Sell your unwanted stuff on eBay and raise funds for Child of Hope!

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Did you know there’s a way you can sell unwanted gifts and possessions on eBay and raise funds for Child of Hope?

It’s called eBay for Charity and it’s easy to do! You can decide what percentage of your final selling price you'd like to give to Child of Hope and what percentage you'd like for yourself. 

Charity listings are the same as any other eBay listing, except for a blue and yellow eBay for Charity ribbon in search results and our mission statement and logo in your listing. Your listing can be seen by everyone who searches through eBay.co.uk and will also get extra visibility through the eBay for Charity pages.

To learn how, click here for either an online guide or video. Or for a quick guide on how to list an item for charity on eBay, please click here.

Slum Christmas party pictures

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

We had a very colourful and fun party at the slum-based school – along with our 610 kids and a parent/guardian and sibling each, there were local community leaders etc, and the total number of people fed exceeded 1,400!

There were dances, drama, loads of presentations, speeches, gifts to the children, along with clothes and shoes… it lasted for hours.

Huge thanks to everyone who donated to help make the party such a success, we couldn’t have done it without your help. Families in the Namatala slum don’t really get the chance to celebrate Christmas in any way at all, and their faces said it all as they joined in the fun and food.

To see more pictures, click here

What you really, really want…

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

We’ve been out and about with customers doing customer perception surveys – because we’re keen to determine what our clients really value so we can provide best service and sustained continuous improvements for them.

Some of the questioning will reveal exactly how we perform in comparison to our direct competitors and market leaders.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped with the process… we’re extremely encouraged with the positive findings, which we will now pull together for some statistics – and we’ll report back soon!

Have a really great Christmas!

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

With best wishes from Brian, Lucy, Sophie and the team.

Project management pilot scheme

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley has been awarded funding for an innovative Project Management pilot scheme – a Government project supported by Airbus via WEAF. The scheme has commenced and will run until late March 2016.

The Employer Skills Programmes scheme highlights development opportunities and provides accredited PM qualification. Intervention is intended to be bespoke and tailored to each target company’s PM needs/gaps to improve areas such as procurement cycles and regulation.

It’s part of the Aerospace Growth Partnership (The AGP), a strategic partnership between government and industry, established to secure the future of the UK aerospace industry for the next 20 years and beyond. It was set up in 2010 as a vehicle to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow the number of high value jobs in the UK. 

The scheme was originally developed for the northern defence industry by Northwest Aerospace Alliance and is now being rolled out around the UK.

Fantastic response… thank you!

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

We’ve had an amazing number of donations in our Christmas party appeal, thank you so much everyone who has joined in and made the party possible. We have reached our target and the event will take place on December 18. The generosity and support of our friends is hugely encouraging!

We’ve heard from several supporters that they are still sending in donations (thank you!) and we will use any additional money to buy extra clothing, soap, food and other essentials to ensure that each child has a very special day. No donation will be wasted but will benefit the children and their families hugely.

As soon as possible after the party we’ll post up some pictures from the special day. In the meantime we wish you well in your festive preparations!

Child rescue: our welfare team

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

In a slum where there is no social service or welfare system, Child of Hope’s welfare team does some amazing, ground-breaking work, and is a vital part of how we help slum children and their families.

The five people on the team share pretty much the same duties. Each morning they check the attendance registers; if a child is absent they then follow up that child with a visit – which may mean walking or getting a local motor cycle called a pike (pronounced 'picky'). This often results in the child being brought to school for medicines and treatment if unwell and then being taken home again.

Sometimes parents move house without informing the school, which also makes follow up difficult. And in the rainy season it is difficult to follow the children up because of the muddy unmade paths.

If a family is struggling, team members decide how to assist them so the circumstances don’t affect the child's health or well-being or cause him to miss school. This may mean providing a new roof, or helping with essentials when a family loses everything, perhaps through a house fire. Read more...

Environmental improvement: oil, swarf and coolant separation

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

We have installed a clever piece of kit that removes oil and swarf from machinery coolant – an Abenaki Chiperator chip and coolant separation system – which saves money on CNC coolant (‘milk’) and reduces environmental risk.

It’s part of Groveley’s ongoing drive for continuous environmental improvement under ISO 14001.

The air driven Chiperator vacuums and filters old cutting fluids loaded with chips from machine sumps, tanks and parts washers, while the coolant is cleansed of tramp oils, allowing it to be re-used.

Helping the wonderful Lewis Manning Hospice

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

We think Lewis Manning does an amazing job with its hospice and seven retail charity shops – so much that we’ve loaned them storage space to hold their donated furniture items.

It helps the charity because its stock level – which varies from crates of stock to a 12-seater dining room set – fluctuates throughout the year and the space we provide is flexible to meet their needs.

It operates seven charity shops in the area from Blandford, Ferndown and Wimborne to Bournemouth and Poole, all of which stock furniture. And it’s been doing this for 21 years!

Lewis-Manning Hospice in Poole, is a charity that provides free specialist palliative nursing day-care for local people living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, including Parkinson’s and Motor Neurone disease. Four years ago the hospice made the decision to build a new facility that would allow for the care of patients overnight and, having moved into a new building, it is now phasing the opening of the bedrooms.

The hospice promotes acceptance, hope and peace of mind in a safe and calming environment, helping people live well through their illness and beyond. It aims to ensure that local people are given access to the support they may need to help them cope with their illness and the changes it may bring.

Its seven shops provide a significant income to help people whose lives have changed dramatically because of illness. For details of its furniture collection and house clearance service, call (01202) 760574.

A Dorset cuppa for charity

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

We helped WEAF raise £4K for charity at its gala dinner, thanks to kind support from Dorset Tea which supplied us with a year’s-worth of tea (1,100 tea bags) as a raffle prize.

WEAF has split the funds raised between two great charities: Pancreatic Cancer  UK and fly2help.

Thanks for your generosity, Dorset Tea – and we think your tea is great!

Slum kids' Christmas party appeal: day 1

Day 1...

Today is the start of our slum kids' Christmas Party Appeal 2015! Last year was a great success with kids and guests from the community having a fantastic time.

This year we want to do the same, so today we’re launching our advent joke appeal; each day we’ll be posting a corny Christmas cracker style joke or cartoon and we want you to share the post with your friends and loved ones — while at the same time clicking on the donate button! It costs just £4 to provide each Child of Hope child with a present, party food AND a new pair of shoes!

We’ll post up a totaliser to show how we’re doing — we are aiming to fill Santa’s sack with 600 Santa hats (try saying that after having a sherry!), one for each donation of £4. Please help us give the kids a day to remember!

Check it out!

Good King Wenceslas phoned Domino's for a pizza.
The salesgirl asked him...

'Do you want your usual? Deep pan, crisp and even?’

Keep your Christmas presents safe and sound with 50% off storage!

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Here at Store & Secure Self Storage we know what a busy time Christmas can be. Avoid the stress of finding hiding places for all your presents by storing them with us, or you can even store some of your old stuff to make way for the new!

To help you out this festive season, we’re offering 50% off storage for your first four weeks with us. Simply quote ChristmasStorage when getting a quote from us. So give us a call today! Offer ends December 24, 2015.

Black Friday – self-storage special offer!

[Online PR and eMailer for Store & Secure self-storage]

With Black Friday upon us, we know you're going to be needing lots of space to make way for all your new bargains, or maybe you just need to store all your new stuff until Christmas.

To help you out, here at Store & Secure we are offering storage with the first 4 weeks at half price! And if that wasn't enough, we're also offering 50% off all our packing materials. Simply quote BlackFriday when getting a quote from us or purchasing some things from our Box Shop. Offer ends 28/11/15.

Our first sponsored child is now training to be a teacher

[Online PR for charity Child of Hope]

Around the time Child of Hope nursery first started in a borrowed church hall in 2008, director Moses Okotel was already casting his eye ahead to primary and secondary education – and stepped in to significantly change prospects for a handful of slum children by sponsoring their education at other schools.

One of these was Patricia, who is now studying to be a teacher and who wants to help children in the same poverty she was rescued from. She said…

“I have five sisters and a mum, but my dad is not around. He separated from Mum in 2005 when I was eight years old. Our situation at home was terrible because Mum at home didn’t have money for school fees or even food. We were renting a place but had to move out because we couldn’t pay the rent. We moved from a permanent house with three rooms to a mud house with only one room – and we were all sleeping in the same room. We would not have enough for breakfast so we would eat maize porridge at lunchtime and in the evening the same again, maize porridge. All the time we were hungry.

“Before my father left, three of us were in school. When he left we tried to sneak into school but often they would chase us away because we hadn’t paid school fees. We changed schools to cheaper schools but they were a long distance away (an hour and a half walking each way) and we still struggled to pay those cheaper fees. We all felt very bad.

“In 2008 Child of Hope came in to help us. We used to go to church to pray and we met Uncle Moses there. He was our Sunday school teacher. He saw our situation at home when he came to visit us. We are not related to Uncle Moses, we are not even the same tribe. It is very hard to find someone from outside the family to help us. He started to pay school fees for us and would bring food at home for us. Things started to improve and then we could attend school without being worried of being chased away.

“I worked hard at school and Child of Hope agreed to send me to secondary school and found me a sponsor (Auntie Debbie). I am now studying to become a primary school teacher. My hope for the future is to continue education after my certificate and do a diploma course, then get a job in a local school in Mbale.

“I’d like to be married in the future and have children (not more than four!) and we’ll all live in a permanent house with five rooms! I’d also like to build some other houses and then I’ll rent them out to make extra money to help my mum and find children to help who are in the same situation I used to be in.”

Exploring 3D printing

[Teaser news for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Two new 3D printers have arrived at Groveley and are undergoing extensive investigation to discover the ways we can improve our services to customers.

We are very interested in seeing how the ABS printer will speed up the production of prototypes, while the nylon printer (with carbon fibre and glass fibre reinforcement) will produce highly-accurate tooling to hold components during production. More information soon.

SC21 Silver: more than customer benefits

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s SC21 Silver accreditation has meant significant benefits to customers – orders delivered right first time (and on time) every time, for starters – and the company has benefited enormously too.

It has helped us achieve:

• greater efficiency in manpower and resource,

• better floor space utilisation, 

• enhanced process flow, 
• a higher-skilled workforce that is motivated, content and proud of the company. Staff buy-in to quality and continuous improvement processes is excellent.

Prior to SC21 we had started continuous improvement programmes a number of times, always gaining some benefit, but experienced difficulty in sustaining them. Now it’s an integral part of everything we do.

And to cap it all… high levels of customer satisfaction has led to closer ties and collaboration within the supply chain (to the benefit of all) and has resulted in more work and potential openings in other industry sectors.

Mud hut roof repair

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

During a visit to Child of Hope in Uganda, a team from the Lighthouse Family Church near Poole got stuck in and helped repair a couple of straw roofs.

Leo McCarthy from the team said: “The welfare team had identified two families of children at the CoH school who desperately needed new roofs and of course we were keen to help.”

The working party was split into men (to help repair the roofs) and women (to carry the straw because culturally this was considered women's work. Actually, the guys helped too). All the straw was at the school and had to be carried quite a way, which proved hard work for the ladies on such a hot day.

Meanwhile the men stayed on site to help construct the roofs, which involved passing up the bundles to be placed by the local men, checking the ties on the roof twigs and making sure things were held secure. 

“It was very early in our trip and we hadn't adjusted to the heat, but it was a very good opportunity to get stuck in with the community and also linking with COH's welfare team,” said Leo. “We had our first glimpse of slum housing and some of the team found the squalid conditions and lack of possessions rather overwhelming to start with. Overall we were well-received and thanked by many of the community, even passers by.”

Christmas cards that raise funds

[Online PR for charity Child of Hope]

We have teamed up with Just Cards Direct again this year to provide 10% donations on sales of its handmade Christmas cards and gifts from Africa. So if you'd like a source of great cards that also help our work with slum kids... give them a look!

The charity helps provide justice, dignity and hope for the disadvantaged. It works in partnership with card-making community projects in the developing world, helping to provide jobs, self-worth and security. In many cases these cards provide the only income to a widow or an orphan. It practices fair-trade principles and aims to bring hope to those who have been down-trodden, neglected and traumatised.

You can buy all kinds of cards – birthday cards, Christmas cards, Thank You cards, African cards, Christian cards, wedding cards, banana leaf cards from Rwanda, cards made using recycled fizzy drinks cans from South Africa, and printed cards from Australia and the UK – to name just a few!

To ensure a donation, simply select 'Child of Hope' from the drop down menu at the end of the payment page... and 10% of the sale will come our way.

They sell great gifts too! Handmade keyrings, fridge magnets, Christmas tree decorations, mugs, plaques, photo frames and mounted and framed artwork.

Aerospace: from Spitfire to Airbus

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s track record with aircraft runs continuously from the 1960s since its early days of machining friction materials and production of aircraft brakes – and our products can be found on the under-carriages and brake systems of aircraft from Spitfires to the Airbus A380!

For today’s aerospace industry, we specialise in 3D modelling/machining for turning, milling, and finishing materials such as:

• stainless steels

• titanium

• ferrous, non-ferrous metals and plastics

• friction materials.

And we still enjoy producing a variety of legacy products that date back to aircraft first manufactured in the 1960s.

With SC21 Silver accreditation and quality approval to BS EN ISO 9100, we are better placed than ever to serve customers within the aerospace industry, and our client base in the sector continues to expand.

Helping save lives: Pius at work

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Meet Pius, he’s a very busy guy. During the day he heads up our welfare team and in his spare time he is caretaker of the boys section of our expanding children’s home, currently with 19 lads.

He began his affiliation with CoH four years ago when he was sent to do an internship at the school looking after children. He would walk younger children to school, serve them porridge and oversee their playtimes. He was delighted that CoH paid his study fees for his last year of University which helped him to obtain a Diploma in Social Work, after which he worked at CoH without pay for a while to refund the money.   

Since becoming employed by CoH, Pius has become an extremely useful staff member and this year was promoted to Welfare Team manager, with four staff in his team. This team plays a vital role in the life of CoH and does pretty ground-breaking work, bearing in mind that Uganda does not have an effective welfare system, especially in the Namatala slum. These five people are regularly saving young children from abuse, sickness and death.

For the past four years Pius has been running the boys department of our children's home.   He’s a christian and says his love for God is his motivation for all the wonderful work he does. Caring for 19 boys in the home is a very demanding job and he finds little or no time off for socialising… although, at least, all the boys are very involved in the running of the home, helping with cooking, washing clothes and keeping the home clean.

He has four brothers and three of his five sisters are still alive. One of his sisters was a teacher at CoH school but died two years ago of complications in pregnancy. He now pays school fees for his orphaned nephew as well as his younger sister and brother. He has rented a house for them in Mbale and also visits his mother as often as possible.

In the press

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley MD Peter Bennet is the lead interview in a feature article in Works Management magazine this month called Cheque Mate - exploring the relationships between bank managers and manufacturers.

The introduction sets the scene… “The seven brand new CNC machines standing proud on the shop floor of SME component manufacturer Groveley Precision Engineering are brimming with impressive stats. Some 75 ft-lb of torque produced at only 1,200 rpm, the throttle to reach 8,100 rpm in just 1.2 seconds and a £600,000 price tag. 

"But, all are trumped by the eye-catching fact this equipment was bought, not from cash reserves, but in partnership with the banks."...

Read the article…

Moses survived jiggers and now wants to become a doctor

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Moses is the head boy at our school and is in the last year of the school (P7) – but before he started at the school he seriously doubted if he would survive a serious infestation of jiggers.

Otherwise known as the chigoe flea, jiggers bore into feet to produce an inflammatory skin disease called tungiasis. This can lead to tetanus, gangrene and death if not dealt with.

But Moses was in the first ever class when Child of Hope started its school in the borrowed hall of a local church – and treatment for jiggers is part of the healthcare we offer our pupils. Staff removed them all (not a great job!), gave him shoes to wear… and Moses has been free of them since.

He said: “If I hadn’t come to Child of Hope I think I could not even be living this time. I think I could have died because the condition which I was going through was not really good.”

At the time he lived with his grandmother, his parents and seven other children in a tiny home. However his father died when he was still in P2 class and things didn’t work out for him, so he lived with our Ugandan directors Moses and Bex for around three to four years. He regularly suffered with stomach pain so they de-wormed him and treated him whenever he fell sick. 

Once our first children’s home was established Moses moved in, as it was much nearer the school and he could easily get there for after-school revision.

Moses is bright and pretty set on eventually becoming a doctor. He could do it, too… he’s nearing the time when he finishes his primary education at Child of Hope school this December and hopes to move on to nearby secondary education where we will continue to support him. 

Future job prospects of children in Child of Hope's school are much higher due to being given an education, and general overall health, welfare and entrepreneurial support for their families. The costs are all covered by donors and child sponsors in the UK and Ireland – if you’d like to sponsor one of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children at just £15 per month, please click here.

Rose’s family is rising from poverty

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]


Since Rose approached Child of Hope’s Income Generating Activity team in 2013 for a business grant and training – to set up a small business selling vegetables – she and her husband have been able to purchase a small plot of land where they will build a home one day.

That’s a terrific lift for her family in just over two years of running her business, and she says for the first time she feels secure for the future.

Rose also sells charcoal, which people use for cooking. That’s not an easy job as she has to collect the charcoal and carry it to her home to sell it. But she is so happy that the business enables her to feed and clothe her family and pay the rent. It also means that she can send two of her children to a local school while two others attend the CoH school, leaving her to care for her baby.

To read more about how simple business training and a £25 start-up grant helps mums out of poverty (and you can donate a business grant, if you like)… click here.

How we can help your business

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Take a look at this list of benefits we offer your business… it’s huge! 

Of course we provide flexible storage space for your stock – and can even hire you office space in our business suite – but there are loads of ways we can help your business become more profitable!

STORAGE: You can have as much or little space as you need, and can keep changing to suit the ebbs and flows of business… read more

STORE ANYTHING: Stock, office equipment, surplus, tools, returns, archives…

GOODS IN AND OUT: We’ll receive your deliveries and ensure your despatched are sent safely. A free service for storage customers.

CONFIDENTIAL SHREDDING: Complete security for the stuff you need disposed of… read more

OFFICE SPACE: High-quality, fully-serviced office accommodation in Bournemouth to rent, ranging from 100 to 1000 sq ft… read more

24/7 ACCESS FOR TRADESMEN: External lock-ups in our secure compound can be accessed at any time, day or night. Great for tradesmen’s tools, equipment and materials.

SECURITY: The safety of your stuff is our top priority and take it very seriously. Read more…

MAILBOX POSTAL ADDRESS: Our PO box mail service is a great option for home businesses, small business and start-ups in need of the credibility of a business address… read more

So there it is… every reason for you to consider Store & Secure to help you build your business. Call us or e-mail us today!

SC21 Silver: how our customers benefit

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

SC21 Silver acts as an umbrella for our continual improvement programme – ensuring that benefits are maintained and sustained, and yielding prolonged reduction in waste. 

Importantly, continual improvement and sustained efficiency provide two huge advantages for our customers:

1.  Right first time… every time: during 2014 our quality performance was 99.99%; this year it is 100%.

2.  On-time: we haven’t been late with a single delivery in the last three years.

These are massive reasons for you to consider Groveley as part of your supply chain. We also offer you close ties and collaboration. Why not call or e-mail us today?

It’s time to give even greater support to vulnerable children and families

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

The extra free services that Child of Hope provides for its pupils and their families are unique and have a huge impact – these are our welfare, healthcare and Income Generating Activity teams. We have so many stories of restoring children from disease… rescuing them from abuse… actually saving their lives in some cases. Plus all the times we help families rise up from crippling poverty.

Now it’s time to give them even greater support, and to do that, we plan to bring the three teams closer together and work collaboratively, so that each staff member thinks holistically rather than focussing just on their own objectives. We want to set up a child development unit that will draw together the various strands of our child/family support structure and improve our service to them.

To do this, we will appoint an overall manager to think strategically and monitor/evaluate the teams’ achievements – and we will provide the technology so team members can see what’s going on with any particular child/family. This requires a new small building to give them their own combined space, where cross-team staff can talk to each other as they do their work, provide rooms for family meetings, child counselling, business start-up meetings, etc… plus a proper clean room with sink/sluice for the health team.

The unit will cost approximately £19,000 and we have started the process of raising funds. This is something that will help many of the poorest and most vulnerable children and families in the Namatala slum – if you would like to help us, please make a donation. Click here to make an online donation, or click here to pay by cheque or online banking. For more information on the unit, please click here.

Retailers – extra storage space for Christmas

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

If you need extra space for storing your Christmas stock, come and take advantage of the great business benefits of flexible self-storage at Store & Secure!

Lots of Bournemouth shops and online businesses are taking space in our expanding self-storage facility – because you can they can scale up or down quickly for seasonal stock requirements, releasing their storage space for more effective use. 

Plus these other clear benefits:

• Low-cost

• No rates nor utility charges

• Free parking

• Open 7 days a week

• 24-hour access

• Free goods-in/out service!

• Free use of forklift, pallet/hand trucks and trolleys

• Free tea and coffee!

Store and Secure self-storage provides high-quality storage for businesses, large or small. Located in Bournemouth, behind Castlepoint, we are highly-secure, cost-effective and easily accessible from the surrounding areas. You can store just about anything in our units…our space becomes your space.

Prices: From as little as £5 per week! And that includes all business rates, heating, lighting and power costs, security and general maintenance charges.

Security: With constant supervision, monitored CCTV cameras and alarm systems, our locked units are accessible to you and only you.

Unit sizes: Units are available from 25 to 20,000 square feet of self-contained units, and you are able to adjust your space as your storage requirements expand and contract.

Ah well, nearly…

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Shame, we didn’t get an award this year at the industry ceremonies… but then we didn’t really expect to come top in the UK (and Europe) two years running!

But sincere congratulations go to this year’s winner of the best UK facility of the year category at the Self Storage Association awards ceremony – Stock N Lock in Worcester. Well done, you deserve it.

It’s great to see another self-storage company investing in providing exceptional customer service.

Environmental improvements keep coming

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s drive for continuous environmental improvement under ISO 14001 has been boosted with a restructuring of how waste is stored and recycled – which follows hot on the heels of new plant and equipment with added environmental awareness and lower energy use that has reduced our carbon footprint.

The three main strands of ISO 14001 help us (a) minimise how our operations negatively affect the environment, (b) comply with regulations and (c) continually improve in the above.

Accreditation since 2011 (and just renewed this September) has improved resource efficiency, reduced waste, driven down costs and provided assurance to stakeholders that environmental impact is being measured and improved. 

Our internal systems are regularly externally-audited to ensure they are kept in order and are subject to continuous improvement. 

The excellent buy-in from our workforce has contributed significantly. They are:

• provided with environmental awareness training, 

• engaged in our environmental improvement programme, 

• involved in energy conservation initiatives that minimise energy, and 

• educated to prevent pollution.

Environmental aspects are considered within all our design, manufacturing and assembly capabilities. And of course, Groveley minimises waste through reuse and recycling, sending waste to landfill as a last resort.

Betty loves helping slum mums out of poverty

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Meet Betty – she’s the Income Generating Activities (IGA) co-ordinator for Child of Hope and her role is to help mums succeed in the businesses we help them start.

As the co-ordinator she goes out to the Namatala slum to visit the mothers who are involved in businesses which have been set up with a grant from CoH. This has enabled her to make many friends in the community and to learn about the mothers and their various and many needs. She is well-known in the community, being a bridge between the mothers and CoH.

And actually, being employed means that she is able to pay her own rent and feed and clothe her family, for which she is very grateful! 

Betty originally started working in the CoH Nursery and now in her current role loves to help the mothers achieve their goals. The IGA scheme is very impressive as it helps to raise families out of poverty to provide basic needs for their families. Lives are being transformed and the changes are making the mothers and their families feel happy and secure as they look to the future.

When people would like a business start-up and grant, a full profile is taken and they are assessed as to whether they may be given a full or part grant to start their business. The business training scheme operates one day per week for four weeks to help the mums acquire new skills to enable them to succeed.

There are many kinds of businesses which the mothers are involved in. Probably the most popular is running a shop (really a stall by the road or in the market). There they can sell vegetables, rice, bananas and many other everyday essentials. Some are more inventive, selling charcoal for fuel, or selling meat by visiting door-to-door in the evening when it is cooler. As well as all these projects there are ‘restaurants’, salon and barber shop and tailoring.

Would you like to donate a £25 start-up grant to a slum mum?… click here for details.

Mark is glad to be off the streets

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Family break-up is often the start of terrible disasters for young children that often ends up with them living on the streets, subject to all kinds of dangers. It’s great when we can help kids that are so vulnerable, like Mark.

After his parents split up, Mark lived for a while with his grandmother. But she couldn’t look after him properly, so after school each day, he would go and live on the streets. When our welfare staff found out, they brought him into our children’s home, where he lives today.

Here’s what Mark said… it is exactly as spoken apart from minor grammatical changes to keep the flavour of the culture while making ‘Ugandan English’ understandable to Western readers!

“Before I came to Child of Hope I used to live in the streets. My parents didn’t have much to take care of me to take me to school. My mother lives in Busea and my father lives in Moroto. I am together with my grandmother.

“Well, one day when I was at home, then Uncle Moses and Auntie Bex, plus Pastor Philip, came and said: “Can we register this child for Child of Hope?” Then my parents also allowed.

“I didn’t get much to eat because my parents used to drink and we didn’t have enough money for food. I started Child of Hope when I was six years old.

“Child of Hope has done so great in my life and my family. They provide me with free shoes, free food, everything I need. I’m now thirteen and a half. I am now in P6 class. I would like to be an astronaut.”

With Uganda ranked one of the biggest alcohol-consuming nation in the world – despite poverty – a lot of children in the Namatala slum are badly affected by their parents’ drink problem. Many are simply left to fend for themselves.

If you would like to sponsor a child like Mark through Child of Hope’s school and so he (or she) can benefit from our amazing child support structure, please click here for details.

New shoes

[Photography and online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

The social impact of what we do in the Namatala slum is quick-hitting… one of the first benefits for a child starting at our school is to receive a pair of new shoes – probably the first pair of shoes he’s ever had.

Most kids in the slum normally wander around bare-footed and they pick up nasty ‘jiggers’ – the chigoe flea that bores into their feet, producing an inflammatory skin disease calledtungiasis. This can lead to tetanus and gangrene if not dealt with.

So shoes are a terrific benefit, helping to prevent this and other foot injuries. And they help our school nurse, because then she doesn’t have to pull jiggers out of feet every day!

If you'd like to buy five children a pair of shoes each, which costs just £5, please click here!

3D software keeps us lean, effective and fast-moving

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

We take hold of advanced engineering as it emerges – and our £20k investment in 3D CNC software earlier this year is proving a successful part of our strategy to remain lean, effective and fast-moving.

The CAD-CAM programmes enable us to work smarter while manufacturing increasingly complex components. And because our resulting programming contain less CNC machinery idle time, our efficiency, lead times and competitive edge are enhanced.

The process starts by accurately producing CAD direct from 3D scanning of a customer’s solid model, including even its positioning within a given CNC machine.

It directly creates coding for CNC machinery programmes, saving many hours of manual programming and engineering time. The programme utilises latest manufacturing strategies that are essential for manufacturing complex components which can be virtually impossible to programme longhand.

From start to finish, the whole process is faster – even quotations, because cost estimates can be calculated direct from the original 3D scan.

Life is a box of…

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Not only can we add more space in your life, we can also help you organise that space!

Great for decluttering, moving home, tidying the attic or garage, or when you hire a self-storage room, we sell boxes, covers for mattresses, arm chairs and sofas – plus all-important bubble-wrap, packing paper and packing tape. Click here to see our products.

They’re all at great prices and you can easily pop in and buy them seven days a week:

• Mon-Fri  8am to 6pm

• Sat  9am to 4pm

• Sun & Bank holidays  10am to 2pm

At-risk kids – a bit squashed, but happy

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Our at-risk pupils – 19 boys and 10 girls – live in two small adjacent properties that we rent to be their home. To be honest, with no windows, it’s not much better than a lock up garage. There is barely room to move around or store any of their things, which are minimal. One of our greatest needs is for a new home for all the children to be able to have more space and better living conditions… and we are exploring how we can build something suitable.

In spite of the overcrowding, the children are all delighted to be there! The boys are cared for by Pius, our welfare team manager, while welfare worker Rose looks after the girls.

The children are very involved in the running of the home, helping with cooking, washing clothes and keeping the home clean. They are encouraged to grow their own food, planting maize, beans and other vegetables. The holidays are used to teach the boys how to become fine adults and good fathers.

The girls are taught how to cook, clean floors, wash clothes, etc – all the domestic skills they will need when they are married.

According to custom they all go to bed about 10.30pm and rise at 5am. Every Saturday morning they all meet up for a Family Court where the children sort out any issues between them… with some help from the adults. They look forward to having meat and rice on Sundays because the rest of the week they have posho (maize flour porridge) and beans.

Read more about the children’s home here.

Reducing lead times

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

A new device could enable us to shorten delivery lead times by speeding up our CNC milling and turning speeds from 5,000 rpm to 36,000 rpm – all powered by the CNC machine’s own high-speed coolant.

The high-speed, high-precision jet spindle (called Typhoon) is currently being tested on one our existing CNC milling machines – and so far the results are impressive.

The shorter cycle times will reduce the lead time and help maintain our 100% on-time delivery to customers.

If the savings are consistent, we will shortly roll out the device to more milling machines.

Da storage sistas!

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Our great friends and graphic designers at LandingFortysix produced this cheeky cartoon of us… and we love it!

The guys handle all our design work (including this website) and have been instrumental in helping us create our strong Store & Secure self-storage branding. They also do amazing work for other local companies.

If you’d like to talk to them about design in your business or organisation, drop them an e-mail at hello@landingfortysix.com

The best hooker

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s first annual fishing competition around Poole Bay and harbour – on board charter fishing boat Rocket – was won by CNC team leader Leigh van Eldik.

Leigh landed seven species; pouting, bass, pollock, bream, mackerel, dogfish and undulate ray.

The all-day, bait-supplied species competition was sponsored by Dorset-based engineering tooling company Trucut… who joined in the fun.

Fast impact from start-up business

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Since Rebecca set up a business with our help – selling soap, sugar, cooking oil and pancakes she makes herself – in less than a year she has been able to afford to send two of her other children to local schools and to move her family to a two-bedroom home instead of the previous one small room. That's her business stall in the background by the side of the road.

She has five children (one attends the CoH school) and she says she is so grateful to be able to support her husband and provide for the family.

We love this form of social impact and the speed in which it can take place. It's a terrific spin-off from our main work of educating slum children, one that benefits the whole family as they together rise from the worst effects of poverty.

Shortlisted for top award

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

For the second year running, we have been shortlisted for the Facility of the Year (Independent Operator) category in the self-storage industry awards!

After winning both the UK and European awards last year, it’ll be fascinating to see how far we get this year. If anything, our professionalism and business systems are even better than in 2014, so we’ve got a great chance.

We are among four companies shortlisted from around the UK – and we’ll find out this evening if we will be taking home another trophy from the special awards ceremony in Birmingham hosted by the Self Storage Association UK.

Aiming for the top… again

[Photography, online PR and eNewsletter for Store & Secure self-storage]

We’ve entered the Facility of the Year category in the self-storage industry awards for the second time… remember last year we won both the UK and European awards!

So although in reality it’s unlikey we will win two years running, our standards certainly haven’t slipped over the last year… so our application has gone in and we’re aiming for the top again.

We included all the information about how professional we are (of course) - but what still sets us apart is our friendly customer relationships, hospitality, hot drinks and providing lots of free extra services. We hope the judges like it again, because our customers clearly do!

We also pride ourselves on a clean and tidy facility, and this is regularly mentioned by potential customers when checking us out and have viewed other companies’ facilities – and it often wins us the business!

Paws for thought

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Here’s a sneak view of our new well-hard security guard dog, Teddy. Clearly the most ferocious member of our team, 12 week-old Teddy is a Maltese and belongs to facility manager Sophie.

Like poodles and the Bichon Frisé, they are considered to be largely hypoallergenic, so many people who are allergic to dogs may not be allergic to the Maltese.

When you visit us you’ll get a nice welcome… the Maltese is famous for greeting everyone as a friend – just as we do!

Looking good with its final paint job

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Here’s the latest view of our school in Namatala slum – it’s had a final lick of paint and flooring to finish it in time for an official opening… hopefully any day soon!

The school really stands out in the slum and we’re over the moon that little kids so poor that they wouldn’t normally have received an education can get a quality place like this to learn!

No late deliveries – for three years

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Our SC21 Silver accreditation ensures that when we make a claim like that, it’s backed up by customer ratification. And it’s true, in the last three years we haven’t been late on a single job.

How is it achieved? Yes, by thorough scheduling and controls… but for us the biggest way has been to always talk with customers right through the process so they – and we – don’t develop unrealistic expectations. Then we agree a scheduled delivery that can be assured.

And we continue to invest in machinery, software and the latest machining strategies that help us work increasingly faster and more efficiently. Our clients manufacture high-value products… we simply cannot hold up their schedules.

On target

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

We’re still growing! 

With a big welcome to all our new wonderful customers who have hired rooms over the last few months, Store & Secure self-storage just keeps expanding. In fact, the company on target for a 30% increase in turnover this financial year (which ends in September).

Where are all the skilled precision engineers?

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Right now, Groveley is very keen to locate two new skilled precision engineers to join the team. Our recent £600,000 investment has meant we are faster and more efficient - and instead of a need of machinery being a potential bottleneck, now its a need for more staff.

We’re always on the lookout for skilled people with the right attitude. However, there appears to be a huge lack of engineers in Dorset and Hampshire (our staff catchment area) – and we think its down to a general lack of investment in apprentices over the last several years.

Within our staff of 25, we have five apprentices and will take on another one by autumn. But that isn’t the picture across the aerospace and defence industries in which we mainly work.

Filling the jobs of tomorrow is one of the greatest challenges facing the UK today. The right skills are the key to moving the industry forward.

Private and public employers, trade unions, the education sector and governments are waking up to the problem and are starting some initiatives, which we welcome.