a company to keep a close eye on. The rate at which they launch new models is staggering and the quality of those new cars is terrific. Gone are the days when the only reason to buy a Kia was because it came with a cracking 7 year 100,000 mile warranty.

The warranty is still the same, but the cars are now extremely desirable.

Take the Kia XCeed for example. It’s really a Kia Ceed with attitude. It’s a sportylooking urban crossover which simply builds upon the strengths of the Ceed.

It has raised ride height and is slightly longer and taller. It stands out from the crowd thanks to a sloping rear roofline.

You get neat styling touches like wheel arch trims, smart alloy wheels, deep bumpers, LED lights front and rear, and new front grille.

In terms of engine choice you can opt for petrol 1.0 litre, 1.5 litre or 1.6 litre hybrid power plants. The 1.5 gives you 0-60 mph in 8.7 seconds. The 1.0 litre model manages 0-60 in 11.1 seconds but you’ll manage around 55mpg. The 1.0 litre engine sounds good too. If you want an auto ‘box, you’ll need the 1.5 petrol model or the hybrid. We like either the 1.0 or the 1.5 with the manual gearbox.

Equipped The 1.6 litre PHEV…plug in hybrid…model will suit city dwellers. If you use pureelectric mode, you’ll manage close to 30 miles without using any fuel.

Trim choice is straightforward with 2,

Connect, 3 and 4 levels available. All Kia XCeed models are well equipped. Every version comes with air conditioning, cruise control, powered windows, DAB radio, Bluetooth, Android and Apple connectivity, height adjustment to the driver’s seat, reversing camera, rear parking sensors and a host of safety kit.

The ‘Connect’ trim adds sat nav. Level 3 adds stuff like heated front seats and heated steering wheel while level 4 brings you a seriously smart 12-inch colour touch screen, sunroof and front parking sensors.

Terrific Out on the road, the ride is surprisingly supple for a car that’s intended for some light off-roading on muddy and rutted lanes. There’s no all-wheel drive version so don’t get over confident. Build quality is excellent and the seats are comfy.

Overall the XCeed is a really good car to drive and would make for terrific family motoring or the Monday-Friday commute.

Looks cool too.

Prices start at £21,255 for the Kia XCeed ‘2’ 1.0 T-GDi. Kia XCeed… reasons to get XCited.

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M O T O R I N G U P D AT E

This Nugget is a gem B y : G r ah am

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C our tn ey

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Motorin g

Co rre sp o nde nt

We l l I d o n’ t k n o w a b o u t you, but I’ll be glad to see the back of 2020-2021.

“Been anywhere interesting?” “ N o … I h a v e n ’ t …w e ’ r e not allowed to.”

Thankfully when lockdown eased, we started using the latest buzz word….. staycation. Being forced to take a holiday in the UK has been one of the rare benefits of COVID 19. A lot of us have probably been to a new area for the first time.

But thoughts are turning to 2022 so why not start making plans.

How about using a campervan?

And here is one the latest to hit the UK market.

The Ford Nugget.

It’s a customised Ford Transit. The work to change the humble Transit into a smart, well- equipped campervan is undertaken by Westfalia. They’ve been in the conversion business for over seventy years and are arguably the pick of the bunch. There is a real sense of quality to the interior in terms of the fitments and build.

M O T O R I N G U P D AT E to wash down muddy boots or filthy Labrador, there’s a shower attachment. If you go for the long wheelbase Nugget you also get a lavatory. The interior lighting is really smart. There’s even onboard WiFi. Every Nugget comes with a fridge, twin gas burner hob and a sink with hot and cold water. There’s a heater which is operated by a control at the front of the main cabin.

The front two seats swivel around. This allows you to install a pedestal table for family meals. Okay, four adults sleeping in the Nugget will find storage space is a bit tight, but if you were thinking of touring at home or abroad as a couple or with 2-3 children, it will be great fun.

There are external sockets which let you to hitch-up to an external electricity supply and a connector to let you top-up your fresh water.

It’s also handy having a pair of sliding doors. Some campervans only have one which can make access tricky. The rear hatch is enormous and acts as a second awning.

The Nugget is also good to drive. The Ford Transit wins awards for the standard of driver enjoyment so no surprise that the Nugget scores highly in this area too. It feels very car-like.

Inside you will find seating for 5 people… ideal for the school run. There is sleeping room for four adults…two sleep on the centre row of seats which fold flat, and two in the raised roof area. You access the upper deck via a small ladder. Raising the roof is a doddle. The upper level bed is really comfy. Children love it.

Power goes to the front wheels from a tried and tested Ford 2.0 litre diesel engine. There are outputs on offer of 128bhp or 182bhp. If you intend doing long slogs with a decent load, go for the bigger engine. A 6-speed manual gearbox is standard while the bigger engine has an auto option.

In terms of adding some extra kit, the only one we’d go for is satellite navigation. Air con, DAB, powered windows, tinted glass, rear-view camera, 8-inch touchscreen, front and rear parking sensors and cruise control all come included in the starting price of £59,608.

There are cubby-holes galore and several neat touches like a folding picnic table with two outdoor chairs; there’s an exterior awning and, for when you need

The Ford Nugget is a hoot. Well equipped, sleeps four adults, excellent build quality and good to drive. It’s hard to think of a better way to go exploring.

Bearing in mind that the Nugget is designed for local and long distance holiday travel as well as operating as the Monday-Friday family transportation, it needs to tick several boxes.

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N E W S U P D AT E assessed on how we create benefit for our employees, the communities where we work, the environment and the bereaved people we support.”

Fiona Ras-Jones from Leedsbased Make Impact provided Full Circle with insight into the certification process.

Fiona said: “It is exciting to see Full Circle Funerals join the growing B Corp movement of businesses in Yorkshire who are making real impact”.

Yorkshire is Home to First British B Corp Funeral Business A Yorkshire firm has become the first UK funeral business to become a Certified B Corp, gaining official recognition for its positive environmental and social impact.

Full Circle Funerals, which has four funeral homes across North and West Yorkshire, joins big businesses such as outdoor clothing companies Finisterre and Patagonia and food and beverage brands Bol and Dash Water.

The B Corp movement aims to bring together like minded business of all sizes who also want to meet the highest possible standards of social, community and environmental impact.

There are currently over 400 B Corps in the UK and 4,000 worldwide. Other Yorkshire B

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Sarah Jones, founder said: “Becoming a B Corp is a huge achievement for a business of our size and shows just how hard we are working to ensure Corps include Harrogate Spring we have a positive impact on Water, Darkwoods Coffee and the people we support, Equinox Kombucha. the community, our team and the world in Although Full Circle has a It is exciting to which we live and work. clear purpose to support the see Full Circle wellbeing of every bereaved Funerals join “We are particularly individual, they also have a stated the growproud to be the first mission to support cohesion ing B Corp funeral business to and partnership working in the movement of become accredited communities in which they live businesses in and this has only been and work. This includes providing Yorkshire... possible thanks to education, volunteering at local the enthusiasm and community projects, being sheer inspiration of proactive Dementia Friends our lovely team. and funding environmental apprenticeships at the Yorkshire “The accreditation process is Dales Millenium Trust. rigorous and has seen us being

C h r i s Tu r n e r, e xe c u t i v e director of B Lab UK, said: “We are delighted to welcome Full Circle Funerals to the B Corp community. This is a movement of companies who are committed to changing how business operates and believe business really can be a force for good. We know that Full Circle is going to be a fantastic addition to the community and will continue driving the conversation forward”.

B Corp certification comes just weeks after Full Circle Funerals achieved another sustainability accolade, named Green Funeral Director of the Year in the national Good Funeral Awards.

Sarah said: “Becoming a Certified B Corp has been a fascinating and exciting journey which has taught us so much about ourselves, our impact on others and our potential to become a force for good.

We are hugely committed to sharing what we have learnt with others who are on a similar journey and would welcome approaches from other businesses who are interested in talking to us about what we did and how we made it through the certification process.”

Huddersfield Giants announce Venari Group as new main partner

N E W S U P D AT E new ambulance which will see them create 100 new jobs and manufacture 1,200 ambulances per year by 2022. Venari already e mplo ys 120 people, having launched in just 2019. The Giants deal signposts the immense growth of the firm in two years.

Oliver added: “To be the main brand associated with the Huddersfield Giants fills us all with an immense amount of pride, and we’re all excited to cheer on the Giants in the new Super League season with what I feel will be a hugely strengthened presence.

“The visual link between local sport and a local business driving local employment, together with the extensive work we continue to do with the Huddersfield Giants Community Trust charity, is a very powerful message which hopefully shows our customers that we’re more than just a manufacturer.”

T h e s p o n s o r s h i p b y Ve n a r i follows a £15,000 donation to the Huddersfield Giants’ Community Tr u s t ’ s ( H G C T ) b ra n d - n e w multi-sensory room, which covers the costs of a member of staff – supporting local dementia sufferers.

The new Huddersfield Giants kit – supplied by PlayerLayer – will be released in the coming weeks as the club continues to focus on their exciting ambitions for the new term.

Club ambassador, Eorl Crabtree, during the toughest times in who spearheaded negotiations memory which, for me, makes w i t h Ve n a r i C E O , O l i v e r them a perfect fit with the Giants North, commented on the new who share an almost identical partnership: “Venari is a local ambition. company that has demonstrated a desire and relentlessness to grow “Just about every ambulance in size, quality and innovation on the roads of every corner

of Yorkshire are manufactured by these guys, and the work they’re doing with Ford Motor Company with firefighting vehicles and ambulances is genuinely revolutionary. Every time I visit Venari HQ it looks to be growing and improving which is exactly how I feel with the Giants at the moment, making us a perfect fit.”

Earlier this year, Venari Group announced a partnership with Ford to launch a revolutionary

Giants’ managing director, Richard Thewlis, said: “This is magnificent and welcome news for both the Huddersfield Giants and the game as a whole. Eorl and the entire team here have worked tirelessly to significantly increase our brand value in difficult times and with this announcement now made we can push forward with great confidence underpinned by a local company who share our ambitious plans for growth. There will be more such announcements to be made in the coming days ahead of our formal partners launch in early December.”

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N E W S U P D AT E technicians of all trades across the region and I’m very proud that this is the case.

“We’re encouraging everyone interested to apply – and would especially like to hear from women, knowing how unbalanced the gender split in the technician industry is and being really keen to change that.”

Used car retailer, announces major recruitment drive Used car retailer Car shop based in Wakefield, has announced a major recruitment drive as it looks to bolster its team of talented technical colleagues.

This follows a huge period of growth for the retailer, which has gone from strength to strength this year – launching its Buy O nline offering, opening four new stores, including first-of-its-kind Express stores, and creating a new brand identity as the home of good karma. In fact, between 2020 and 2021, its total sales have increased by an impressive 18% and it has taken on over 100 new colleagues.

There is a total of 21 positions available, with the vast majority of these situated on the preparation side of the business. For example, roles include vehicle technician,

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painter, prepper, de-prepper and SMART repairer.

The company holds very high standards for its technician teams across the UK, knowing that they, and the quality and safety assurance they provide, are the backbone of its whole operations and one of the many reason’s customers choose to shop with CarShop.

In return, it is extremely quick to recognise and reward the hard work of its colleagues, which led to it being the only car company to have been named on Glassdoor’s To p 5 0 B e s t P l a c e s t o Work list 2021.

Nigel Hurley, CEO added: “We do everything we can to support, encourage, develop, celebrate, reward and ultimately retain our staff because we know it is the only way we can stay the UK’s leading omnichannel used car retailer.

In fact, earlier this year, a number of its technicians were celebrated for their achievements in the Elite Technician programme, which is run by parent company, Sytner Group. The programme, founded in 2017, goes further than any other in the sector to nurture, develop and champion its internal talent.

Lee Curtis, head of business said: “Our store’s organic growth this year, supplemented by the post-pandemic surge in demand for used cars, has meant that we can now offer a huge number of opportunities to vehicle

“We also know that it’s because of the commitment our technicians have for their trade that our customers feel in such safe hands when they buy from us – and that’s something that can never be undervalued.

So, I’m really looking forward to welcoming on board some fresh faces.”

To find out more about the technical positions available, and begin your application to become a CarShop colleague, visit www.carshop.co.uk/join

Dedicate a tree to someone special or plant trees as a corporate gift for employees and clients. Reward those employees who have gone the extra mile or say thank you to all your staff for a job well done in difficult times.

We plant trees around Yorkshire in public woodlands, farms and private estates. Each tree you purchase will help to create woodland habitats that will benefit people and wildlife for years to come.

To find out more and to discuss discounts when you buy 20+ memberships email trees@yorkshire.com and quote TREESWTYTOPIC in your email.

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