Tuesday 15th December 2015
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The Considerate This month's topic: Charity Work and Education
Highlights and Headlines
CONSIDERATE HOTELS Stories that touch us Read about the adoption of a Herdwick sheep at The Cedar Manor Hotel
CONSIDERATE SUPPLIERS Companies that inspire us Learn how PlanBee encourages children to engage with biodiversity and how TiFry supports 'Trees for Life'
CONSIDERATE ORGANISATIONS Results that impress Read more about how CleanConscience uses soap and toiletry waste as a resource
CONSIDERATE PERSONALITY People that move us Interview with Richard Denman, Tourism Consultant
CONSIDERATE SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY Updated each month, the full rundown of our accredited suppliers
CONSIDERATE CALL FOR ARMS! We all have seen the devastation in Cumbria with Storm Desmond, and even as the clean-up continues more severe weather warnings appear on the way. 5,000 households and companies have been forced from their properties and face a miserable Christmas. If you can help in any way,
perhaps
by
offering
complimentary
accommodation
please
contact
PPC.EmergencyOffersofSupport@Cumbria.gov.uk. Thank you!
Trends that drive us Charities It will come as no surprise to anyone that this month’s topic should be ‘Charities’ with Christmas around the corner. However, with all the different crises going on in the world we found it particularly challening this year to focus on a single cause, when one’s heart goes out to all the dramas being played out in front of our eyes on the daily news. So, what criteria should a hotel employ when choosing which organisation to support? Do you stay close to home, give to those in less developed countries, wildlife conservations, cultural activities, children in need, environmental causes etc, etc, etc. Where to start?!!! We do not intend by any means to have the answer to this conundrum, therefore we just wanted to give you a few examples of which charities some of our member hotels have decided to support, as well as what our suppliers are doing in this arena, in the hope that it
might inspire and give ideas. Furthermore some of our partner organisations are of course registered charities as well, and in providing services to hotels, such as food surplus collection, recycling of soap and bathroom amenities, water filtration programmes providing for clean water in third world countries and some others (also have a look at our website for more details). Therefore do please read on and see if there is an organisation amongst our suggestions you had not heard of yet, which might inspire your team to give to or indeed get more actively involved with those you might already be supporting. And then please do tell us your stories too!
Xenia zu Hohenlohe, Marketing Director Considerate Hoteliers
CONSIDERATE HOTELS Stories that touch us
Cedar Manor Hotel & Restaurant
Fantasy flock of Herdwick sheep set to roam the Lakes Herdwick sheep are set to roam across the Lake District – but this is a fantasy flock being created by artists. The sheep are about to be decorated and glazed before going on display next spring at a string of more than 50 locations along the route of the 555 bus service from Windermere to Keswick. And the first on the route will be at the Cedar Manor Hotel in Windermere whose sheep is about to be painted by Kendal artist Thuline de Cock. It’s a charity initiative by the Lake District Calvert Trust who hope that the sheep will become as iconic as the cattle of the Cow Parade – and bring in funds for a good cause. The Trust run challenging outdoor adventure breaks for those with disabilities and money
raised will help fund the £1.3m capital redevelopment of Old Windebrowe, in Keswick, a grade 2 listed farmhouse and tithe barn which is thought to date back to the 1550s and was once used as a home by William Wordsworth. Businesses along the 555 bus route were asked to sponsor a sheep – life-size blank Herdwick ewe sculptures made of glass-reinforced plastic – and then have it decorated into a distinctive work of art. From Easter next year the sheep will appear in unexpected places; in parks, gardens, in the street, on buildings, in shops, cafes and restaurants – all paying homage to the Herdwick’s iconic home in the Lake District. An art trail map, posters and brochures naming all the sponsors and artists will be sold throughout the life of the project. Jonathan and Caroline Kaye who run the Cedar Manor Hotel are long-time supporters of the Calvert Trust; Caroline is going to run the London Marathon next spring to raise funds for them. “We thought it was a brilliant idea,” said Caroline. “The sheep will stand under the tree by our entrance so everyone will see it when they pass by.” They chose artist Thuline to decorate their sheep as she has already exhibited her paintings, and run workshops, at the hotel. “We love her paintings of animals, and it’s quite possible that our sheep will be decorated with some cows,” Caroline said. The Calvert Trust project will deliver six specialised apartments suitable for stroke survivors and those with acquired brain injuries or physical impairments, including a communal area allowing guests to receive occupational therapy and rehabilitative support on-site. Notes for shepeditors: Herdwicks are Cumbria’s native sheep and are ideally suited to life on the inhospitable high fells and mountains, grazing at up to 900m (3,000ft). They’re also credited with shaping the Lake District landscape that we see today. Herdwicks are renowned for their hefting instinct, the ability – passed from a ewe to her lambs – to recognise an area as its home and return there, even after it’s been brought down from the fells for lambing or clipping and has to walk several miles back to its own area or heft.
CONSIDERATE SUPPLIERS Companies that inspire us
PlanBee Ltd Major hotel chains, small hotel groups and even family-run restaurants are all starting to feel the buzz around #GenerationBee. In a few short years, Plan Bee Ltd has grown to be one of the UK’s leading sustainability businesses, bringing their own brand of beehive management services to a wide variety of business partnerships ranging from Glasgow dental practices to household names the likes of Kellogg’s, L’Oreal and Hilton Hotels. Plan Bee founder and CEO Warren Bader is a former film and music video producer who has worked with everyone from Ridley Scott to Michael Jackson. He rented an allotment as a stress-relieving hobby, got some beehives and the rest is history. The company now has around 200 beehives from Aberdeen to Cornwall, working with dozens of partnership businesses. But for Warren it’s about more than just bees, Great Taste award-winning honey, mead and honey beer, it’s about delivering a lasting environmental legacy: “We’re helping our beehive partnership companies to reach out into their communities and engage directly. Already we’ve delivered our own brand of curriculum-based environmental education lessons to more than 18,000 young people. They’re now working with Kellogg’s to extend the service out to schools around their Manchester headquarters and manufacturing plant. “We’ve given children a real practical experience, putting on the beekeeping suit, opening the hives and holding up a frame of natural honey. Often these are city children who rarely get the opportunity to see nature as close as this. We’ve taken what was a dying countryside craft, urbanised it, brought it into the 21st century and given it corporate kerb appeal.” The company was awarded the rare Legacy title by the Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers and worked with ten schools across Scotland to leave a lasting environmental legacy of the event. Children designed and decorated beehives in the style of their Commonwealth counterparts, made videos and wrote poetry. Plan Bee’s Chair, Mark McDavid, a former managing Director with major FMCG brands
Aunt Bessie’s and Hallmark Cards believes that companies can have their cake and eat it when it comes to sustainability: “Businesses, particularly in the hospitality and entertainment sector are leading the way when it comes to addressing their carbon impact. While recycling and grey water use help to reduce emissions, Plan Bee’s hives deliver a unique brand of ‘proactive sustainability’. Honeybees are essential to our ecosystem, and are responsible for pollinating a third of the food we eat. That’s a message that children in particular can relate to. “Children are desperate for knowledge, and they want to know where the food that they eat comes from. It’s equally important for hospitality businesses that they can answer such provenance questions from ever more ethical consumers. At the same time businesses are looking to engage more directly with their communities, and to leave an environmental legacy that they can be proud of. They want to provide an aspirational message for environmentally engaged children, or as we like to call them #GenerationBee.”
TiFry Limited There is no doubt that climate change has become a well discussed topic and a huge concern in 2015. With the COP 21 talks in Paris this month making significant headway in developing an action plan to try and counter act pollution on an international level, it makes us wonder what can be done on a smaller scale to help the cause. TiFry, a specialist in oil filtration systems based in the UK, have engaged in a ‘Green Policy’ to help promote and create a sustainable product that has many benefits. Benefits that not only help reduce costs in the commercial kitchen but benefits of a greener nature. TiFry Filters can reduce the cost of cooking oil costs by up to 50% by halving the oil consumption of the kitchen. This reduction in consumption directly offsets carbon emissions from kitchens and reduces the impact on rainforests. Yet, TiFry see a need to exhibit a more active attitude towards positive movements to
counter climate change. To offset the use of the paper filters in the product, TiFry plant a tree for every unit sold. In 2015 TiFry began a working relationship with Trees for Life, an active charity based in the Caledonian Forest, Scotland, and work tirelessly year round to rejuvenate the native species. An army of volunteers nurture the young trees, care for the old ones and plant new trees to restore large areas where the forest has receded over the years. Working alongside Trees for Life, TiFry want to help them in their target to plant another million trees by 2018. For more information about TiFry, the products and their work with Trees for Life, check the website www.tifry.com or email office@tifry.com.
CONSIDERATE ORGANISATIONS Results that impress
CleanConscience CleanConscience offers the UK hospitality industry an unprecedented opportunity to see their soap and toiletry waste as a resource and to work and support their local communities and charities. Out of the 70 million hotel rooms in the UK, 3,500 tonnes of Soap and Bathroom Amenities are wasted annually! Clean Conscience has therefore come up with a model to address these waste issues as well as that of creating jobs for disabled people to support this recycling programme, therefore killing various birds with one stone. Through a series of satellite hub Clean Conscience will be able to easily service 4000 hotel rooms. This will prevent approximately 50 tonnes of soap and toiletry waste from going to landfill, or being incinerated, in each catchment area annually.
CleanConscience opened the doors to its recycling operational unit on 1 July 2015 that this became a first reality. Shortly after announcing that they were ready to start rolling out their TurnKey™ Solution for hotels within a 30-mile radius of their unit outside Maidenhead, Powell had forward-thinking hotels like Brown’s Hotel (Mayfair), The Ritz London, The Dorchester, The Cavendish, The Capital and Levin Hotel, Sanderson, and St Martin’s Lane signed up. Please go to cleanconscience.org.uk to find out more about this great initiative, helping you reduce and thereby creating work opportunities for those with more mental and physical challenges than ourselves. Additionally Each CleanConscience satellite hub will aim to produce 150,000 bars of soap annually, which will be offered to local charitable organisations on request. Once the UK has been saturated, soap will be offered to European humanitarian aid organisations. It’s a win - win situation all around!!!
Carbon Compensation & Offsetting Projects Carbon Compensation for travel through positive impact projects - the talk of the year, in particular during and around Cop21 in Paris: Similar to doing one’s tax declaration or expenses at the end of each year, Carbon compensation for travel is slowly becoming a regular exercise organisations and private individuals engage in. More and more companies that cannot avoid business trips to conferences and events recognise their climate responsibility and compensate their trips . In the tourist sector many agencies offer their clients the option to offset their emissions, perhaps as a hotel, this might be something to offer to one’s guest as a service too? But when doing so it is key to chose the right organisations, mostly the guidelines here should be to look for those which use compensation as a contribution to climate protection
with added value to people worldwide. The UN recommends to offset those emissions you cannot reduce with with UN Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) Offsets must meet stringent standards of environmental integrity. UN Certified Emission Reductions from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) meet high environmental integrity standards approved by the UNFCCC. Buy offsets online from CDM projects. Offsetting projects are located in developing countries that often cannot afford to reduce emissions on their own. In addition to reducing emissions, the projects also contribute to sustainable development priorities such as education and health improvements in the communities that host them. Some also offer substantial additional environmental benefits such as improved air and water quality or protection of biodiversity. The sale of climate credits generates local income and supports economic growth in poor communities. For more information go to: http://climateneutralnow.org/SitePages/Home.aspx
CONSIDERATE PERSONALITY People that move us Richard Denman - Tourism Consultant I live in the beautiful rural county of Herefordshire in England. As a tourism consultant I mainly work on tourism policy and destination management including many projects covering sustainability issues for UN bodies, the European Commission and lots of local destinations across the UK and around the world.
My life motto
I don’t really have one, but “Listen first” would be appropriate as I try to follow this as much as possible. An unforgettable place I travelled to in the last year
I travelled to St Kilda, the World Heritage Site and the remotest island group in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. In truth, I did not go there last year – it was over five years ago – but I travel there at least yearly in my mind. An utterly incredible place. My favourite hotel
It is The Feathers in Ledbury as it is my ‘local’ and a place where I regularly go with family and friends. It is a centre of life in our small town and I feel strongly that hotels need to
have a great relationship with their local communities. Amongst ‘Considerate’ members I recently had an enjoyable stay at the Alexandra in Lyme Regis which is well placed for the Jurassic Coast and its fine coastal bus service - green transport at its best. The oldest piece of clothing in my wardrobe
An ancient cricket sweater from school days. The last meal that truly impressed me
Our joint 60th birthday celebration lunch which was dreamed up by my wife and included all our friends. We called it the ‘very long lunch’ as it involved an eight mile walk between the aperitif and the cheese, with stops for starters, mains and dessert along way - all fabulous local produce from Herefordshire. People that inspire me
Robert Macfarlane, the writer on landscape, who reminds us how to find and be enriched by our wild places, even near to home. What does responsible tourism/business management mean to you
Being able to run a tourism business that remains profitable and able to grow (not easy in the current climate) while also caring for the environment, supporting staff and local communities and providing a great experience for guests as equal aims. My favourite website
I am not sure, as websites are not things that I am likely to list as favourites. I travel to work by..
I travel to work by car mainly (it is a car share – there are two of us), as the other options are rather limited where I live. I have occasionally used my bike and I must do this more – I now feel very guilty! Seasonal & local favourite produce
My favourite produce is the apples and pears which surround us here in Herefordshire, and the local cider and perry that come from them. We have national award winning producers just across the road. My favourite 'sustainable' company
Severnprint, a local printers who, while still producing traditional print items, often for tourism purposes, are deeply committed to the use of environmentally friendly materials and processes. My biggest worry about the future
My biggest worry about the future, in terms of climate change, is that we will not plan for it well enough and that it will mean that we lose some of the great benefits that tourism can bring. These include not only jobs and prosperity but huge support for the conservation of
wildlife and landscape and the promotion of cultural exchange and understanding. My biggest hope for the future
My biggest hope for the future, in terms of climate change, is that technology will advance fast enough to enable us to travel much more cleanly. While maximising resource efficiency in all aspects of tourism we should also encourage less resource consuming travel patterns including building up domestic and regional tourism alongside international travel.
CONSIDERATE SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY Updated monthly The Considerate Suppliers Directory is a list of approved suppliers assessed by Considerate Hoteliers to ensure that they: follow a similar ethos to ours; have ethical policies in place; and conduct their business responsibly. Most suppliers offer preferential rates to our members, but you will need to log in to the members area of our website to view these offers. For further information please visit the more detailed directory of our Considerate Suppliers on our website: Please click here.
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Considerate Suppliers Aslotel Toiletries and equipment for hotel bedrooms and bathrooms Contact: murray.roberts @aslotel.co.uk Berendsen Textile services supplier Contact: kevin.davies@berendsen.co.uk Cleaner Products Housekeeping & Consumables Contact: pete@cleanerproducts.co.uk Crukafe Ltd Beverage Contact: alexander@crukafe.com Delphis Eco Eco-friendly cleaning products Contact: sales@delphiseco.com GFL S.A. Bathroom cosmetics and guest amenity products Contact: info@gfl.eu
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Glamocell Led lighting Contact: rtemple@glamocell-uk.com Harrison Spinks Jospitality Division Hand-made beds Contact: struswell@harrisonspinks.co.uk Hypnos Beds Bed Manufacturer Contact: chris.ward@hypnosbeds.com Original Beans High quality Chocolate Contact: daniel@originalbeans.com Plan Bee Ltd Fully managed beehive service Contact: warren@planbeeltd.com The Green Stationery Company Office equipment Contact: jayoffice@greenstat.co.uk The Fine Cotton Company Housekeeping&Consumables Contact: trevor@thefinecottoncompany.com TiFry Company Ltd Kitchen equipment Contact: office@tifry.com Xeros Cleaning Technologies Contact: dan.barrett@xeroscleaning.com
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