Aces magazine issue 6

ACES The official magazine for the Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex

ussex

Issue 6. 2017

CHRISTMAS CRISIS?

A return to Dickensian poverty?

MALLORCA A place for business too Develop the

NEXT GENERATION LEADERS DO GOOGLE ADWORDS WORK? EVERYDAY SUPERCARS Jaguar F-Type SVR Audi R8 Spyder Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio GROUP

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Contents

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from Christina Ewbank

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ISSUE 6

WELCOME TO THE 6TH EDITION OF ACES MAGAZINE

n this issue of ACES Magazine we look at the rollout of Universal Credit and how it is affecting the economy of Sussex. Most towns have noticed a big increase in begging and rough sleepers but how does this affect our businesses and how are we dealing with this as a community? It is said we are just “Nine meals from anarchy”; if this is true what will Universal Credit do for people who can’t buy food for six weeks?

Could it happen to you? Professional people who suffer divorce, mental breakdown or a life-changing accident can find themselves on the street pretty quickly. Is there anyone to help them when they get there? ACES looks at the problem and investigates ways of helping people who find themselves out in the cold.

If you would like to help, please get in touch.

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ACES News

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Legal - Rix & Kay

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Bexhill Jobs Fair

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Recruitment - RSE

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Digital - Smart Monkey

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Policing Sussex

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Crisis at Christmas?

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Clearwater - Health & Safety

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Web Design - Nexus

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Pest Control - Cleankill

22 Direct Marketing - Mailing Expert Christina Ewbank On behalf of the Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex

Maarten Hoffmann maarten@platinumbusinessmagazine.com Ian Trevett ian@platinumbusinessmagazine.com THE PLATINUM PUBLISHING GROUP Tel: 07966 244046 Tel: 07989 970804 Mail: info@platinumbusinessmagazine.com Web: www.platinumbusinessmagazine.com ADVERTISING and SPONSORSHIP Lesley Alcock Business Development Director Tel: 07767 613707 Mail: lesley@platinumbusinessmagazine.com

Head Designer: Amanda Harrington Travel Editor: Rose Dykins Sub Editor: Kate Morton Food Editor: Amanda Menahem Photographer: Sarah Walker-Bennett Accounts: Julia Trevett All rights reserved. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions relating to advertising or editorial.

The publisher reserves the right to change or amend any competitions or prizes offered. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent from the publisher. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited materials or the return of these materials whilst in transit. ACESussex Magazine is published by The Platinum Publishing Group.

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GROUP

PUBLISHERS

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Sussex Skills Solutions

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Sussex Academies

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Green Growth Platform

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Next Generation Network

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Martin Riley Leadership

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Christmas Gift Guide

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Mallorca - Business Travel

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Hydro Hotel

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Carrot Events

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Chestnut Tree House

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Motoring - Everyday Supercars

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Hastings Harbour Quarter

50 ACES Chambers 52

Anger Management

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Uckfield Chamber

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Institute of Directors

Make Chestnut Tree House your charity of the year Chestnut Tree House is the children’s hospice for Sussex, caring for children with life-shortening illnesses. Your business can really make a difference by getting involved with Chestnut Tree House.

Make Chestnut Tree House your Charity of the Year Adopt Payroll Giving for your employees Take our ÂŁ50 Challenge Take part in our Corporate Volunteering days Contact Terrina Barnes: 01903 871846 terrina.barnes@chestnut-tree-house.org.uk www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk Registered charity no 256789 ACES 4 ussex

Local News

ACES NEWS

Flying time for dementia residents

Legal & General lights up Eastbourne

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GIM Real Assets (Legal & General) and Eastbourne & District Chamber of Commerce have unveiled more of their plans to bring Sussex shoppers flooding into Eastbourne.

While the incredible steel structure of the Eastbourne Arndale extension continues to dominate the skyline, centre owners Legal & General are funding the fabulous animated Christmas light display, Neon Noel.

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ore and more people are being diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, and the quality of residential care on offer can vary dramatically. Perhaps the most important aspect of looking after residents is to treat them as individuals and to properly engage with them.

Sunrise Living Eastbourne prides itself on its innovative activities.

One resident, Janice Patterson, would often reminisce about her train journeys and life as a child in Scotland and often recalled going on the Flying Scotsman before the war.

When Sunrise team member’s heard that the Flying Scotsman was set to visit the Bluebell Railway they decided they simply had to get Janet to see the British National treasure once more. Accompanied by fellow bus and train enthusiast Robin Fryer, the staff took the residents to see the iconic steam train. The wonderful team at Bluebell gave Janice and Robin VIP treatment, including a trip on another steam train from Horsted Keynes to Sheffield Park in the Guards Carriage. Robin enjoyed a long chat with the guardsman asking lots of questions and soaking up the atmosphere.

Kevin Roberts, Senior Carer said, “It was a brilliant day out, soaking up the sights, sounds and smells, it brought back memories for the residents, in particular Janice and was such a worthwhile visit”

www.sunrise-care.co.uk

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

In November, Legal & General proudly unveiled a new banner that will help promote the Christmas spectacular.

Andrew Rice, Fund Manager at LGIM Real Assets, said the Neon Noel campaign would help Eastbourne raise its profile over the crucial Christmas period.

“The Christmas period is a key time for retailers, so it is vital that Eastbourne promotes itself as a great destination for shoppers looking for variety and entertainment,” Andrew said.

“Neon Noel will be a great animation and light show and is sure to bring in new audiences to the town,” he added. “Legal & General is delighted to sponsor this night-time spectacular and play its part in making Eastbourne a great Christmas shopping destination.”

The first light, music and laser show takes place over the weekend on December 1st to 3rd, with a second show scheduled for the following weekend (Friday 8th – Sunday 10th). The venue will once again be Eastbourne Town Hall in Grove Road.

This will be the third year the dusk spectacular has lit up the December skies and put both residents and visitors firmly in the Christmas spirit.

Show organisers, the Eastbourne + District Enterprise Agency Ltd (EDEAL), said the town centre would have a vibrant feel to it.

“This year, our Christmas market moves into the heart of the town, starting outside Boots in Terminus Road and at The Enterprise Centre,” Christina Ewbank, chief executive of EDEAL, explained.

“There will be 25 wooden chalets housing a wide selection of produce, crafts and unique Christmas gifts,” she said. The market runs from Saturday December 9th – Sunday December 17th.

Father Christmas will be in his grotto after 3pm each day of the market, and in residence from 11am during the weekends.

There will be a Stagecoach Vintage Bus running between the Town Hall and the Christmas Market. All the money raised through bus fares will be donated to the RNLI.

For more information visit www.eastbournechristmas.com

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Legal

DEALING WITH POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY In November, Brighton hosted Sussex’s first Economic Forum Conference. Richard Cripps, Managing Partner at Rix & Kay and one of the Conference’s headline speakers discusses this year’s key debate topics.

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s business owners, we understand the importance of planning, and in doing so, we are always looking ahead to the future, scanning the political, economic and social environments in which we operate, so that we might try to best position our businesses to take advantage of the opportunities and meet the threats and challenges presented. This planning process is not easy and the greater the uncertainty, the harder it becomes.

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Brexit, whether hard or soft, is of course the key unknown that presently confronts us.

Whatever one’s initial pre-referendum view, it is now widely accepted that Brexit will and indeed must happen; but what that means in practical terms for our country is clouded in uncertainty.

I can’t help but think that whilst the surprise expressed in the general media about this was predictable, the stance taken

by business representative bodies such as the CBI is somewhat naive. How many of us would publish our bottom line position before entering into a commercial negotiation and expect to achieve a better outcome? Indeed, how many of us would enter into a negotiation that is subject to a deadline for agreement and expect that agreement to be reached before the final hours? Why then should we expect our negotiators to reveal their hand so early or expect agreements to be reached well ahead

Legal

of the April 2019 deadline for our exit from the European Union?

Whatever Brexit ultimately looks like it is often, and to my mind rightly said, that we are leaving the European Union and not Europe itself. The UK will remain a strong trading partner with Europe, tariffs or no tariffs, and as such we in Sussex and the wider south east will remain the gateway to one of the UK’s most important markets as well as having the potential to benefit from the opening up of new global markets. It is therefore imperative that investment continues to be made in our transport infrastructure.

“No business can survive without its people and increasingly business need is for highly educated and trained people.”

Even before the Brexit referendum, the need for additional runway capacity to support trade with emerging markets had been identified. Whilst Heathrow has seemed for a long time to be the front runner to secure this additional capacity, I was interested to see that recent reports on the comparative economic benefits of the competing locations

now identifies the proposals at Gatwick as giving a greater return. If a new runway were to be provided at Gatwick, a significant part of that economic benefit would be delivered in Sussex and the south east.

Getting goods and people to and from the country, whether through our airports or the region’s ports, is only part of the transport challenge that faces us. Continued improvement and development of the road and rail infrastructure to support the additional movements is also vital.

Alongside traditional infrastructure, it is now a given that electronic and digital communication is a vital component in a healthy economy, presenting as it does the opportunity for new markets to be accessed without the need for a geographical presence in those markets. It is therefore vital to our local economy that investment continues to be made in our digital infrastructure in order to support business generally, and specifically the growing centres for tech and digital business within our region.

When it comes to employment and education, there are always going to be challenges. No business can survive without its people and increasingly business need is for highly educated and trained people. How to develop younger generations, educating and training them in skills that will equip them for jobs that do not yet exist is one of the greatest challenges facing all developed and developing countries in the world.

“Whatever Brexit ultimately looks like it is often, and to my mind rightly said, that we are leaving the European Union and not Europe itself.”

Having educated our young people, the challenge for us in business continues as we need to keep that talent in our region; that has always been difficult due to the draw of London. With electronic communication reducing the need for many businesses to have a physical presence in the capital, if we have a transport and digital infrastructure that allows them to locate in and relocate to our region, we will also be able to deliver the opportunity for a meaningful and challenging career locally. If our young people are to stay in our region they will also need housing, and the provision of an adequate housing supply presents a challenge for both national and local government, which must be met.

If you’d like to share any comment on this feature you can email Richard at richardcripps@rixandkay.co.uk

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Careers

BEXHILL’S JOBS & APPRENTICESHIP FAIR Call for Businesses

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exhill’s Jobs & Apprenticeship Fair has quickly become known as one of the most lively and engaging events in our region. It is a community led event with the vision to provide live jobs and apprenticeship opportunities from local and regional businesses.

Businesses said: • All respondents rated the event on the whole as ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ and said they would exhibit again.

• 85% of exhibitors rated delegate interaction as ‘very good’ to ‘excellent’ praising the high unexpected footfall and large mix of participants.

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• There was overwhelming praise for the organisation of the event and the pre-event briefings - all exhibitors said this was ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ and 75% said the venue was an excellent choice.

This is your chance to be part of this exciting event. The application process is now open, and you can apply online at www.dlwp.com/jobsfair.

Our event is ‘curated’ meaning that we want to select and manage the event to present as many live opportunities and as big a mix of businesses as possible to our delegates.

It’s important that you state in your application what kind of jobs or apprenticeships you will aim to offer at the event, as businesses with a

strong live (or anticipated) offer will be given priority.

The third annual event will be held at De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill, on Friday 2 March 2018, 10am – 3pm For more information and sponsorship opportunities go to dlwp.com/jobsfair

Recruitment

NEXT GENERATION LEADERS – WHO ARE YOURS?

By RSE Group’s Managing Director, Mandy Brook.

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took a two week holiday last month. Yes, I did, a whole two weeks out of the country but more importantly, away from my business and away from the responsibility of the business. I took my mobile with me and periodically in the first few days (ok week!), I checked my emails and social media until the brain started to unwind and let me relax. I then read seven books in two weeks, five fictions and two business books. I was RELAXED, which got me to thinking…

When I first started my company, I struggled to take time out. Taking a holiday was out of the question. As I went on to employ my fabulous team, I realised that by hiring people better than me, it meant that I could take time out, it meant I had capable hands in my business when I couldn’t be there whether that be through holiday, sickness or business trips.

This means that I look at my team as the

future of my business and I am constantly helping them improve through training, further education, courses and webinars. I give them time for self-improvement.

So, this is what I want you to think about this month. Who works for you? Why did you take them on? Do you trust them? Where do you see them as part of your future business? Do you have a people strategy? If not why not?!

Can you see them as a leader in your future business? A leader of a team, a section, the future CEO/MD? Realising people’s talents and expanding their knowledge is critical in today’s employment market. They should feel valued, stretched, appreciated. This will give you engagement, loyalty, creativity and innovation.

Autonomy, self-growth and expression are very powerful. Let your rising stars rise.

Yes, some you will lose but those that get it,

those that can see the future with you and help design that future for themselves and the business will allow you to grow to greater heights, which will allow you to work on the business rather than in it, and allow you to take time out without stressing!

Who are your rising stars? Don’t lose them, use them!

On this note, on the last Friday of every month, we hold an early morning breakfast meeting called the Next Generation Network.

We will let your rising stars engage with others and come up with great ideas to take away and implement in your business if you let them.

To find out more visit www.eventbrite.co.uk and search “Next Generation Networking”.

Who will you allow to go? Take a deep breath, let go of the control and give the power to the next generation, you know you want to!

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Digital Marketing

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR GOOGLE ADWORDS Beth Nash, from digital marketing agency Smart Monkey, on the advantages of Google AdWords.

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rom a completely blank face, to sheer terror at the thought of contributing to Google’s billion-pound empire, I can expect a selection of reactions when I mention Google AdWords.

As a digital marketer who can remember the days before Google even offered advertising, I get more satisfaction seeing the results we achieve through natural SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

However, I am also very aware that it can take a long time to achieve top natural rankings. And even then, do you know that the keywords you’ve spent months optimising your site for are going to convert into business?

That’s where paid search comes into its own.

Google AdWords, as we are focusing on for this article, are the ‘Ads’ Google displays at the top and bottom of its search results. When someone enters a search query, Google will select relevant adverts to display. Each time someone clicks on an advert, the advertiser pays Google. This is PPC or Pay Per Click.

With Google handling more than three billion searches per day (Search Engine Land), here is my business case for using AdWords: • Agility With Google AdWords, you can quite literally turn internet traffic on and off.

• Quick Results Working on natural ranking is like a marathon, it takes skill, experience and above-all, time, whereas Google AdWords is a sprint, generating immediate web traffic overnight.

• Searcher Intent People searching on Google have a high searcher intent and are further down the buying funnel. With Google AdWords, the day when people habitually scrolled past the ads are coming to an end - the top three

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paid spots now get around 41% of the clicks on the page.

• Deeper Insight There are various tools that we can use to glean data, however, the Google AdWords dashboard provides us with far deeper insight - in particular, which keywords actually convert. This information helps us to form the longer-term natural search strategy as we can focus efforts on the keywords we know generate business.

• Testing Maybe you don’t know if there is a market for your business online, you want to test a new service or product, or your site just doesn’t rank naturally yet. We often recommend using AdWords to provide data to inform business decisions before investing in a longer-term natural strategy.

• Remarketing Remarketing uses the Google Display Network to show your advert to people who visited your site but didn’t convert, and is ideal if your offering is not an impulse buy.

The more a potential customer is exposed to your brand – the higher the conversion rate.

• Continual Learning A good PPC Consultant will be continually learning and monitoring your AdWords account, checking budget allocation to different campaigns and relative performance, and moving budget to the campaigns that are producing the best results.

Whether you love it or hate it, with 86% of consumers using the internet to find a local business (WebVisible Survey), using Google AdWords is a quick, agile and effective way to achieve your goals.

www.smartmonkey.co.uk beth@smartmonkey.co.uk @Bethanie_Nash

BIO: Beth is a Chartered Marketer and ‘Head Honcho & Chief of Client Happiness’ at digital marketing agency, Smart Monkey. Since 2006, Smart Monkey has been helping small and medium sized businesses in Sussex, Surrey and Kent generate revenue through effective and measurable digital marketing campaigns.

Police & Crime Commissioner

WHY IT’S VITAL FOR US ALL TO WORK TOGETHER

by Katy Bourne, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner

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s a time for coming together, Christmas is perhaps also a time to think about how we can all work together, all year

round.

One of the four objectives in my Police and Crime Plan is to work with local communities and partners to keep Sussex safe. This means encouraging local communities to prevent crime and disorder, through funding our 12 Sussex Community Safety Partnerships with over £1.4m per year as well as supporting local organisations with my Community Safety Fund.

It also means working with partners to reduce offending and reoffending - and the business community has a vital part to play in this.

In September, I hosted a crime summit in Hastings for more than 100 people to focus on the work being done behind-the-scenes to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The audience at the Listen Live: Partners Together event, including local business owners, Hastings Youth Council members, notfor-profit organisations and residents, heard that the town had plenty to celebrate with its partnership work to fight the problem – but that more needed to be done.

Members of the public have told me time and again that anti-social behaviour is their greatest concern by a considerable amount.

It is clearly one of the issues that matters most to people which is why the summit was an opportunity to help us reflect on what has worked and find ways for the public, businesses and police to work better together.

We all need to be smarter with the funding that we have. As a commissioner of services for Sussex residents, I am using public money so we need to make sure that we spend it effectively.

Sussex is leading the way with new community and business wardens, boosting the resources available to deter and disrupt those that seek to commit crime. Since 2015, our county has seen business and community wardens successfully introduced in Eastbourne, Hastings, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Haywards Heath.

The pressures of setting up and maintaining a business are hard enough without having to worry about crime and diverting precious time and resources to report incidents, package evidence and deal with complex and bureaucratic insurance claims. Because wardens are trained to secure the best physical evidence and take statements, they are helping businesses save time and reducing demands on police. They are also able to provide services beyond security like first aid, counterterror awareness and emergency planning.

Our wardens know their area and are linked with the local community safety agencies,

with offender management units and Sussex Police, and they are dedicated to the business community in their patch.

Further collaboration has been developed in Brighton and Hove with community guards deployed in July alongside the current Business Improvement District ambassadors.

There is clear evidence that they are playing a vital role in reducing crime and disorder in our town centres and I have been pleased to be able to both provide funding and co-ordinate private sector investment in expanding the numbers of wardens.

For more information or to sign up for my weekly newsletter, please visit www.sussex-pcc.gov.uk.

If you’ve been a victim of crime you can access local support services at www.safespacesussex.org.uk, even if you haven’t reported a crime to the police.

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Christmas in Crisis

PUTTING THE CLOCKS BACK – IN A BIG WAY Christina Ewbank is concerned about the impact of Universal Credit especially over the Christmas season

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avid Schneider, who many of you will recognise from television satire, describes himself as an Actor, Director, Writer, Fool and recently tweeted the following when the clocks went back at the end of last

David Schneider

month: “Not sure how far to put your clocks back….?

Check who you are on this handy list: General member of the population

Back 1 hour

Brexiter

Back to 1974

Farage, UKIP etc

Back to 1950s

Tory NHS policy

Back to 1930s

Tory welfare policy

Back to 1890s

Jacob Rees Mogg

Back to 1830s

EU Withdrawal Bill

Back to 1530s

Donald Trump

Back to the Stone Age

Whilst Schneider clearly nails his colours to the mast on Brexit, ACES is interested in the welfare policy changes he mentions.

Could these changes turn the clocks back to a Victorian age of Dickensian poverty? Where the haves have - and the have nots really don’t have anything? Is the gap really widening between the rich and the poor – and is it going to get worse?

So what exactly is Universal Credit and how will it affect Sussex?

The theory sounds great: • Simplify several benefits into one universal payment that covers income support, working tax credit, child tax credit, housing benefit, income-based Jobseekers’ Allowance and income-related Employment and Support allowance • Claims will be made on line to reduce staffing costs and cut overheads

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• Communication will be via email to improve efficiency

a cohort of people who will not be able to cope with these changes. For example, older people who don’t have digital access or are not comfortable with the world wide web; some people who have never had a bank account; or people with mental health issues who really can’t budget without help.

All these improvements are designed to encourage people back into work wherever possible and start people budgeting for monthly income, like the world of work, not weekly payments.

In fact, ACES has come across people who do not know that two £5 notes are worth the same as one £10 note! How on earth are they going to manage their money from one month to the next?

• Payments will be made monthly rather than weekly to reduce administration cost • Payments will be made via bank accounts to reduce cash management costs

Sounds great, and it will be for 80% of the claimant population but ACES has come across

Christmas in Crisis The Universal Credit Diet The change to Universal Credit could mean at least six weeks before claimants get another square meal as there are some significant hurdles for them to overcome. For starters a claimant may not make a claim for seven days from their last employment or benefit payment.

When they do make a claim they will not receive approval for four weeks and when they finally receive approval they will not receive any payment into their new bank account for a further seven days. Six weeks before receiving any money is actually the best-case scenario so what are these people supposed to do for food?

In the event of any mistake or missing one of the many tight deadlines during this six week process, the claimant has to go back to the beginning and start again. Given that there are so many different government departments involved, delays are very likely and there have been cases of disadvantaged families going without income for over four months, through no fault of their own.

This is all very well for the sort of people who have savings to fall back on but many benefit claimants come from chaotic backgrounds and are not used to administration, banking or budgeting. They rarely have any savings and will be forced to beg, steal, borrow or visit a foodbank to survive.

It would be nice to think that these people will say “Heck! I’d better go out and get a job!”

But is that likely for people who come from five generations of benefit claimants? In today’s quick fix society they will want money now, not in six weeks’ time, so the quickest ways to get money fast are to shop-lift, deal drugs or join the black economy, where unscrupulous employers will employ you for well below the minimum wage – no questions asked.

Dickensian Street Scenes This brings me on to the state of our high streets which are beginning to look like a Dickensian throwback. In Brighton, Hastings and even Eastbourne, the number of people sleeping rough and begging on the streets appears to have doubled. Bedding is appearing in shop doorways and staff have to clear out the entrance to their store before they can even start to welcome customers in.

Seaside hotels are reporting that their guests are checking out early to return home because: “This town just isn’t the lovely place it used to be” or “I feel really uncomfortable with the aggressive beggars on the street”.

Anti-social behaviour is increasing too as the

street community meet up and drink strong lager from before 9am in our town centres.

After several strong lagers they start to argue and shout at passers-by without realising how loud they sound. Shop windows are smashed over night as rough sleeping turf wars develop and at weekends drunken revellers have a go at vulnerable rough sleepers who are out on their own.

disappear if we turn the other way?

Sometimes drink and drugs are the only way to cope with living on the streets. Needles appear regularly in gardens, shop doorways and outside offices, presenting a serious danger to residents and children. Business people have had to buy sharps containers just to keep the front of their business premises clean, tidy and safe.

Firstly, never give money direct to a beggar.

Get them a cup of tea, hot soup or a sandwich.

Do we step over these people who have fallen between societies cracks? Will they

It’s clear from what we hear from the Police that some of these people are professional beggars who don’t need our help, but many are really vulnerable people who are just trying to stay alive. Many of them are you or me - but for the grace of God.

What should I do to Help?

Make sure you buy extra groceries each week including food, soap and other household items for your local Foodbank. They really are worried that Universal Credit will mean they are going to run out of food.

Give money to local organisations like the Salvation Army. Agencies who are trained in

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Christmas in Crisis

working with disadvantaged communities, often with serious mental health issues.

Do report street drinking you see in the town centre to telephone number 101 or to https:// report.police.uk/ If you see any sort of aggression on the streets - dial 999.

What can business people do?

Some Chamber members are already helping in a big way. For example “We Push Ducks Gym” has created a Ducks Foundation and is working with Matthew 25 and The Rebourne Corner of the Salvation Army to offer personal training for homeless and disadvantaged people.

People with drug and drink problems have been coming to 1-2-1 fitness sessions to help start to kick the habit and claw their way back to a healthier life.

Reformed East Sussex is working with people stuck in a cycle of criminality and helps them to train to re-enter the word of work.

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Eastbourne Football Club is offering football training sessions for the street community.

All we need is transport to get them to their weekly training sessions.

Outreach Workers are people who are trained to work with the street community and help guide them through the agencies who are there to help them. They can reduce the numbers of people on the street dramatically but due to government cuts they have disappeared which has contributed to the recent increase in rough sleepers.

The Police, the local authorities and business community BIDs are working together to replace these outreach workers who are vital to getting vulnerable people off the street. If your business would like to contribute to this important fund, email your interest to info@edeal.org.uk

The Proletariat has gone – enter “The Precariat” There is a whole segment of society known as “The Precariat”. Often young people they live precariously from one pay day to the next.

They might be professional people living in rented accommodation but if they have an accident or become ill and lose their job, they can’t pay their rent and will get kicked out on the street.

If they don’t have the support of a wealthy family it can be really difficult to get back onto the property ladder. Private landlords require large deposits, payments up front and employed guarantors. It’s almost impossible if you don’t have any savings or a rich relative with a steady income.

Clearly, once you are on the street it becomes very hard to get back into safe accommodation. Health issues, drink, drugs and mental health issues follow - fast - and there but for the grace of God go I! Don’t imagine it could never happen to you.

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Health & Safety

HEALTH AND SAFETY NOT AT WORK Health and safety isn’t just about when you are at your place of work, says Rob Slater, Director of Clearwater Safety Group Ltd

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he simple truth is that the event or activity that you are attending in your leisure time is nearly always at someone else’s workplace. And in exactly the same way that you have a duty to ensure the safety of visitors at your workplace, so the organisers of events have a duty of care to you.

This is where some parts of the popular press like to call us the ‘fun police’. Several years ago at Wimbledon, officials closed Murray Mount (or Henman Hill as it was once known) as it was feared fans would be injured if they slipped on the wet grass. And they may

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clearwater safety group limited

also have worried that the young men happily throwing themselves down the slopes in their plastic capes may hurt themselves, then go on to contact a no win, no fee lawyer.

Back in the day, we could normally rely on people taking responsibility for their own actions; if they slipped on the wet grass or hurt their back whilst sliding down it, it was their own fault. But as we all know these days, if you are hurt, it must be someone else’s fault…

And there are plenty of new ‘banned activities’, which are always wrong but still get

print space; children banned from playing with yo-yos and conkers, knives banned from village hall kitchens, charity shops not allowed to sell knitting needles, a pub customer not allowed to carry his drinks on a tray, schoolchildren banned from running in long grass! The list is endless. In simple terms, the reality of health and safety impacting you while you are enjoying your leisure activities includes things such as making sure you can’t trip over boxes, tools or cables, or by making sure the emergency exits are clear.

Of course there are places you go where you

Health & Safety 14th-century bell tower in the northern city of Pavia, in which four people died. A toddler and a 30 year-old were also seriously injured when plaster fell from the ceiling of the Acireale Cathedral in Sicily during a wedding.

But Italy is not alone in collapsing structures. Whilst on holiday in Malta recently, I saw a pile of sandstone rubble on the pavement. When I looked up, there was a collapsed balcony, but nothing to warn anyone of any further collapses…

Another tragedy happened at the 900 year-old Warwick Castle. In 2012 a visitor died from his injuries when he fell over a low bridge into a dry moat below. The castle was then successfully prosecuted and fined £350,000 for failing to ensure the safety of visitors by installing barriers and signs. expect, desire even, to be exposed to danger.

The idea of being strapped into an open seat and then thrown around upside down at 50 mph does not appeal to me in the slightest. But there are plenty of thrill seekers (personally I’d call them masochists) who go to Alton Towers or Chessington every week to do just that. But here’s where health and safety rears its head there is a limit to the ‘danger’ that they can be exposed to before people really do get badly hurt.

a safety perspective.

In June 2015 there was a horrific accident on the Smiler ride at Alton Towers which left several people with what is known as ‘life changing injuries’. And then of course there was the terrifying accident in Ohio earlier this year where the ride broke apart in mid air.

Other deadly incidents involving Italian monuments include the 1989 collapse of a

A 52 year-old Spanish tourist was recently killed by falling masonry while visiting one of Florence’s most famous churches, the Basilica di Santa Croce. He was struck by a piece of decorative stone approximately 150mm x 150mm that fell from a height of 20 metres (66ft). Authorities are now checking the stability of the rest of the church, which is expected to remain closed to visitors indefinitely.

So to play Devil’s advocate and bring the might of health and safety to bear, it could be that the only real way to keep visitors safe from falling masonry is to keep them away from the structure by fitting ugly modern fences or scaffolding around beautiful buildings…very picturesque.

So the next time you are at an amusement park or stately home, or even picnicking under a 500 year-old oak tree in one of the royal parks next to an unprotected lake, spare a thought for us ‘elf and safety types’ just trying to make sure you go home safely so you can go back to work safely.

What is important to remember is that neither of these accidents just randomly ‘happened’. Both parks would have had procedures in place to prevent such things.

But what happens in nearly all cases is that the procedures aren’t followed for whatever reason. Checks are not carried out, maintenance is rushed or missed, safety cutouts are over-ridden, and suddenly you have an incident and your day out is spoiled, or even worse.

Visiting old churches, stately homes and parks is a very popular pastime both in the UK and across Europe, however, the age of many of these attractions also causes problems from

Clearwater Safety Group looks at all of the risk areas that your business may be exposed to and work with you to minimise or remove them. info@clearwater-safety.co.uk 01825 710002 www.clearwater-safety.co.uk

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Interview

CREATIVITY BY DESIGN

Platinum Publishing Group has a stunning new website, and we couldn’t be more grateful to the wonderful designers at Nexus Design & Print. Ian Trevett met with MD Claudine Young to find out more about the business.

W

e are hugely proud of our new website and have been very impressed with the professionalism and customer service provided by our chosen web designers, Nexus Design & Print. Aside from the quality of their work, the overriding first impression is that it is a friendly and close-knit business where people are happy to work. This reflects the ethos of owner and MD Claudine Young, who took over the reins just over 18 months ago.

“When I took over the business, I wanted to ensure it was much more family-friendly, and geared to a work-life balance. I’m aware that our staff need to have time with their families, so we are flexible on hours. However, it’s very important that we get together and we stay focused as a team. You need to be able to run ideas past each other and talk about projects.”

“The most difficult thing for many small businesses is that marketing is always at the bottom of the list” Claudine has been with Nexus since its inception, almost 25 years ago, and seen many changes. In fact, the whole nature of the business has changed dramatically over the years. She describes Nexus today as follows: “We’re a creative marketing agency and we work with you on everything from designing your logo, designing your website, printing your stationery, supporting your marketing or helping with your digital marketing. We help you create a strategy to move forward and are here to offer advice.”

The original Nexus was very different, as Claudine recalls: “The company was started by Steve Wadman in February 1993 and I was one of the first members of staff that he recruited.

I began in sales, although I have worked in all departments.

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“At the start our main business was selling computer stationery, such as paper, diskettes, and Magnetic tapes - any computer consumables.

“We did a little bit of design such as letterheads and it wasn’t until we’d grown that business that we decided to open up a studio which I headed up. We also became print agents.

“Our business model now is geared towards design but we still offer computer stationery sales. There is still a market for it, which is quite amazing. There are still users of dot matrix printers, as the ribbons are more costeffective way printing than using toners. A ribbon will last you a lot longer and it’s a lot cheaper. For us it is good repeat business.”

The leap from sales to running a design studio was a steep learning curve. “Starting a studio was quite daunting,” says Claudine.

“It was something I’d never done and I had to learn very quickly. I was never what you would

call a designer, I was always more of an art worker. But soon there was enough business then to employ a junior designer, James Morrison, who is still with us 12 years later and now heads up the studio.

“I moved over to office manager, which then progressed to general manager. I ran the business for the MD in his semi-retirement and then took it over as owner when he retired in April 2016.”

Claudine is the first to admit that the move from manager to owner was a big change, and entailed more pressure. I asked her what the main difference is between being a general manager and an owner. She quickly replies: “About nine hours sleep!”

“You can certainly have a few sleepless nights. I think when I first took over I remember sitting down and thinking ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing’, even though I virtually ran the office. I made a lot of the decisions prior to taking over, but someone

Interview else would authorise the decision. When it’s you making those decisions and it’s you who’s responsible for what happens after you’ve made those decisions, it is quite different.”

When asked what was her best decision as an owner, the ironic reply is taking on a marketing manager - ironic as there was noone marketing the marketing company.

“The most difficult thing for many small businesses is that marketing is always at the bottom of the list,” she says. “It’s the last thing they do when it should actually be the first thing because it’s this that gets you known.

“We were just as slow. We were looking for a salesperson, but I realised that what we really needed was a marketing manager, so we took on Milly Stone this year. Marketing is something that people don’t always see as a selling tool when in fact it most certainly is.

Everything comes back to how you’ve marketed your business and whether you’ve done it correctly.

“We like dealing with smaller businesses because it’s nice to see them grow through the advice you’ve given them. We work with people, not for people.”

have plenty of experience. We have younger designers but most of our designers are mature and they have a really good work ethic plus all the experience in their field. We have an old mindset but a very modern outlook.

“We are always looking at new trends and technologies. The guys go to a lot of industry events, in order to network with others in their field. We do a lot of research as well. And we want to harness the creativity of the younger generations. It is important to understand millennials and what they look for in a job or career.”

So what does the future hold for Nexus?

“We aim for steady growth.” stresses Claudine. “We don’t want to grow too quickly and become too big. We are a niche little creative agency that’s got a good personal touch and I don’t want to lose that. As much as we’ve got high expectations of what we can achieve, we want to achieve it while keeping our feet on the ground and sticking with our boutique approach.

“Our staff stay with us. James has been there for 12 years. Steve Elford freelanced for us for about nine years prior to joining the company, so he’s been with us for ten years.

Fiona Edmunds-Prosser has been here five years and Suzanne Ford for four years. There are eight staff including me.

business future-proof. That’s important as well.

It’s my pension but also I want our people to be able to have a job in 10 or 20 years’ time.

They’re young enough to see the business grow. Part of that business will be shared with them hopefully as they get further down the line. So it’s important that we don’t spread ourselves too thin.

“We have a very loyal customer base. We want to build relationships. You maybe start with doing a brochure and then from the brochure you get up to doing their magazine and from the magazine they need to re-design their website. And you can grow a brand with them. We grow with the brand that they’re trying to create themselves.”

The word nexus is defined as an important connection between the parts of a system or a group of things. This could be a good description of Claudine’s role at the company.

Her interests outside work include a passion for holistic therapies and with the business she takes a similarly holistic approach. There’s no doubt that the business is in safe hands.

Milly Stone NEXUS DESIGN & PRINT Studio 38, Adur Business Centre, Little High Street, Shoreham-by-Sea, BN43 5EQ Phone: 01273 702525

“I think everybody is really involved in the future of the business. They want to make the “Taking on Milly was a great move as she is completely honest with me, which is what I need. I don’t need people to just fan my ego because what’s the point?”

If they were slow on their own marketing, the opposite applies to the work they do for their clients. Nexus offer a free marketing health check and are about to launch a new product especially aimed at start-ups.

“We are launching a Stepping Stone Package for brand new companies that are just starting up. We’ve put together a minimarketing plan for them and we’ll put together a mini website and business stationery package to get them on the ladder.

“We like dealing with smaller businesses because it’s nice to see them grow through the advice you’ve given them. We work with people, not for people. Somebody doesn’t come to us and say ‘I want a logo, get on with it’. We want the client to be fully involved and always encourage this.

“What sets us apart from others is that we

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Interview

CLEANKILL TAKE CONTROL

Winning Best Green Business at the 2017 Gatwick Diamond Awards, Cleankill Pest Control’s MD, Paul Bates, talks to Suzi Christie about pests, palaces and problem solving.

Cleankill win ‘Green Business of the Year’ at The Gatwick Diamond Business Awards 2017

What does your company do?

As the name suggests, we provide pest control services. To the average person this might seem like a fairly straightforward business but it is far from it. What we do is constantly changing in many respects from legislative issues to do with the use of pesticides, to the vast range of accreditations needed to work in different sectors and different pests becoming resistant to treatments.

We are also registered to remove waste and we’ll sometimes find ourselves, the directors

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included, a foot deep in pigeon mess that needs clearing out before we install netting or wires to prevent the birds returning.

The vast majority of our work is business to business, working with facilities managers who are in charge of a number of sites. Most businesses will have a pest prevention plan which means we are not just reacting when there is a pest problem. Our contracts include an agreed number of visits during the year, whether there are problems or not, so any infestations can be spotted and resolved early on.

How did your company start?

Most of our senior staff started their careers with Rentokil. I left in 1997 and contacted two old friends who had both worked for me as service managers in Rentokil’s London South branch. They had set up a small company in Croydon two years previously, it was turning over about 20k a year and they wanted it to grow. I resigned from a well paid and rewarding job on a Friday, and started with a company that wasn’t making enough to pay one man, let alone three directors, on the Monday. A year later, another old friend joined

Interview

Managing Director of Cleankill Pest Control, Paul Bates us as a director. By the end of 1997 we had turned over 37k; January this year we turned over £2million, and we now have 32 staff and are still growing.

What are the current issues for your business and industry?

Our service is all about giving customers peace of mind that we will keep their premises pest free, often helping customers in real emergency and distressing situations.

Our biggest issue is to get the message out there that we can offer a better service than the big well-known brands, and to try to inform people to make the right choice and that the cheapest option is not necessarily the best one, or also that expensive does not always equal quality.

What are the most common pest problems you have to deal with?

We define a pest as an organism that is detrimental to man or his environment. In some ways it follows the gardener’s definition of a weed – it is a plant growing in the wrong place. A fly on the window is not necessarily a problem – that same fly doing breast stroke in your soup probably is!

The most common pests we deal with are rodents. Rats go into property usually by mistake. Mice on the other hand want to be there and will often have been there some time before you see them and the first signs will be their droppings.

Pests know no boundaries and much of our work is in Mayfair and Belgravia. We see inside some of the most expensive properties in the country. I once carried out a survey at an Arab prince’s property in Princes Gate – 60 toilets, each with a gold plated waste pipe, and two industrial air conditioning units, one for the servants and one for the royal family.

Calls to deal with squirrels and parakeets are also increasing. The damage these creatures can cause is staggering. The growing parakeet population in South London is particularly problematic as these birds are expert at accessing buildings through places like vents and then destroying internal timbers and vents.

How do you tackle these pests?

We recruit and retain staff who we know will love their work despite the challenges they face. These could include crawling around in dirty roof spaces or cellars, climbing up the sides of buildings in all weathers or dealing with aggressive rats and squirrels. We make sure our staff are superbly trained and equipped to deal with different situations.

Every member of staff signs up to the ‘Cleankill Way’ which engenders how people are expected to work. The organisation’s values include: honesty and integrity; customer excellence; autonomy and innovation; open/ two-way communication; teamwork and willingness to learn and share knowledge.

What is the ethos?

The key to our approach is focusing on helping people and solving their problems rather than selling a service. We believe that if we focus on offering the best possible service and exceeding customer expectations, then the profits will follow.

We also focus on the long-term gain. For instance a certain contract, like a pestprevention contract involving an independent restaurant, may be smaller than others but if you look at the lifetime of the contract and you keep that customer, they are just as valuable as a large one-off job. They may also give you word of mouth recommendations that lead to more business.

So whether we are treating a bedsit or a palace, we give each customer the same high level of service.

Cleankill is the only pest control provider in the UK to achieve a Silver Investor in People accreditation.

Cleankill is a proud member of the British Pest Control Association, as well as being approved to ISO9001 and ISO14001, and fully accredited to the Altius Vendor Assessment, PICS, Safecontractor, Exor, Constructionline and Achilles Health and Safety.

Cleankill was ‘Best Green Business’ in the Gatwick Diamond Awards 2017 and Best Service Provide in the ARMA Ace Awards 2017.

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Interview

EXPERTS IN DIRECT MARKETING The resurgence in direct mail marketing is showing no signs of slowing down.

Ian Trevett spoke to David Vaughan, MD of Mailing Expert about the growth of the company, the future of direct mail and the implications of GDPR.

I

t’s all about the planning. If you have an idea, then a business advisor will insist you create a detailed business plan to map your future growth and development. But not always. Sometimes businesses almost start by accident - maybe after a redundancy or an opportunity that can’t be ignored. For David and Jenny, their respective businesses flourished as a result of enforced new starts and a partnership that was staring them in the face.

Tucked away in an Uckfield business park, a two-storey office unit houses two very different, yet complimentary businesses.

Upstairs Jenny runs a group of insurance brokers, while downstairs David has a direct mail company, Mailing Expert. Both are thriving, yet both would be first to admit that this wasn’t the plan!

For Jenny, owning an insurance company was the furthest thing from her mind, as David

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recalls. “Jenny was working as an insurance broker and 14 years ago she was made redundant. She said at the time she didn’t want to sell insurance, she didn’t want to employ people and she didn’t want premises.

Now she has an insurance brokering firm, 18 staff and these premises.” What David hadn’t realised was that he would soon be sharing the premises with his own business.

the mailing got too much we used the mailing house where I was working. So when I started out on my own, it made sense to carry this on.

“I started six years ago in September 2011.

My working life had been spent in many of the larger mailing houses and printers in London and across the south east. When I was made redundant I was weighing up what to do, and it occurred to me I already had a potential mailing client - my wife.”

“Jenny had moved into a decent-sized unit in Uckfield, with her office upstairs and there was space downstairs that she wasn’t using.

The idea initially was that I would create an inhouse mailing operation for Jenny’s business, but very quickly other insurance companies starting to get in touch asking if we could do their mailing. Then we started working with local government and charities and the mailing side started to really take off. Now we send 100,000 proposals a year for Jenny’s business, and we have built up the customer base for the brokering company.

“I had already been doing her mail-outs.

When she started out, we bought 100 names, printed the letters out on a home desktop printer and sent them out. We began by sending out 100 mailers a month and once

“I am effectively a non-exec director of Jenny’s companies and she is the nonexec director of mine. I do have insurance qualifications but I don’t get involved in the day-to-day running of the business.

Interview “We chose the name Mailing Expert as it has a good connection with the insurance brand names. We have Mailing Expert, The Expert Insurance Group, PI Expert, Home Insurance Expert, and Kidnap and Ransom Expert.”

Although there direct mail has come back in favour, it has been tough environment for both mailing house and printers over the last few years, with many companies falling by the wayside. David was determined to make the business sustainable from day one: “The mistake companies make is that they quickly buy expensive equipment and take on lots of staff, and then get in trouble when business slows down.

“We didn’t have the aspiration to grow too quickly. We are not interested in being a print / mailing house for the AA - and are happy with the SME market. We started with an old printer we already had and waited until the demand was there before upgrading. So when a job came along that needed colour digital, that is when we invested.

“We haven’t got anything here that we rarely use - we ensure that the equipment we have has a genuine use. The profits we get we are put straight back into the company. We’d rather invest in the company than jet off to Australia at the first opportunity.

“Day one of the business was just me. Now we have four full time members of staff, but we have ten people we can quickly call in when we need to fulfil a big job. Sometimes we get staff in, other times we use home-workers, which particularly suits mums with young families.”

Mailing Expert is far more than just a mailing house, with expertise in general direct marketing including digital, and the team are always on hand to offer advice and consultancy. As strong as the company is on email marketing, David believes that it has its limitations: “Email marketing accounts for just under 5% of what we do. We do email campaigns but we usually advise that it works best alongside a physical marketing campaign. A typical campaign for an event or an exhibition, for instance, would see a physical mailing a couple of months before, followed by two or three email campaigns leading up to the event, just to remind people.

Email marketing on its own isn’t always very effective.”

The reservations about email marketing do not represent a Luddite approach to new technologies. In fact, physical direct mail has undergone a revolution over the last few years. “Emails are great marketing if you are expecting them (such as a newsletter or

offer; that you have signed up for) but are usually deleted within a couple of seconds if unexpected, whereas a physical letter will sit on your desk or on top of your mantel piece for weeks. The mailing industry is now very clever,” says David. “The post you receive has been targeted using the data received by companies, which builds up a picture of your buying habits.

“The Royal Mail have done a lot of research on mail responses and they have found that the demographic which most likes receiving post is actually the Millennial generation, as post is a quite a novelty for them and it makes them feel important.

“Our biggest clients are insurance brokers, charities and local government. For instance we might send out forms to update the electoral roll, recycling calendars or notices about changes in services. Recycling calendars can be quite involved as one street will have recycling on a Monday, the next may be Tuesday and so on. It is actually fairly easy for us as we batch print and mail sort it. It’s all about having the right systems in place.

targeted mail-outs for local estate agents.”

So what does the future hold for the sector and the company?

“The future is strong for the sector, and it will become even more targeted and more intelligent. It will be more specific to the individual. You see gimmicky ideas come and go, but most of these go out of fashion quickly.

If you get too complicated, people lose interest.

“For us, looking ahead for the next five years, I would be happy if we are double the size we are. We will need a new factory unit as we are out-growing the premises here. The key is to grow organically and not put ourselves in a situation where we are over-stretched. We are a direct mail company and that remains our bread and butter.”

www.mailingexpert.co.uk In the next issue of Platinum Business Magazine, we ask David about the impact of the new GDPR legislation. Working in direct marketing, there can be few people better placed to give an accurate assessment of how the new legislation will affect businesses.

“We are working on pre-Christmas campaigns now which keeps us busy until late November. The charities clearly get a good return as they pay for the printing, post and sometimes the actual list, but they return each year so it must work for them.

“When we do send unaddressed items, we only send single flyers – never as a bundled collection of leaflets that will go straight into recycling. For instance we often do small

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Apprenticeships

WHO CAN BE AN APPRENTICE? Apprentices can come from all backgrounds and starting points, says Sussex Skills Solutions

Asad Ali and Commercial Supervisor Robert Fitzpatrick

S

ussex Skills Solutions, the Apprenticeship and Skills Training Provider for Sussex, is a joint collaboration between Sussex Coast College Hastings and Sussex Downs College. ACES Sussex meets two different apprentices who have both been given the tools to succeed.

One of their recent successful apprenticeship placements includes 69 year-old Mark Ellenger from Bexhill-on-Sea. Mark has just completed his Hospitality Services Intermediate Apprenticeship, working for AMEY, the UK-based support service provider. He is a committed learner and a huge inspiration to others.

Apprenticeships may be suitable for adult learners looking to change profession, upskill or return to work. Mark has been a joy to teach, with his positive, can-do attitude.

Whereas many adults will probably say they are too old to learn, Mark has proven that this is not the case at all.”

A question many employers ask is who can be an apprentice? Sussex Skills Solutions has found there is no ‘one size fits all’ requirement.

Mark’s assessor, Beth Funnell, says: “Mark’s story shows that apprentices aren’t just young adults looking to get into the workplace.

Mark now hopes to progress to Level 3 in the apprenticeship programme with Sussex Skills Solutions.

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Apprenticeships Another recent success story is that of 21-year-old Asad Ali, from London, winner of the Transport & Logistics award in the Asian Apprenticeship Awards 2017. Asad’s employer, Alex Ward (Regional Manager, Certas Energy), nominated him for the award.

“Asad came to Certas for an interview and immediately stood out as an honest and ambitious young man who could, commercially, hugely add to our business,” says Alex.

In the first six months of his apprenticeship, Asad was learning everything from product details and machinery, to the supply chain process. He also had the academic support of the apprenticeship programme from Sussex Skills Solutions based at the Sussex Downs College campus.

In the latter part of his apprenticeship, Asad introduced multiple new business accounts, placing him in the top 25 employees, in a sales force of 140, in terms of results and portfolio growth. Asad also played a role in allowing Certas Energy to increase its portfolio of vehicles from 22 to 90 in the greater London region.

Towards the end of his apprenticeship, Asad hosted a Ryder Cup Golfing Day for his customer base. Sussex Skills Solutions supported the event and assessed Asad’s behaviour and relationship with his customers, witnessing first-hand the commercial value he brought to the industry. Within a short time of completing his apprenticeship, Asad was promoted to a Business Account Manager within Certas.

“Asad has shown that whatever your educational and cultural background, you can cross commercial frontiers with a strong work ethic and a personality that understands the commercial needs of your customer base,” says Alex.

Asad finished secondary school with a D grade in GCSE Maths. He now works in a highly numerical profession where 0.1% per litre can make the difference between a company being viable or a company closing down. Through his apprenticeship with Sussex Skills Solutions and learning the Certas way of

Asad Ali working, Asad now has the numerical ability any professional would be proud of.

The apprenticeship opportunity has also equipped Asad with life skills, including learning to drive. He is now helping Certas Energy to develop the next generation of apprentices.

Alex concludes, “Asad is very deserved for winning this award! He is a credit to the fuel industry, an ambassador to Certas Energy and demonstrates the educational value that Sussex Skills Solutions can bring to the workplace.”

The Asian Apprenticeship Awards took place in Birmingham on Friday 3rd November.

How Sussex Skills Solutions can help Mark and Asad’s stories are just two of the recent successes celebrated by Sussex Skills Solutions. Across its provision, Sussex Skills Solutions has seen a 15% increase in combined apprenticeship starts for 2016/17 for Sussex Coast College Hasting and Sussex Downs College. The colleges have actively engaged with over 40 levy-paying employers and this is growing on a daily basis.

“There has been an upturn in existing staff upskilling by training in middle management roles including team leading and accounting,” says Stephen Burkes, Director of Sussex Skills Solutions about their current portfolio. “We are also expanding our portfolio to include Level 4 Management courses, which we are now accepting requests for.”

This year, Sussex Skills Solutions has also seen a spike in trade apprenticeships, in line with recognised skills shortages in this sector. Recent placements include Colbran & Wingrove Building Contractors, James Collins Guitars and Cheesmur Building Contractors.

New offers from Sussex Skills Solutions include Level 3 IT and new standards in Adult Healthcare, Hairdressing and Motor Vehicle, with more coming soon.

Changes to apprenticeships this year means there are new incentives available to employers. Businesses of all sizes are encouraged to get in touch with Sussex Skills Solutions to go through any of these in more detail.

Contact the team on 030 300 39777 or visit www.sussexskillssolutions.co.uk

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Education

T

A GLOBAL EDUCATION IN SUSSEX

he choice of schools is greater than ever before with parents now considering state funded academies and free schools alongside independent schools for their children. One group of schools in Sussex offers something different for those parents. Aurora Academies Trust operates six schools across Sussex and Brighton which are state schools funded directly by the Department for Education, rather than by local councils. They are free to attend and non-selective. In 2016 Aurora was one of the highest performing trusts in the country for progress in reading.

Aurora was founded as a charity in 2012 and took over 4 primary schools that year: King Offa Primary Academy and Glenleigh Park Primary Academy in Bexhill on Sea and Oakwood Primary Academy and Heron Park Primary Academy in Eastbourne. In 2014 it opened a brand new all-through school called The Gatwick School in Crawley. In September 2017, City Academy Whitehawk in Brighton became the sixth school in the trust.

As well as having a focus on serving local communities, Aurora has a global perspective through its partnership with Pansophic Learning, an international education company. Pansophic runs state funded charter schools in US and also owns private schools in Switzerland, Uganda and Dubai. Pansophic was founded in 2014 by Ron Packard, a leading education entrepreneur, and is based in McLean, Virginia. Pansophic provides the innovative humanities curriculum by Aurora which encourage the study of different cultures around the world.

Martha Burnige, Trustee of Aurora and Executive Vice President of Pansophic explains the benefits of international collaboration.

“Whilst all of our international schools operate in different local contexts, excellent teaching, first class professional development and high quality leadership are universal themes in our schools. We want pupils in the UK to develop deep links with their counterparts overseas which will help them to seize the opportunities provided by globalisation.”

Aurora is particularly proud of The Gatwick School which is located in the Manor Royal Business District. Its proximity to the airport and

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to national and international businesses has provided the links with employers as well as exciting opportunities to see how technology is used in the workplace. The school building is currently undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment to provide state of the art facilities.

When full it will have 1020 pupils.

The Gatwick School is one of growing number of “all-through” schools which cater for pupils from the age of 4 to 16. Tim McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer of Aurora, is a supporter of this new style of education “As a former secondary headteacher I know the transition from primary to secondary school can be difficult for some children. At The Gatwick School we have seen first-hand the benefit of educating primary and secondary pupils in one school setting. Although they are not taught together, the pupils have some joint assemblies and the older ones enjoy helping the younger ones with their reading. We are able to use the expertise of the specialist secondary teachers for the benefit of the younger pupils and are able to track the progress of pupils from reception class through to GCSEs.” Aurora also takes the pastoral care of its pupils very seriously. The personal development and welfare of its pupils was recently judged to be outstanding by Ofsted inspectors. Sport plays an important part of school life. Heron Park Primary Academy in Eastbourne was recently awarded with gold Schools Games status together with funding to continue the success of its after school sports clubs.

For more information about Aurora schools, to attend an open day or to arrange a tour, please contact Tim McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer, at tmccarthy@auroraacademies.org.

GRANTS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS...

For SMEs offering green or low carbon products and services

Do you help your customers improve their energy or resource efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint or protect the environment?

You could be eligible for a grant and 12 hours FREE business or product/service development support through the Low Carbon Across the South East programme (LOCASE), for businesses in East Sussex, Kent and Essex. 

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Grants to fund a business growth project or develop a product or service: 40% of a project cost, up to £10,000.

FREE 12 hours tailored business support from specialist business coaches and consultants.

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Grants can cover a range of business development projects including marketing, equipment, IT, consultancy, intellectual property and product/service development.

CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE Email

greengrowthplatform@brighton.ac.uk

Website

www.greengrowthplatform.co.uk

Phone

01273 641949

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GRANTS TO CUT YOUR ENERGY COSTS...

For small and medium sized businesses in East Sussex

Save on energy costs, gain a strategic competitive advantage, enhance your brand and upgrade your business culture - improved energy performance provides much more than just environmental benefits.

FREE business energy audits Audits only take a couple of hours and receive your FREE report which will identify energy saving opportunities for your business. Take up this offer and apply for a grant to help fund them.

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CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE

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Email

greengrowthplatform@brighton.ac.uk

Website

www.greengrowthplatform.co.uk

Phone

01273 641949

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Sustainable Business

GOING GREEN WITH GRANTS

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Want to do more for the environment as a business in East Sussex?

Find out how the Green Growth Platform can help.

ased at the University of Brighton’s Moulsecoomb campus, there’s a small team striving to accelerate the green economy along the South Coast. Together, they’re driving the Green Growth Platform: the University’s contribution to uncoupling carbon emissions from economic growth. They provide vital information, encouragement and support to businesses wanting to ‘green up’ their processes and products, and to innovate and develop the low carbon/cleantech products and services of the future.

In the last three years, the Green Growth Platform has attracted over 860 members to share information, attend workshops and apply for essential funding. They’ve helped businesses to create over 200 jobs, develop around 50 new products or services, facilitated 75 innovation/ research and development projects, and placed more than 80 students and graduates with member businesses to enhance their skills base.

Helping to make this happen is Business Growth Manager, Mark Riminton, who has spent 20 years working with high growth tech companies. Mark’s been helping dozens of businesses through LoCASE funding - one of the many ways that the Green Growth Platform supports businesses.

LoCASE (Low Carbon Across the South East), is an EU funded programme helping businesses to tackle climate change. Focusing on businesses in East Sussex, Kent and Essex, LoCASE grants provide a 40% contribution, up to £10,000, for low carbon/environmental businesses to grow or to develop products/services. Grants are also available for businesses in any sector to install a variety of energy efficiency measures.

With a whole host of businesses who’ve benefited from LoCASE funding over the last year, we asked Mark some questions for businesses interested in applying.

Who can apply for LoCASE funding?

LoCASE growth grants are available to support businesses involved in decarbonising the energy system, improving energy and resource efficiency, or businesses focused on conserving and enhancing the natural environment. Grants can be used for capital and revenue, including marketing, equipment, IP and product/service development.

So, if your business’s operations have a direct environmental benefit or you are simply seeking to improve your business’s energy efficiency, you could qualify for a LoCASE grant. Companies must be an SME and based in the qualifying location. Some sector exclusions apply.

Left to right: Jo Carpenter, Mark Riminton, Lorraine Bell of GGP team

Is it just for specialist environmental businesses?

Not at all. Whilst we work with a range of incredibly innovative green businesses, LoCASE support is also available to businesses contributing to lowering carbon emissions or improving resource/energy efficiency.

We’ve also supported Zero Kitchens, sustainable kitchen designers from Uckfield, Reef Environmental, a recycling company in St Leonards, and the Spithurst Hub, a low carbon office space in Barcombe.

The LoCASE grant is also designed to support two purposes - supply and demand. ‘Supply’ could refer to a heating company supplying more efficient heating systems. The company could use the grant for capital equipment or to help grow their business, such as website development.

‘Demand’ refers to a business which wants to use the heating company to install the more efficient heating system. The grant could part fund the installation project.

How challenging is the application process?

I’ve worked on a lot of similar funding projects over the years and have to say that one of the greatest things about LoCASE is how easy we’ve tried to make the process.

It does, of course, have a few checks and balances due to it being government funding. However, at the Green Growth Platform, we work closely with businesses to ensure that they get the best possible chance to access this funding and make a difference.

To find out how the Green Growth Platform can help your business, please email greengrowthplatform@brighton.ac.uk or call 01273 641949. www.greengrowthplatform.co.uk

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Networking

The Business Network

NETWORK REVIEW

NEXT GENERATION NETWORK

By Emma Pearce, Marketing Consultant – marketing planning, outsourced marketing and social media training www.pearcemarketing.co.uk Emma Pearce reports back on attending the launch of this new network

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artin Ellis and Harriet Finch from the RSE Group have teamed up to start an innovative networking group aimed at those people who will be leading businesses in the next 10-20 years. Typically this means first level managers and people that are starting or have young businesses now, who want to learn and develop their skills and support each other. But in fact anyone that is interested in leadership development can attend.

There was a real mix of ages and experience level at the launch event.

For example, one lady has been six months in post on the management team of a printing business, another works for a lift company, two people are young partners in an accountancy firm and one man has a relatively new wholesale pharmacy business. I spoke to a lady who was an events organiser for a major venue who said: “I don’t normally get out of the office but this network will give me the chance to learn and develop my presentation skills. It will be great to meet other local likeminded and local business people.”

So what was the inspiration behind this new network?

Harriet explained that she had recently attended an event discussing the impact of technology on future business. She could really see how her job and others would be so different in the next 15-30 years. She went on to say: “What concerned me was that 75% of the people in the room would be retired in that period. At 25 years old I was by far the youngest person in the room. We need to ensure that our future leaders, who will feel the changes, are part of the discussion now and ensure they develop their skills to match the new business environment.”

Meeting Format The likely agenda for each event is: • 7.30am start and networking (coffee, tea and pastries) • 60 second round to introduce your business • Expert guest speaker and discussion • Seven minute member presentation • 9.00am finish • Optional 15 minutes additional networking The speaker at the launch event was Huw Merriman MP. He gave a fascinating insight into the leadership challenges he faced and top tips from his investment banking career. The group talked about key issues they are facing at the moment which included major cost rises with purchasing raw materials, difficulties in hiring good people, keeping staff happy and loyal, life balance/wellbeing and knowing what the right marketing tactics are.

Key Facts • Location: The Johns Cross Meeting Room, Battle Road, Robertsbridge, TN32 5JH • Frequency: Last Friday of month

Harriet is chairing the meetings and brings the ‘young’ perspective, while Martin Ellis (at 62) brings his experience to the table. A great combination for everyone attending the events.

• Time: 7.30am - 9am

Martin added: “I recently read in The Economist that, ‘Britain’s problem is not that it has too many fat cats but that it has too few good bosses; the real enemy is David Brent. Britain has too many second-rate, sloppy, oafish managers of the sort characterised by Ricky Gervais in The Office.’”

• Minute round: yes

We need good leaders and this network is aiming to address that in Sussex.

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• Lock out: no • USP: developing future leaders • Speaker slot: yes • Cost: £12 per meeting

Do you know any ambitious people who would love to learn new skills in a supportive network to enrich their career in the years ahead? I’m sure you do. Let them know about this network so they can get on the mailing list! Email harriet@rsegroup.agency or martin@rsegroup.agency.

Business Goals

STRATEGIC GOALS Why they’re so important yet so hard to achieve Martin Riley discusses the necessity and pitfalls of setting and achieving strategic goals.

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want to tell you about an exchange I had earlier this year at a networking breakfast. A typical conversation over coffee.

I met Peter, owner of a busy distribution centre with ten staff. He had recently returned from two weeks in the sun - yet he seemed particularly unrested. So, I asked how business was going… as is often the case, Peter had returned to find four times his normal workload. Despite a productive team meeting before he left, very little had been actioned in his absence.

Peter felt stressed trying to get staff to do their jobs to a higher standard, finding little got done without him checking progress. In addition, he’s constantly interrupted from his own tasks. Like many business owners, Peter was overworked ensuring staff got their own jobs done while struggling to complete his own.

I asked him if he had a plan to change this, and he said “I don’t know, I feel like I’ve tried everything!” What I sensed immediately was a man who had given up on establishing his most important strategic goal.

Strategic goals involve first identifying the right things to do, those that will have a significant impact on your business in the long-term, perfectly aligned with your business mission and objectives. A well chosen strategic goal will lift your business to a clearly new level. In addition they need to be carefully thought through in terms of their real benefit and how they’ll best be achieved.

“Normally something has to give from your day-to-day priorities.

It is important to block out time in your diary to ensure your strategic tasks get done.”

To try and help Peter, as our conversation continued, we identified that he didn’t have a strong second-in-command that could support him in allocating key tasks, ensuring staff are trained to perform them, and holding team members to account. We agreed this was his most important strategic priority, above all

else. Over breakfast we discussed a simple plan to train up his most viable candidate in that role. And with networking now over, we left it there.

Strategic change requires focus, commitment, and often hard-to-find additional time. Normally something has to give from your day-to-day priorities. It is important to block out time in your diary to ensure your strategic tasks get done. Growth nearly always costs you in the short term and the trick is to decide how you pay to get there.

What are the options? Hiring, out-sourcing, streamlining, external finance, better time management, delivering within budget etc. It may be one or a combination of all of these, but however you decide to pay for this extra time, make a plan and a timeframe of events and stick to it.

A month later I saw Peter and asked him how he had got on. He said “nothing’s changed, I’ve been too busy!” Here was a man who struggled with the ability to accomplish strategic goals.

Peter’s problem is a classic problem. Even if you identify the most important thing to achieve, it somehow never gets done. And solving this requires both an understanding of, and ability in, executing strategic goals.

Martin Riley Leadership and Business Development.

Tel: 01424 892200.

Web: www.martin-riley.co.uk

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Christmas Gift Ideas

Make Christmas Sparkle with W. Bruford We’ve got Christmas all wrapped up at W.Bruford. Visit us in store or online at www.wbruford.com and spread the cost this Christmas with 0% finance up to 4 years* *terms and conditions apply

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1. WOLF Cub Watch Winder - available in various colours £165.00 ♦ 2. OMEGA Gents Seamaster Aqua Terra Watch Watch £7,200.00 ♦ 3. WOLF Caroline Jewellery Zip Travel Case - available in various colours £49.00 ♦♣ 4. BREITLING Gents Breitling Superocean Heritage II Watch £4,725.00 ♦ 5. WOLF Cub Watch Winder with Cover - available in various colours £185.00 ♦ 6. OMEGA Ladies Seamaster Aqua Terra Watch Watch £2,720.00♦ 7. CLOGAU Royal Clogau Oak Pendant £139.00 ♦ 8. CLOGAU Royal Clogau Oak Stud Earrings £119.00 ♦ 9. LES GEORGETTES Cuff and Leather Insert - available in various colours, metals and widths Cuffs From £54.00 - Leathers From £15.00 ♣ 10. LINKS OF LONDON Timeless Cuff £425.00 ♣ 11. LINKS OF LONDON Timeless Small Pendant Necklace £110.00 ♣ 12. LONGINES Ladies Diamond Set Symphonette Quartz Watch Watch £1,400.0 ♦ 13. W. BRUFORD Barleycorn Diamond Stud Earrings £600.00 ♣ 14. W. BRUFORD Barleycorn Diamond Pendant £1,225.00 ♣ 15. JERSEY PEARL Graduated Pearl Bracelet £85.00 ♦ 16. MONT BLANC Pocket Notebook Indigo £34.00, Mint £34.00, Pink £50.00 ♦ 17. MONT BLANC Meisterstuck Mozart Gold Plated Fountain Pen £355.00 ♦ ♦ Available in Cornfield Road branch ♣ Available in Arndale Centre branch

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Christmas Gift Ideas

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Arndale Centre Eastbourne, BN21 3NW T: 01323 410264 E: info@inspiredbybrufords.com

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Travel - Mallorca

Shake hands in...

MALLORCA Puerto de Palma de Mallorca

Forget package holidays and Brits abroad, there are many sides to this Balearic destination. Rose Dykins reports on plans for boosting business travel to Mallorca.

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hen checking into the BH Mallorca hotel, instead of being handed a room key card, a scannable laminated orange band with the hotel’s address printed on it is clamped round my wrist. The following day, I attend a blingy onsite pool party, where a toned dancer in a gold one-piece writhes around in a giant floating martini glass, and former contestants from the reality TV series Love Island pour shots into glitter-cheeked revellers’ mouths. At dusk, thousands gather at the hotel’s music arena to mosh along to live performances from Craig David and Tinie Tempah, before heading two minutes down the road to the debauchery of Magaluf’s strip. At 7am, I’m awoken by

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someone repeatedly hollering “Scotland!” outside my window. When I arrive at the front desk to check out, a staff member simply whips out a pair of scissors, cuts my wristband in two, and off I go.

Of course, there’s much more to Mallorca than the hedonistic resort of Magaluf.

Although it brings in the crowds, its notorious party scene can overshadow people’s perceptions of Mallorca as a whole. Those in the know – including the 17,000 or so British expats who call it home – adore the Spanish island for its picturesque towns and beaches, its climate, its off-road adventure activities and its easy-going, friendly atmosphere. In fact, in 2015, The Sunday Times named the Mallorcan

capital of Palma de Mallorca the best place to live in the world, even suggesting that it makes a feasible “commuter destination” to London (a two-hour journey by plane).

Outsiders may also be less familiar with the island’s competitive offering for corporate travellers. “The meeting and incentive business is not something new to Mallorca,” says Csaba Boda, executive assistant manager of the Park Hyatt Mallorca, a five-star hotel that opened in the north of the island last year.” It was always part of our business, especially for four and five-star properties that were only trying to cater for traditional holidaymakers, but to stay

Travel - Mallorca open all year round. And this is only possible if you have conference facilities.

A typical shopping square, Palma de Mallorca

“Certainly from June, the occupancy of the island’s hotels increases so much that they are not easily able to offer availability for incentive groups. But still, the focus for corporates lasts for the entire year, and there are some opportunities for incentives in the summer months as well.”

“The term “smart island’ may not be one you automatically associate with Mallorca, but sustainability and sensible development is definitely on its agenda” Recently, Mallorca has taken some big steps to further attract the interest of international meetings and events planners. Perhaps the most important development over the past three years is the increased connectivity of the Balearic island via low-cost carriers and legacy airlines alike. These include British Airways, which now flies to Palma de Mallorca throughout the year from Heathrow, London City, Stansted and Manchester. Meanwhile, Norwegian, Easyjet, Monarch and Thomas Cook all offer routes to the Mallorcan capital from Gatwick.

“There are many more flights to the island than before,” says Boda. “Previously, event planners often had to charter their own flights, or find solutions from numerous airlines. Now it’s easier to receive corporate groups from the UK, from German-speaking countries, France and Scandinavia.”

What’s more, there are plans for a further €229 million investment in Palma de Mallorca’s Son Sant Joan airport. The thirdbusiest airport in Spain - after Madrid and Barcelona - the gateway to Mallorca is often rammed with lengthy queues of people at passport control. And the airport experienced its busiest ever day in July, with more than 180,000 passengers and almost 1,100 flights in just 24 hours.

With its annual passenger numbers predicted to rise from 26 million to 28.5 million by 2021, Son Sant Joan airport needs to grow.

It will increase its hourly number of flights from 66 to 80 (so a plane will take off every 45 seconds). Its development plans comprise of increasing the surface area of the terminal to improve passenger comfort; adding additional corridors, moving walkways and escalators; renovating one of its runways and modernising its luggage-handling system. The end aim is for the airport to be able to accommodate up to 34 million passengers each year.

Aside from aviation, Mallorca has been working hard to give its hotel offering a muchneeded facelift fit for international business

The Mallorca coastline

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Travel - Mallorca guests. (see box below). “Many five-star hotels have opened here, but rather than small boutique properties, we’ve gained hotels with more than 100 rooms and conference facilities,” says Boda. “And all of them have proper marketing and sales structures for spreading the news that Mallorca is an excellent destination for incentives.”

An emblem of its ambitions, the Mallorcan capital gained its first convention centre in April. Operated by national hotel chain, Melia, Palau de Congressos is set along Palma’s Paseo Maritimo seafront, just ten minutes from the airport. Designed by Spanish architect, Francisco Mangado, the long, cubic yet flowing structure is intended to represent a “beached fish”. Complete with a “hanging garden”, a restaurant with a sea-view terrace and plenty of natural light, Palau de Congressos is ready and able to welcome 2,400 delegates for a congress.

The historic town of Calvià

The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma

“The Sunday Times named the Mallorcan capital of Palma de Mallorca the best place to live in the world, even suggesting that it makes a feasible “commuter destination” to London” Park Hyatt, Mallorca

Also in April, the Mallorcan town of Calvia hosted the first ever international Smart Island World Conference. More than 400 international experts – island leaders, governments researchers and universities – came to Mallorca to debate and devise new ways for island nations to develop and secure their future prosperity, and the same conference will also return to Mallorca next year.

The term “smart island” may not be one you automatically associate with Mallorca, but sustainability and sensible development is definitely on its agenda. For example, Mallorca is planning to shut down its most carbon-emitting coal and gas power station in stages by 2020. Meanwhile, the Balearic islands – Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera – are working to increase their combined renewable energy facilities so that clean sources comprise 10% of all the islands’ energy by 2020.

In addition, at a time where many European destinations are tackling over tourism, and trying to strike a balance between welcoming the world and retaining their local culture, Mallorca makes for an interesting case study. With demand on its services increasing, and many avenues of tourism to explore, Mallorca needs to use its space wisely. Its future will certainly be interesting.

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MALLORCA: INCENTIVES IN BUCKETS AND SPADES • Arguably the biggest golf destination in the Mediterranean, there are an impressive 27 courses on the island.

• Scuba diving, sailing, speedboat rides and watersports can be arranged for corporate groups.

• The mountains to the west and north provide wild surroundings for group hiking and cycling trips.

• For culture, Mallorca’s villages and towns - such as Calvia, Deia and Arta – are relaxing to explore on foot, and home to beautiful examples of Moorish and Roman architecture.

• For team building, it’s possible to arrange treasure hunts that involve kayaking, caving and snorkelling your way to a hidden chest, with a drone following along to capture your efforts on camera. thechallengemallorca.com

Travel - Mallorca

TOP FIVE PLACES FOR A MEETING/EVENT PARK HYATT MALLORCA

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Set in a valley to the northeast of the island, this beachfront five-star hotel has 142 rooms and suites, a spa and meeting facilities. “Our high-ceilinged ballroom can hold up to 200 people and has the latest high-tech equipment, daylight and a terrace for welcome cocktails,” says Boda. “The hotel also has a conference centre with eight board rooms, which are all connected by a typical Spanish garden and a private restaurant with an open show kitchen. We can also offer private dinners on the beach.” mallorca.park.hyatt,com

SON TERMES

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This rural medieval estate is just ten minutes from Palma de Mallorca. Its rustic, air-conditioned dining rooms and tiki torch-lit terraces make memorable spaces for dinners for between ten and 1500 guests, and the in-house team prepares excellent cuisine that gives traditional Balearic dishes a contemporary twist. sontermes.com

THE ST. REGIS MARDAVALL MALLORCA RESORT

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A 20 minute drive from Palma de Mallorca, this exclusive seafront luxury resort has nine well-presented event spaces, from boardrooms to a 224 sqm room for keynote speeches or banquets. There are four restaurants – one with a Michelin star – a spa specialising in Chinese medicine, a golf academy and 125 airy rooms and suites.

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stregismardavall.com

CASTILLO MILITAR SAN CARLOS Dating back to the early 17th century, this sandstone tower of this fortress-turned military museum has spacious walled courtyards for open air drinks receptions or concerts. Its galleries presenting weaponry through the ages can also be hired. museomilitarsancarlos.com

PUERTO AZUL SUITE HOTEL

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This four-star Puerto Azul Suite hotel is particularly popular with cyclists during spring, and would be ideal for a physical corporate retreat. Its 148 rooms were recently refreshed, plus there’s a tranquil outdoor pool area, and the nearest beach is 100 metres away. puertoazulsuitehotel.com

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Christmas Venues

A HAPPY HYDRO CHRISTMAS Celebrate the festive season at one of Eastbourne’s elegant four star hotels.

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he four star Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne was built in 1895 as a place of relaxation by the sea. Situated on a cliff top, it offers far reaching views of the sea and looks towards Beachy Head. The hotel has 82 bedrooms, large lounges, two restaurants, a ballroom and three further function rooms and a hair salon. During 2017 an extensive refurbishment programme has been completed with the hotel subsequently being awarded 4 stars by the AA, the first time in the hotel’s 120-year history.

During December, we like to get in the festive mood and welcome corporate and leisure guests to join us at one of our festive party nights, traditional Christmas lunch, New Year’s Eve or perhaps just a drink with colleagues at the bar in one of our large lounges.

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Whether you are organising your company’s party or looking to enjoy a night out with friends, our festive parties are an evening to remember. Start the evening by greeting your guests in one of our festive lounges or bar for a pre-dinner drink. Enjoy a sumptuous three course meal with coffee and mince pies, then celebrate and dance the night away until midnight with our resident DJ. Each party night includes a three-course pre-ordered festive meal, festive décor and after dinner disco. We are also able to offer preferential accommodation rates from £39.50 per person for bed and breakfast, based on two people sharing.

Our festive party nights take place on Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd, Saturday 9th, Thursday 14th, Saturday 16th and Saturday

23rd December and will be held in the Crystal Restaurant. Festive party nights are priced at only £38 per person (£34 per person on Thursday 14th). We are also available to offer a private dinner without a disco on a date that suits. Please speak with our events team to discuss further.

For those that are too busy to fit in celebrations during December, why not check out our January private dining availability.

January party nights are available on selected dates in 2018 from £30 per person.

They provide an ideal opportunity for those companies and employees that are particularly busy during the festive period and able to celebrate with colleagues in the quieter January period. Please speak with us for further details and let us create an event to suit your requirements.

Christmas Venues

Our Crystal Restaurant will have a festive luncheon menu throughout December with a choice of dishes priced at £18.50 for two courses and £21 for three courses. The restaurant is a large and airy space, making an ideal location to dine with colleagues or clients.

The Hydro will also be welcoming in the New Year with a gala dinner in the Crystal Restaurant and an after dinner band with dancing to celebrate the start of 2018. On New Year’s Day we will be serving a full traditional breakfast with Buck’s Fizz followed by a fourcourse dinner and after dinner music in the Conservatory. Two-night packages are priced at only £320 per person based on two people sharing a classic double or twin bedroom.

We have recently introduced online gift vouchers that enable purchases via our website and an instant electronic voucher available to be sent to the purchaser or recipient. Vouchers can be set to be sent to the recipient on the day of your choice, for example Christmas Day or a birthday. We have created a wide selection of vouchers that start from only £10 and include monetary vouchers, afternoon tea, dining and overnight breaks.

Vouchers are valid for nine months from the date of purchase and can be redeemed at the recipient’s leisure. A personalised message can also be included on the voucher. The hardest decision will be which one to select!

For further information and bookings, please call us on 01323 720643 or email events@hydrohotel.com www.hydrohotel.com

Hydro Hotel, Mount Road, Eastbourne w: www.hydrohotel.com e: events@hydrohotel.com t: 01323 720643

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Business Awards

THE 2018 AWARDS SEASON The awards will be a prestigious event, celebrating the excellent achievements of grass-root businesses and communities that are working hard to tackle the issues of today’s society, giving them recognition for their dedication and hard work. It is time to celebrate the truly staggering diversity of talent within Sussex.

The Eastbourne & District Community Awards 2018 will be dedicated to recognising and celebrating Eastbourne’s community and business heroes. Those who give up their time to help strengthen and enrich all our lives and ask nothing in return but deserve the recognition and respect as community heroes.

These awards aim to highlight the fantastic achievements of charities, role models, businesses and community heroes, as well as encouraging others to become more involved with community groups and projects.

This year Carrot Events hosted two very successful events - the Sussex Economic Forum 2017 Conference www.sussexeconomicforum. com and the Business Women Excellence Awards 2017 (Sussex edition) www.businesswomenexcellenceawards.co.uk/ region/sussex.

We are looking forward to extending the Business Women Excellence Awards into Kent, Surrey and Hampshire next year with runnersup and winners from each of the regional heats automatically qualifying for the gala awards final, where the ‘best of the best’ will be announced.

Sponsoring awards is rewarding in so many ways, offering great media coverage as well as being part of the celebrations. If you think this would be a way for your company to promote itself, then please call Faiza Shafeek on 01323 723325 or email us at fs@carrotevents.co.uk and start the ball rolling towards becoming one of our valued VIP sponsors for 2018.

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arrot Events is extremely happy to announce the launch of three new award events taking place in 2018 - the Sussex Diversity Awards (a joint venture with Newsquest Publishing and the Argus), the Eastbourne & District Community Awards, and the ACES Alliance of Chambers Business Awards, which is exclusive to members of the Alliance Chambers of Commerce.

The Sussex Diversity Awards 2018 are designed to empower individuals, communities, industries and companies who have taken equality and diversity to their core and hearts.

Carrot Events Ltd Unit 11/13 Enterprise Shopping Centre, Station Parade Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 1BD

01323 723325 www.carrotevents.co.uk

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Charity News

CHESTNUT TREE CHARITY LUNCHEON

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n Tuesday 10th October, Cooden Beach Hotel hosted a special lunch for Chestnut Tree House, helping the charity to raise awareness for the care they offer in East Sussex.

Hosted by Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Barry Hinves, the lunch was an opportunity for local dignitaries, businesses and supporters to hear from Chestnut Tree’s CEO Hugh Lowson and Director of Children’s Services, Linda Perry. They spoke about the 14 year history of the hospice and its growth from two beds and 30 children to 10 beds and 300 children.

Linda highlighted the care offered in children’s own homes: “We have a lovely hospice near Arundel where children and families can take short breaks and parents can enjoy being parents rather than carers for a while. But, for me, the care that happens in families’ own homes is just as important. This is where our Chestnut Tree Nurses and Care Support Workers build strong relationships with families, where they can understand and support the whole family’s needs, and where they can help families with the day-to-day realities of caring for a child with a lifeshortening condition.”

The charity cared for 72 children in East Sussex last year, eight of whom sadly died. The nurses made over 500 home visits to children in the county, and provided additional support in the form of activities for the under fives, the over 12s, siblings and families, as well as an event specifically for grandparents. “We really look after the whole family,” says Linda. “Siblings are often mini-carers and miss out on opportunities that their peers may take for granted, so it is important that we can provide safe spaces for them to just be children. Similarly, the experience of grandparents of children with life-shortening conditions is often very different to that of their peers, so being able to bring them together to share those experiences is invaluable.”

Whilst the charity has made huge strides - through its Hands Up campaign - in raising awareness for their care in East Sussex, they know that there are more children here who need their care. In order to reach those children the charity needs to raise awareness and funds. It costs well over £3.5 million every year to offer all of Chestnut Tree’s care services, and as they reach more children this figure will increase. The charity receives less than 7% of their funding from central government so they rely heavily on the generosity of the local community, who support them in a variety of ways; through volunteering, taking part in the hospice’s lottery, donating to their charity shops and taking part in events or fundraising.

James and Lesley Kimber

Eastwood Precious Metals and Alan Maher

Barry Hinves, Jackie Hinves, Hugh Lowson

Commenting on the event, CEO Hugh Lowson said: “It was fantastic to meet so many people and to talk to them about a cause we are so passionate about. We would like to thank Barry and Jackie Hinves for hosting the lunch, and thank everyone who attended. We would like to say a special thanks to James and Lesley Kimber at Cooden Beach Hotel for their kind and generous support. We look forward to working with them again as we begin to plan for a gala celebration at the hotel for Chestnut Tree’s 15th Birthday next October.”

You can find out more about the care Chestnut Tree offer in East Sussex, how to make a referral and how to get involved in supporting the charity by visiting www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk/handsup

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Ashdown Hurrey with nurse Marie

Charity News

PUT YOUR HANDS UP! FOR CHESTNUT TREE

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here are plenty of ways to get involved with Chestnut Tree House, from volunteering or donating bags of clothes, to jumping out of planes and running relay along 170 miles of the south coast. If you think you could help Chestnut Tree reach more children in East Sussex, then put your Hands Up! and get in touch with Mikayla Bernstein, the charity’s Corporate Fundraiser.

Mikayla can meet with you to talk about what is happening at Chestnut Tree House and help find the best way for your company to support the hospice.

Contact her on 01323 725095 or 07500 570610 or email her at Mikayla.berstein@chestnut-tree-house.org.uk

GET FESTIVE

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hestnut Tree House’s Get Festive campaign takes place throughout December, with Get Festive Day on Friday 15th December. It’s all about getting into the spirit of Christmas, and the team at Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice want to encourage local businesses, community groups and organisations to enjoy some festive fun while raising vital funds.

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Support Chestnut Tree House by organising some Fe stive Fun this December www.chestnut-tree-hous e.org.uk/getfestive corporate@chestnut-tree -house.org.uk 01323 725095

Registered charity no 256789

For more information on Get Festive and how to get involved, visit http://www. chestnut-tree-house.org.uk/getfestive or call 01323 725095

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Get Fe stive!

Get Festive is open to everyone – you can take part whenever you like in December and hold any festive-themed event or activity, in order to fundraise for Chestnut Tree House.

Registration is free and Chestnut Tree House will send you a Get Festive fundraising pack with loads of ideas to help you hold a unique Christmas fundraiser. There is even the opportunity to purchase Santa suits at £10 each.

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Motoring

JAGUAR F-TYPE SVR

by Maarten Hoffmann

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ased on the standard V8 F-Type, the SVR is taken off the production line and secreted into the Special Vehicle Operations department for a few weeks and ‘tinkered’ with. As weight is the enemy of performance, they chuck out anything that is superfluous to requirements and work hard to save every gram possible. The exhaust is made from titanium saving 16kg, the forged alloy wheels save 13.8kg, they redesigned the suspension knuckles to save 0.6kg and the carbon ceramic brakes save 21kg - you get the idea, this thing is supermodel lean and almost causes a sense of shame to sit my fat backside into it, as that adds 13 stone! Then they fiddle with the aerodynamics to reduce drag and then, best of all, they recalibrate the engine to deliver 575bhp and 700nm of torque that delivers 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 200mph. Then they pop an all-wheel drive system in to ensure you don’t die when trying to corner.

I reviewed the F-Type a year or so ago and it is a cracking car. Stylish, smooth and as quick as you like with a 2.0-litre turbocharged, 3.0-litre V6 and the 5.0-litre V8 supercharged, there really is something for everyone. Then you can have it in coupe form or convertible.

But as with everything, that is not enough. Step up the monster SVR. I know l bang on about exhaust notes but l have to say this is one of the sexiest out there and it just begs you to drive it through a tunnel, so l did. In France, Belgium and

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Germany over the course of a week We took three cars on the Chunnel and were in France in a jiffy and then out of France as fast as sensible. By the way, a note of caution - if you take very expensive cars on the train book as a high sided vehicle, as then you get a wider wheel track in the carriage.

The result of failing to do this was demonstrated as we alighted and stopped to empathise with a guy in a Lamborghini Aventador who was almost crying at the state of his wheel rims that were scarred around their full circumference, leaving him with a likely £5,000 bill.

The SVR leapt into action without pause and the needle was showing 150mph in the blink of an eye and, l know l might bore you with this from time to time, it delivers a gorgeous pop and crack every time it changes gear and the overrun on the down shift was enough to make me realise that even a date with Heidi Klum is a very poor substitute for exactly what l was doing. It is spine tinglingly fantastic and totally addictive. Now a funny thing happens at these speeds. As your focus is absolute, you cannot stop noticing out the corner of your eye that the scenery starts to merge into a green blur as l used to see in the old Star Trek shows when they went to hyper-drive and the passing stars transform into one constant streak of light. I hit the magic number at 17.48 on August 24th 2017 and l note it as l have never travelled at 200mph in a car before and therefore that is

the exact time my cherry was taken.

The car was steady as a rock and just feeds confidence into the cockpit but there was a slight lifting of the nose that was a tad disconcerting and, at 201mph, l lifted off and realised that my hands were bloodless from the death grip on the wheel, l was a little sweaty and l had forgotten to breathe for an age.

The cornering is remarkable, the speed is frantic and the look of the machine is gorgeous - what more one could ask out of life l just do not know.

TECH STUFF Model tested: F-Type SVR Engine: 5.0-litre V8 supercharged Power: 575bhp Performance: 0-62mph 3.5 seconds Top: 200mph Economy: 25.0mpg combined Price from: £110,880

Motoring

AUDI R8 SPYDER

T

he R8 has been with us for quite some time but never fails to stun. Essentially this is their R8 LMS race car brought to the streets with 40kg saved by cutting the roof off, a 5.2-litre engine that produces 540bhp and add a 7-speed S tronic transmission that changes gear faster than a human can blink, and produces a 0-62mph time of 3.5 seconds.

Mid-mount the engine to give it a lower centre of gravity and Audi’s legendary Quattro AWD system and you have a monster waiting to be tamed.

Upon sitting my rump in the R8, l realised that there really are Everyday Supercars in this world. I could certainly drive this everyday. If you dial it all down, it will drive like a civilised

family car, albeit a tad quicker, but then make all the required adjustments such as popping it into sport mode that sharpens up the gear changes, brakes and suspension, pop it into paddle manual and turn the exhaust to loud and you have an eye watering supercar that sticks like glue and is quick enough to rotate your eyeballs. The odd thing about the R8 is that you don’t really feel at any point that you might die. I know this sounds banal but there is that thing, that visceral buzz, of being on the edge but with the R8, it is so safe and planted that you feel you can get away with anything.

My two year old could drive this car.

It is a great match with the SVR as we steamed across Europe, smiling like baboons.

Planted is the word for the R8 as it sits so well on the road and corners so flat that it defies logic. The build quality and the attention to detail is superb and pushing the go pedal into the Axminster throws you back in the seat like few others. Oh, and did l mention the noise?

With the Spyder, it is wonderful to hit the button and watch the magic of the folding roof and then let the breeze into your hair. Now here’s a thing - most

cars are designed as a hard top and then they cut the roof off and the R8 is no exception. Is it only me that prefers the look of the coupe rather than the convertible? Every aspect of the hardtop is meticulously designed and then they chop the roof off. I cannot think of a car that looks better convertible than the original hardtop.

The steering is a little like a go kart in that it responds to your every twitch as if possessed and that makes cornering such an absolute pleasure and, with carbon ceramic brakes, it will stop on a penny too.

It would be very tough to beat the R8 as an everyday supercar but at £150,000 it is not cheap but then the finer things in life rarely are.

TECH STUFF Model tested: R8 V10 FSI Spyder Engine: 5.2-litre Power: 540bhp Performance: 0-62 3.5 seconds Top: 197mph Economy: 22.1mpg combined Price from: £132,370

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Motoring

ALFA ROMEO QUADRIFOGLIO about their engine being in anything other than a prancing horse. You know it’s serious when you see the carbon front splitter, diffuser, side skirts and ceramic brakes and, with 503 bhp, this trounces the BMW M4 GTS!!

I find it quite reserved when driven normally and, might l say it, a tad dull but this is all about full throttle so l duly gave it said throttle through the Ardennes Forest and l can honestly say that neither of the other two cars could keep up. It’s not the raw power that causes it, as the other two are right up its chuff, but

H

ere l thought l would try to step out of the obvious box and go with something a little left field for our European tour.

Step up the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio (four leaf clover to you and l).

Here is Alfa’s new supercar and the most powerful Alfa sedan ever produced. You might hear petrol heads like Clarkson and Evans bang on that you cannot be a true petrol head without having owned an Alfa, which is total poppycock, as in days gone by they were total crap, broke down every five minutes, rusted like the Titanic and your days were peppered with stopping every hour to pick up things that had dropped off. Upon reaching your destination there was more of the car on the back seat than on the bloody car! Yes they were pretty and, when running, went like stink

but that is not my idea of a good drive. And yes, l owned an Alfa in the shape of a GTV back in the day but it was a nightmare. So it was with some trepidation that l ordered the QV but the stats are irresistible. A relatively small 2.9-litre bi-turbo engine developed by Ferrari that, somehow, offers 510bhp and 600nm of torque and, as it is all aluminium, it is light and nimble enough to give the other two a good run for their money. The superb 50:50 weight distribution, rear-wheel drive and front engine, offers 0-62 in 3.9 seconds and on to 190mph - this had all the hallmarks of a titanic battle that would get the juices flowing. Oh, and it is half the price of the other two!

They say this cracker of an engine is the test bed for the plant that will appear in the coming Ferrari Dino and, if it is, then it will be a stunner. Alfa has built a belter.

This is an M3 killer with an aluminium and steel chassis, rear wheel drive and the torque handled by a vectoring diff which can send 100% of power to either wheel. We have to suffer auto or paddle shift manual whereby, l hear, the US will get a full stick manual! This 2.9-litre twin turbo V6 is ‘inspired’ by Ferrari - that means they made it but don’t want to shout

the Alfa is so well balanced with its 50:50 distribution that it will brake later into the corner and then pull out of it faster, leaving the other two in its dust. On the flat, it will be eaten alive but on bendy roads, it is supreme.

The one caveat is the brakes. Carbon ceramic versions tend to be there when you need them regardless of temperature but here, when cold, they are shocking and really make you insecure. But at around £60,000 it is a huge amount of car for the money and fun all day long.

It would appear that Alfa have finally built a world-class semi-supercar and only time will tell regarding its reliability but the signs are good and at this price, it will be very tough to beat.

Now the result of these three cracking cars over the course of seven days and over 2,000 miles. I was looking for the definitive everyday supercar. The Alfa is only astonishing on a tight bendy road. The R8 is astonishing but on tight bendy roads, the Quattro system often kicks in and stops you doing what you are trying to do therefore, all things considered, the F-Type SVR wins the day. It is truly beautiful, is as fast as hades, sits glued to the tarmac and, oh, did l mention the noise……

TECH STUFF Model tested: Giulia Quadrifoglio Engine: 2.9-litre V6 bi-turbo Power: 510bhp Performance: 0-62mph 3.9 seconds Top: 191mph Economy: 33.0mpg combined Price from: £61,000

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Hastings Chamber of Commerce

HASTINGS HARBOUR QUARTER Marina Plans Floated

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n 19 October 2017, the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce invited Michael Drain Architects to present an

informative analysis, and open up discussion in the first public forum for their proposed £500m project, the Hastings Harbour Quarter. With a view of the sunrise from Hastings’ Pier, one might hope that it will be a positive omen.

Now able to speak in more detail since the non-disclosure agreement had been lifted, Michael Drain presented the project as having potential to be a ‘regeneration catalyst’.

Currently over a third of a way through a ten year development cycle, Hastings Harbour Quarter plans to bring essential reinforcement for the fishing industry, and further strengthening of the tourism industry and job/housing creation. They believe that their business case (evaluated by BDO Global) is financially self-sustaining, sitting alongside

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the rest of Hastings and St Leonard’s-On-Sea area as a ‘halo development’.

“Hastings Harbour Quarter plans to bring essential reinforcement for the fishing industry, and further strengthening of the tourism industry and job/housing creation” With public support and critical mass of development, they hope the project can create its own sustainable momentum that will positively augment business and the wider community, with a publicly accessible harbour.

One member in the Q&A afterwards, worried that the project could be a halfway house of

development that will be left unfinished after much promise, but Drain believed that with government backing, it will be too expensive to leave improperly developed.

After the presentation, Drain entertained a brief session of challenging, sharp questions from our members. As another member put it, he wished he could ask 45 questions, but with the wiliness to face a critical few inquiries that morning from our informed members, they will potentially find a way to answer all of them.

One of the questions not included in their original press release was the issues about the access to the site. Drain said that many possible avenues were being investigated as there has been no conclusive studies, but highlighted a series of options such as seeing the need to reduce use of cars, offering options such as a concession zone to certain areas, or building a tunnel underneath the

Hastings Chamber of Commerce cliff and country park. In conjunction with this, another member mentioned that the success of the town has led to traffic issues, which are being investigated in line with White Rock regeneration plans, and this member hoped that they could work in conjunction with Hastings Harbour Quarter LTD, to resolve issues that affect the area as a whole.

Michael Drain concluded that whilst the project has been worked on for the last four years, the project needs further public consultation and community engagement in the next coming months. They are willing to engage with issues involving infrastructure (coupled with the development of residential infrastructure to offset the commercial spend), traffic issues, and environment implications, with many questions planned to be addressed in consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders.

At Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, we pride ourselves in keeping our membership informed and involved in the local area. We do not just work to bring the business community together, but how that community will be shaped and evolved in the future. Just like the Hastings Borough Council, we welcome the introduction of the idea and its potential

output, but as Simon Hubbard (HBC) said, ‘we have a long way to go to be where we want to be’.

If you have any questions you want answered, you can email Adam

Holyoake at adamh@hastingsharbour. com. For up-to-the-minutes news across the Hastings Area of Commerce, follow the Hastings Area Of Commerce on Twitter.

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Aces Members

ACES

The East Sussex Network ACES is THE East Sussex business network including all the Chambers of Commerce and the FSB in East Sussex, representing over 4,000 local businesses with over 15,000 members of staff.

Battle Chamber of Commerce

Crowborough & District Chamber of Commerce ​

Battle and District Chamber of Commerce’s objectives are to promote and protect the trade, commerce, manufacturing, professional and general interests of the town. We have over 70 business and personal members, and meet on the third Monday of every month.

Email: secretary@battlechamber.org www.battlechamber.org.uk

Bexhill Chamber of Commerce Bexhill Chamber of Commerce & Tourism is run by its members for its members.

Our current strategic focus is: • Improving business and tourism in Bexhill • Regeneration • Skills Building with Schools & Colleges We welcome the membership of Bexhill businesses or businesses based elsewhere but who want to do business in Bexhill. We hold regular networking breakfasts, evening events and are constantly in touch via email with our members with up-to-date information about business or about Bexhill. We also have an email service where we send out members offers and promotions to fellow members. We have no political affiliation and are totally independent. We work with other organisations locally, county wide and nationally and are delighted to be associated with ACES.

Tel: 01424 842892

clinics, start-up workshops and business one-to-ones We run the Eastbourne Borough Market every Wednesday and Sunday to promote retailing in the town and the Christmas Market on the iconic Bandstand.

Tel: 01323 641144

Crowborough & District Chamber of Commerce promotes business, trade and services in Crowborough and the surrounding area. We offer a forum for local business issues such as: • Voicing concerns for the business community • Maintaining and rejuvenating local businesses • Networking with other local businesses Chamber membership offers the chance to become involved in a friendly and effective organisation that can help you improve your own businesses as well as representing your interests to key decision makers.

Email: secretary@crowboroughchamber.co.uk

Eastbourne UnLtd Chamber of Commerce Eastbourne UnLtd is the largest town-based Chamber of Commerce in the South East and is a founder member of ACES. We are described as UnLtd because we are always looking for new ways to help our members grow their businesses. Our activity is unlimited and includes:

Federation of Small Businesses The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is the largest independent business organisation in the UK with some 200,000 members. Businesses with up to 250 employees can join and in East Sussex we have 4,400 members. The FSB is a pressure group for small business interests and we lobby government at every level including MEPs, MPs and Local Councillors.

The FSB also provides benefits to help start up and growing businesses alike.

Our benefits package, including 24/7 legal advice and free business banking, aims to keep costs down, to protect your business and enable sales. We run a busy programme of local networking events including breakfasts, curry nights, ladies business lunches and ‘share the knowledge’ evening seminars to improve your ‘know-how’ on key business topics.

www.fsb.org.uk/eastsussex Tel: 01424 754686 Tel: 01323 482018

Hastings Chamber of Commerce

• Networking, morning, noon and night • Joint events with other ACES Chambers • Golf days, quiz nights, export seminars, training, coaching and mentoring • Free services including HR advice, business

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Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce is the voice of business for Hastings,

Aces Members St Leonards and the surrounding area, representing its members to all levels of government and to community leaders across the statutory, community, voluntary and charitable sectors.

Our overriding aim is to make the voice of business even stronger. Through our provision of breakfast and networking events, newsletters and lobbying, we give members the opportunity to influence, inform, debate, network and profile.

We work on behalf of our members, to grow the economy of the town and the wider region in order to create a more supportive environment for businesses to operate in – irrespective of their size, sector or age.

www.hastingschamber.co.uk Tel: 01424 205500 @HACC1066

Hailsham Chamber of Commerce Hailsham & District Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1984 and exists to support and encourage growth and prosperity within the business community of Hailsham and its environs.

Membership of the Chamber gives you opportunities to network with local organisations and other Chamber members.

Out of this networking grows contacts and friendships, from which we can all draw benefit. The Chamber also organises networking evenings and ‘Share the Knowledge’ events to benefit their members.

Through our regular monthly networking meetings we are able to discuss key issues and concerns which members may have and decide on supportive action. We have guest speakers in attendance once a month and also maintain strong links with both Wealden District Council and Hailsham Town Council through key groups such as Hailsham Forward.

Tel: 01323 310531

Heathfield Chamber of Commerce The Heathfield Chamber is a thriving membership group which covers Heathfield and the surrounding rural economy and provides a forum for local business people to meet, network and develop their businesses.

We support local businesses in Heathfield and the surrounding villages.

The Chamber runs a programme of regular networking opportunities including regular business breakfasts and Wealden Expo – Heathfield’s own business exhibition. We are responsible for the Christmas lampstand lights around the high street.

The Chamber has developed links and works with other local groups including Heathfield and Waldron Parish Council and the Heathfield Partnership, as well as other local chambers including Crowborough and Uckfield.

Tel: 01435 865858

Lewes Chamber of Commerce Established in 1935, Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents the voice of the business community in this thriving county town. From accountants and solicitors to shops, hotels and restaurants, the Chamber unites businesses, comments and advises on behalf of the business community and stimulates debate across a variety of local issues. Thanks to our range of members we also have direct access into the local authority, particularly the Town Council level, meaning we can represent Lewes business issues raised at relevant meetings.

Newhaven Chamber of Commerce Newhaven Chamber of Commerce has over 70 members. We are dedicated to supporting businesses both small and large in the Newhaven area, by organising various events throughout the year including the Seahaven Business Awards, presentations, evening events with guest speakers, social functions such as an annual Karting Challenge between Newhaven, Peacehaven and Seaford Chambers, a Day at the Races, BBQs and trips to the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. In addition we have a vibrant Business Breakfast Club that meets every Wednesday.

We negotiate discounted advertising rates for our members in the local media. We also run the twice weekly Newhaven Street Market and the once monthly car boot sale in Newhaven town centre.

Tel: 0800 107 0709 Tel: 01273 517544

Peacehaven Chamber of Commerce Peacehaven & District Chamber of Commerce is a thriving modern membership organisation and is the responsible voice of business in the local area. A dynamic member-led organisation, we work to support the local business community and specifically our network of member businesses. Our job is to strengthen the position of our members and ensure that the interests of local businesses are heard. We support any size company at any stage of development to grow and prosper within Peacehaven, Telscombe Cliffs and East Saltdean area.

Tel: 01273 586222

Seaford Chamber of Commerce Seaford Chamber welcomes all types and sizes of trades and businesses, from start-ups to established companies, from any sector or from other business organisations.

The Chamber regularly holds networking events where members can meet other likeminded businesses. Its Breakfast Meetings take place on the first Thursday of the month at Seaford Golf Club.

We put forward members views on key strategic points affecting the local business community - we are involved in meetings covering local business issues, traffic, parking, etc. within the Seaford area.

Tel: 0800 881 5331

Uckfield Chamber of Commerce Uckfield Chamber of Commerce is a successful networking organisation which also offers advice to businesses and industries of Uckfield and district. It encourages and supports measures to improve the social and economic conditions of the community, and liaises with representatives of outside bodies about business interests affecting the town and district. Uckfield Chamber is a founder member of ACES and is pleased to support and attend all ACES meetings and events with our sister Chambers across East Sussex.

Tel: 01825 722607

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Anger Management

ANGER MANAGEMENT

THE TICKING TIME BOMB

by Maarten Hoffmann

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ocial Media has taken over the world in so many ways that it is difficult to keep up. In the main, it’s a great asset but there is a dark side. Not just the losers sitting in their little bedsits spewing forth bile and hatred, cyber bullying, fake news and revenge porn, although all that is bad enough. There is an insidious little worm being created that is narrowing people’s view of the world and allowing unintelligent bias to take hold.

Community Groups are the problem whereby SM channels such as Facebook allow groups to see only the news that agrees with their views. This is how Trump got elected.

Have a view, right or wrong, restrict all other news that does not comply with that view and then invite lots of people to join. This ignorant bias is then left to roam free without the complication of any alternative view being expressed. A tremendous way for the biased to remain biased.

One of the many ways this is showing its ugly face is with the Holocaust. Holocaust

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denial is allowed to run unchallenged and more and more youngsters are getting this message and believing it to be true. It is, plain and simple, brainwashing.

Holocaust denial may well grow in the next 20 years, rather than diminish” he said.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former head of the Arts Council England, said that tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook are allowing people to choose to communicate only with those who share their views, which results in groups of deniers whose opinions go unchallenged. “I have the impression that

television reports are mediated but the internet is completely different. It is entirely demonic.

If you search for holocaust denial, you will be amazed at what pops up. Our job is to challenge that as there will come the day when there are no primary witnesses left on earth but how do you challenge that view when they

“The internet is an infinite network of communication. Most newspaper and

Anger Management

are in closed groups of people determined to deny the event ever took place.”

Historical truth must win out or the human race is destined to repeat such horrors time and time again.

My father was in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. He was not Jewish but he was one of the leaders of the Dutch Resistance and once caught, he was sent into the hands of the Nazi butchers. Over the period of two years, they tortured him to reveal the names and location of the rest of the group. Even after they pulled his finger nails out with pliers and cut off his eye lids so that he could

never close his eyes, he refused to revealed the information. He was finally rescued, close to death, by the Allies and taken to England for surgery and recuperation. This is but one of 6 million stories and it should NEVER be forgotten.

“If a government can block you going to, for example, the opposition’s political pages, then they can give you a blinkered view of reality to keep themselves in power” Tim Berners-Lee These on-line groups spread hatred, lies and bias and should be stopped without delay.

Apparently, there was one such group of over 1 million people in the US who would only ever receive positive news of Trump during the election campaign. Any negative story was filtered out and this formed their opinion. The violence in the streets immediately after the election was caused by many of these people who just could not understand the other side’s view. They were deeply entrenched in their view and this was backed up by the news they had been fed with no alternative view allowed to be expressed.

them endlessly, refuse them any other point of view and then tell them to go and kill. They will as they believe it to be the truth and they are doing God’s will to smite the unbelievers.

Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the web 25 years ago, called for a bill of rights that would guarantee the independence of the internet and ensure users’ privacy. He called for an internet version of the Magna Carta, the 13th century English charter credited with guaranteeing basic rights and freedoms.

“Historical truth must win out or the human race is destined to repeat such horrors time and time again.”

“If a company or individual can control your access to the internet, if they can control which websites they go to, then they have tremendous control over your life,” Berners-Lee said at the Web We Want festival on the future of the internet in London.

The internet needs to be controlled. It needs to be mediated and perhaps Tim Berners-Lee’s suggestion of a Magna Carta for the internet is the way to go.

This is how terrorist brainwashing happens.

Tell them it is the God-given truth, feed it to

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Chamber News

NEW IAN AT UCKFIELD

Bernard Smith, Uckfield Chamber Secretary, reports on the successful search for a new chamber secretary.

E

arlier this year, Uckfield Chamber were advertising for a replacement for Ian Blackaller who sadly, due to ill-health, had to step down from many years of service shaping the successful Chamber that we have become in Uckfield. Not an easy task therefore, facing the select group of our Executive committee, led by Jan Edwards of the Marketing Eye. It was a tough field and popular vacancy with more than a dozen candidates interviewed during August. But after much deliberation, our panel was pleased to offer our Secretary vacancy to Ian Noble, who has lived in Uckfield for 22 years.

So, apart from sharing a first name with our retiring Secretary, what else can I tell you about the new guy? Ian describes the bulk of his working life as a ‘career banker’ having joined Lloyds Bank directly from school in the late 70s. He worked in London branches, climbing the ladder into management positions most notably in the prestigious Law Courts branch in the Strand. In the early 90s, with a young family in tow, Ian moved to the bank’s Head Office in Bristol for a two-year stint away from his native South East, before arriving in Uckfield in 1995.

From his Uckfield base, Ian commuted to various South East locations including Croydon, Hastings, Brighton, Gatwick and Kingston-upon-Thames, which was the longest commute of the lot. By the year 2000, Ian had been promoted to senior management in Commercial Banking, leading teams who were supporting the likes of our Chamber members – the days when business managers resided in branches like Uckfield and it became quite fashionable for bankers to get involved within the local business community. Chamber membership was on the rise and Ian found that he had a natural aptitude for networking and leading events.

During his four years in Gatwick, Ian sat on the Exec of the Gatwick Diamond Business

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Group. In Kingston-upon-Thames, he was appointed to the town’s Business Improvement District (BID) Board and became a prominent feature in the Kingston Chamber, holding the President’s role during 2012.

The catalyst for eventually leaving Lloyds Bank after almost 37 years’ service, came in mid 2014 when Ian was privileged to serve as a business connector with the charity, Business in the Community. Based in Hastings, Ian connected many local businesses to both education and third sector, driving sustained improvement in employment, education and enterprise.

For the last three years, Ian has grown his own marketing franchised business, thebestof Hastings, where he offers a range of networking opportunities to local businesses amongst many other aspects. And last year, Ian led on the successful Hastings BID initiative and is a founding director of the Hastings BID Co. – a programme that will bring added

regeneration to Hastings town centre.

So, I think it’s fair to say, Uckfield has secured a great deal of relevant experience that will facilitate the continued growth of Uckfield Chamber of Commerce, for the greater good of our town. Ian will continue with his Hastings business alongside his Uckfield role allowing two East Sussex towns to benefit from his experience!

Insitute of Directors

GETTING ENGAGED

By Dean Orgill, Chair of Sussex IoD and Chairman of Mayo Wynne Baxter www.mayowynnebaxter.co.uk • www.iod.com

O

n various previous occasions I have extolled the virtues of the IoD and recommended it to you - you will not be surprised to read I am sure. However, clearly the message has not been totally absorbed. Given the readership figures for this wonderful magazine, some of you must still be stubbornly (and unaccountably) resisting joining the equally wonderful Institute of Directors.

there has been a full review taking into account views of regional and (county) branch committees and ambassadors. Those views cover critical issues about the services offered and how the IoD communicates both with, and on behalf of, its membership. An engagement day with those representatives communicated views quite clearly and it is good to see them being acted upon and responses being put into effect.

So why is that? Good question. The relatively newly (February 2017) appointed Director General Stephen Martin wanted to know the answer to that too. So he instigated a review focussing on engagement and services provided to ensure that the Institute will become attractive to new members AND will value and provide the services they want to existing members. What was quite clear from the process was that although the central administration of the IoD recognised the need (common to all membership organisations) to recruit new members, it should not promote to “new customers only” but should reflect the articulated needs of existing members too.

Again, I have previously extolled the virtues of the research facilities and resources available to members, as well as the terrific training that the Institute offers in fulfilling its Royal Charter. However, there is now a recognition that communication about those resources, and indeed access to them, needs to be much more aligned to how we all now communicate and access information.

In terms of engagement with members,

IoD Advance has been trail-blazing in terms of connecting members of the IoD community with each other and with IoD resources through a mobile app, and the success of that has been recognised and will be built upon.

Further engagement and reviews are to

follow and, as such reviews should always of course be a never-ending process in any event, the action/review cycle is to continue. However, it has been very heartening to see already that there is now a greater reflection of best practice in providing what the “customer” wants rather than looking to see what can be offered to them.

The IoD has an excellent offering both in terms of local networks and the central resource at Pall Mall. The combination of local events and ambassadors, central facilities and resources, and the ability to advocate and influence for business really sets the IoD apart.

I anticipate that you will be seeing much more on this theme both locally and nationally in the forthcoming months. It is a great time to join the IoD community and help to shape it to ensure that it offers what you want from an Institute that has business leaders at its heart.

JUST A THOUGHT Time to browse iod.com?

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EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY YOU CAN RELY ON, EXPERTISE AND SUPPORT YOU CAN TRUST...

At Gemini we are able to take a brief of your project and produce professional marketing collateral you are proud to represent as the face of your brand.

• Artwork Design • Digital & Litho • Large Format • Finishing • Direct Mail • Storage • Distribution

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01273 464884 • info@gemini-print.co.uk • www.gemini-print.co.uk