F.R.Ed Talk (Further Ready Education)

The F.R.Ed Talk (Future Ready Education) is an opportunity for businesses to visit the University of Buckingham and meet with their students. It’s a great networking opportunity for both employers and students and an opportunity for employers to impart some advice on entering the workplace as a fresh graduate.

The event takes place on October 23^rd at the University of Buckingham.

For more information, visit the event page here, or view the flyer here.

Silverstone Park moves to "next level" as MEPC reveals new 140,000 sq ft speculative development

MEPC has released details of the next speculative phase of development at its high-tech business estate Silverstone Park, which will include nine new units providing 140,000 sq ft of industrial/workshop premises.

The development follows the success of the most recent speculative industrial scheme, which attracted ten new advanced engineering companies to Silverstone Park.

The latest scheme includes:

• 6 new terraced units, totalling 55,000 sq. ft and ranging in size from 6,000 sq. ft to 12,000 sq. ft
• 3 detached industrial units, totalling 85,000 sq. ft and ranging in size from 18,000 sq. ft to 40,000 sq. ft.

The scheme is within the Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Zone meaning that qualifying occupiers can claim business rates relief of up to £55,000 per annum for five years. The construction phase is due to start in September 2019 and complete in early summer 2020.

Read more information on the plans here.

Bucks College Group seeks new governors

Following the successful merger of Amersham and Wycombe College with Aylesbury College in October 2017, Buckinghamshire College Group is now looking for new governors to join us on the next phase of our exciting journey.

Buckinghamshire College Group provides post-16 Technical, Professional and Vocational skills training and education for Buckinghamshire and the region. They are currently seeking proactive governors with business experience and expertise to work with the Senior Leadership Team and Board to help shape the future of the College and those they serve.

For more information contact Anna Smith, Clerk to the Corporation at asmith@buckscollegegroup.ac.uk or telephone 01296 780286.

Legal 500 2020: B P Collins surpass all previous results

The Legal 500, a leading UK legal directory, has announced its results for law firms across the country for 2020. Its findings reveal that B P Collins has achieved an exceptional number of top tier rankings in a range of practices and a huge number of lawyers have been “recommended.” Legal 500 supports its findings by saying that:

“B P Collins has proved willing to assist with and fit in with client expectations while maintaining high standards.”

The immigration practice, which “advises on a wide range of business and private immigration matters;” the contentious trusts and probate team, which is praised by one client for being, “thorough, tenacious, pragmatic and always client focused;” and the commercial property practice, which offers an “excellent service” have all been recommended by Legal 500 for the first time.

It also continues to award top tier status to the corporate and commercial; commercial litigation; employment; family; personal tax, trusts and probate; and environment practices. 

Thames Valley Tech Awards, Tech SME of the Year Award Winner – Epoq IT Ltd

The second annual Thames Valley Tech Awards honoured the region’s top technology firms on 19^th September at a ceremony held in the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.

Epoq IT Ltd were thrilled to be named winner in the Tech SME of the Year category for their extensive work to introduce AI and bot technologies to their service desk and provide business intelligence to their clients. The High Wycombe-based company have developed an insights dashboard which helps their clients gather information from their IT estate to make good, informed decisions and measure the return on investment. 

In addition to business intelligence and advanced analytics, Epoq are working on streamlining first line support triage using bot interaction, enhancing their automated AI response coding to first-line support issues and bringing more automated software deployment solutions online.

Monodraught celebrates 5000^th Windcatcher® installation with donation to Buckinghamshire Mind

A message from the team at Monodraught

Monodraught will be installing the 5,000^th of our latest generation Windcatcher systems in a local secondary school this autumn.

Students spend many of their formative years in school and around 70% of that time is spent indoors. A comfortable environment supports students to achieve their potential and obtain the best possible results. Using the correct ventilation solution enables good air quality to be maintained, and using a low-energy system minimises the impact on school budgets.

Together with Buckinghamshire Mind, we aim to support 5,000 students through mental health awareness assemblies.

Monodraught are marking this landmark 5,000th installation by providing a grant to our charity partner Buckinghamshire Mind. The donation enables the charity to offer free mental health awareness assemblies in the Buckinghamshire region in the next few months. 

This donation cements our charity partnership and allows us to make a positive contribution to our local community. It is the second time we have been able to support this awareness initiative.

Supporting mental health awareness in schools

The objective of the assemblies is to help educate children and young people to enable them to open-up and talk about mental health in school, at home and with friends.

The assemblies cover important aspects of mental health including:

• The importance of talking about emotions and feelings
• Everyone has mental health
• Mental and physical health are as important as each other
• Mental health problems can affect how we think, feel and behave
• Breaking down the stigma around mental health

To find out more about the free mental health awareness assemblies, contact Buckinghamshire Mind.

Cerub PR celebrates 16 years of success with new-look site

Cerub PR, the award winning High Wycombe-based PR agency, celebrates its 16th anniversary this month with a new look website.

Cerub PR was founded in 2003 by Managing Director Ceri-Jane Hackling, who explains: “Our 16th anniversary seemed like a great time to launch our new site, which reflects our values and demonstrates our focus as a business.

“Over the past 16 years we’ve worked on a wide range of clients in the Thames Valley and beyond and our experience in working with companies from different industries and with different specialisms has given us the ability to see things differently, which helps us achieve outstanding coverage for our clients in a wide range of national print, digital and broadcast media.

“We’re very proud of being a Buckinghamshire-based business and we have benefited from being part of a vibrant business community which is home to so many successful companies. Despite the challenges that every small business faces, we’ve been lucky enough to work with some great clients and to have been involved with some wonderful people who have supported us on our journey, so we look forward to many more successful years.”

Visit the new website here.

Tims Dairy celebrate their 70^th year

Local employer Tims Dairy celebrated 70 years of making great tasting award-winning yogurts at The Bull Hotel in Gerrard’s Cross on Friday 13^th September. Around 100 people including staff past and present, associates and business partners helped the extended Timotheou family mark this proud moment.

The family business was started in Central London by the current owners’ uncle, Euripides Nicolaou, who came to the city from Cyprus. He was soon joined by their father, Michael Timotheou, and the rest, as they say, is yogurt history. After many years in North London, the business, which remains privately owned and run by the four Timotheou brothers to this day, relocated to the Mopes Farm site in Denham Lane, Chalfont St Peter where the current production facility has recently been substantially expanded and upgraded.

Tims Dairy’s Managing Director Chris Timotheou says: “We couldn’t possibly remember everyone who has worked with us over the years but we did our very best to include as many people as we could. We are so grateful to all the people who have helped Tims Dairy over the years to become such a great success and we really value our role as a local employer. It was a wonderful evening in beautiful weather and a lovely setting that was a very special moment for us all.”

Local business on their way to Wembley!

Locally-based credit reporting company, CoCredo, based in Great Missenden are delighted to be finalists in the SME National Business Awards 2019 in the Business Innovation category.

They are competing against 14 other finalists in this category, which is sponsored by the University of Buckingham, so competition will be fierce.

Speaking of the nomination, MD Dan Hancocks said; “We are delighted to be in the national finals of the SME Business Awards. Our award submission focused on the innovation of our new Dual Report, which is an industry first and was designed to meet the demands of our customers, and we are extremely proud of this”.

The ceremony will be held at Wembley Stadium on 6th December and will be a very exciting night for everyone involved.

Can you fundraise by running for the National Activity Providers Association?

A message from the team at the National Activity Providers Association

The National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) has been successful in securing five places for The Vitality Big Half 2020 via the charity ballot.

The Vitality Big Half, London’s community half marathon, starts at 9am on Sunday 1st March 2020 by Tower Bridge and finishes at the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.

We are looking for people who:

• Enjoy running
• Are keen to fundraise for NAPA

Be inspired by some of the world’s best athletes and the thousands of participants of all ages, abilities and backgrounds as you run the scenic 13.1-mile course through London. If this is your first half marathon, you’ll get support every step of the way from the cheering crowds and live music entertainers along the route.

Email sue@napa-activities.co.uk for an application form.

Eat to the Beat fuels production and performers at D-Day 75

More than 300 veterans, members of the royal family, heads of state and 3,000 distinguished guests gathered on Portsmouth’s Southsea Common in June to pay their respects to the thousands of troops who sacrificed their lives to secure Europe’s freedom and future.

HPower, the event management specialist and appointed event management agency to the Ministry of Defence and The Royal British Legion, contracted Eat to the Beat to cater for D-Day 75. Eat to the Beat catered for the event’s crew, production and performers, working on site from mid-May when the creation of the event was in full swing. In fact, the job was so vast that a total of 8,000 hot meals were prepared alongside 2,500 meal bags.

Shelley-Smith commented on the event: “Eat to the Beat was honoured to play a part in D-Day 75. It was such a humbling event; one that all members of the team were proud to work on. It was one of those events that you will never forget and we were delighted to work with HPower on such an honourable occasion.”

Nick Brooks Ward, event director of HPower commented: “The Eat to the Beat team were amazing, they adapted to our ever changing requirements and rehearsal schedules perfectly, delivering up to 800 meals per day and feeding crew throughout the night to ensure the National Commemorative Event was the success that it was. They are the best in our industry and without them we wouldn’t have been able to keep the show on the road!

Call for volunteer drivers for Community Transport schemes across Bucks - urgent need

Local charity Community Impact Bucks is calling for more volunteer drivers to support Community Transport schemes in Buckinghamshire by joining an existing car or bus scheme, or by setting up a new group in their local area. These schemes provide an essential transport service to the local community, helping to tackle loneliness and support independent living.

In particular, there is an urgent need for volunteer drivers in Wycombe and Aylesbury where there are currently no schemes to help local residents who are unable to use public transport get to medical appointments.

Read more information here.

Key appointment for Buckinghamshire business advisory and accounting firm

Mark Barrie, who has more than 20 years’ experience working in the corporate and commercial banking sector, has joined Wilkins Kennedy as Director of their banking and finance team at the firm’s offices on Boston Drive in Bourne End and Bell Lane Office Village in Amersham.

His new role will see him advising SME clients and non-clients on suitable ways to access traditional and alternative finance to support growth, expansion and restructuring whilst also assessing whether existing funding meets their needs. Mark said: “This is a great opportunity for me to use all of my banking knowledge to help businesses maximise investment opportunities so that they can live up to their potential. While funding options are now much more varied it’s important that the terms are market facing and don’t end up hindering a business, which is why it’s important to have a trusted advisor in place to assist with this.”

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