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.

Could you fundraise on the International Day of Charity?

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]



Saturday September 5 is the United Nations’ International Day of Charity, which encourages charitable efforts worldwide to alleviate poverty. Poverty persists in all countries regardless of their economic, social and cultural situation, particularly in developing countries like Uganda, and the UN calls for countries to recognise and contribute towards the efforts of charitable organisations and individuals.

Well, everything Child of Hope does in Uganda is to alleviate poverty… so would you be interested in doing some fundraising on the day for slum families in Namatala?

There are lots of ways you can get involved with Child of Hope – fundraising is just one of them– and we have some resources that could help you.

And fundraising doesn’t need to be hard work or too time-consuming… it can be as simple as inviting friends round for cake and showing them our video – or doing something fun and e-mailing your family and friends to support you by donating on JustGiving.

You could aim to raise funds towards a particular project – like our new children’s home – or to help boost our work in social welfare, healthcare and starting mums in a business. Or just to buy some shoes, school books or dinners for our 410 pupils!

If you’d like to join in the fun, simply go ahead and plan your event. If you’d like any resources, call us on (01202) 697 201 or e-mail us. And let us know how you get on!

Teachers on a mission

[Online PR for charity Child of Hope]

Lucy Swift and Vickie Price from St Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Bristol have returned from their third period of volunteering at our Ugandan school. Lucy is deputy headteacher and Vickie a teacher, and they have helped us improve the quality of CoH education enormously over the last few years. Here’s what they said:

“It was really great to see the progress the school has made, not only in terms of the building, but also in terms of the teaching. The behaviour system that we helped implement last year was still being carried out, with children lining up on entering the school and understanding the consequences of right and wrong choices.

“We loved catching up with all the staff and children that we met on our previous visits and was fantastic to see how much the children not just from the school, but from the local community, are enjoying the new playground.

“This year we focused on helping headteacher Mike implement new strategies that he had observed when visiting the UK. The main focus of this was group work rather than the traditional 'chalk and talk' that happens in the classrooms. All the classes had moved away from the desks being in rows and instead the desks were placed in groups which facilitated group work.

“The first week we demonstrated how to carry out group work using the classes’ current topics from the Ugandan curriculum. These ranged from topics on hotels/restaurants, peace and security to finding the area of trapeziums! The teachers observed and took part in the lessons. Our aim was to show that they could carry out creative lessons using their curriculum in a wide range of ways- group discussion, role play, drama, hot-seating, trips around the local area, debate, games etc.

“In the second week all the teachers were tasked with carrying our their own more 'creative' lesson, with us observing and supporting. At the end of our second week we worked with all the teachers on their term 3 topics to help them plan for more creative lessons.

“As always we were impressed with the willingness that all the teachers embraced the new style of teaching. The aim is that we can carry on supporting their planning while back in the UK through e-mail and Skype. The teachers also have expectations in terms of teaching creative lessons so that it becomes part of their practice.”

Big space

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

Over the last couple of months, a large part of our top floor was hired by a garden furniture wholesaler, which needed a big indoor space to show its ranges of luxury furniture to retailers in the region, predominantly garden centres.

Now, our top floor is rather BIG… during our recent expansion we half-filled it with permanent self-storage rooms, but it still has 5,000 square feet that we keep for more unusual storage requirements, often short-term.

The great thing about our business storage facility is that you have full use of our forklift, pallet trucks, hand trucks and trolleys – and a large lift – so moving your items becomes a piece of cake. And you can relax in our reception with a complimentary cup of tea and coffee, available to all of our customers.

Security is our number one priority. We have done everything we can to ensure your things are in the safest of hands – our sites are staffed seven days a week in office hours. Digital CCTV covers all the main access points to the storage area, constantly monitored throughout the day then during the night by an external security company. And our premises are protected by an advanced alarm system, which means that should anything suspicious occur, we’ll know.

SC21 silver renewal... for third time

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s SC21 Silver accreditation has been renewed for the third time… in recognition of its internal process excellence, quality and on-time delivery to the aerospace and defence industries.

SC21 (National Action Plan for 21st Century Supply Chains) is a change programme which aims to accelerate the competitiveness of the UK's defence and aerospace industry by raising the quality performance of its supply chains. 

Groveley was first presented its SC21 Silver award at the Farnborough International Airshow in 2012. Ongoing accreditation includes independent ratification of internal process excellence, quality and on-time delivery by customers.

The award became harder to achieve this year – with the bar raised to enhance relationships between customer and supplier and to demonstrate the supplier’s long-term sustainable benefits to the customer.

Groveley has supplied precision-engineered components to the aerospace and defence markets for over 50 years and is committed to the implementation of best manufacturing practice.

A flexible approach to business – along with with a constant drive for innovation – allows us to work with customers in the most efficient manner.

How to help an orphan…

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

You could make Christmas really special for a poverty-struck orphan or two in Romania this year… and we can help you do it.

The Biggin Hill Romania Group distributes around 2,000 Christmas shoeboxes each year in and around the area of Comanesti – and has big plans to expand to even more children.

Groups of volunteers, including some from the local Poole team, will pay their own way to visit and distribute the Christmas shoeboxes in person and see the joy they give.

If you can help, you simply buy items to fill a shoebox (for either a boy or a girl), then deliver it to our self-storage facility* by October 18. S’easy!

If you can help, here are some instructions…

Please wrap the lid and base of the shoebox separately with Christmas wrapping paper, secure the lid with two elastic bands and then tape a label to the top of the shoebox, indicating the approximate age and sex the shoebox is intended for.

To help with the transportation costs, is there any chance you could tape a couple of £1 coins to the label on the outside of the box… this is optional. 

Thanks!

* Please deliver your shoebox(es) to us during these hours:

- Mon-Fri 8am-6pm

- Sat 9am- 4pm

- Sun & bank holidays 10am-2pm

Half-price storage to celebrate the Cherries’ big day!

[eMailer, news and social media for Store & Secure self-storage]

Serviced office available to rent

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

We will shortly have a 270 sq ft service office available in our business centre… interested?

Rent is low-cost and it includes energy, rates and CCTV security! Not to mention free parking (and lots of it) and 24/7 access. And there’s no long-term contract, so your business will get everything it needs for one price, in one place, without having to sign a long lease.

Another perk of our serviced offices is a dedicated reception area that can accept packages so you don’t have to worry about who signs for what! You can collect any visitors you may have from the reception area, with complimentary tea and coffee available. Plus we offer optional mailbox and storage rooms.

No, it’s not too good to be true… these are very real benefits from renting an office with us. If you’d like to visit and see the office, or just talk about options, please call Lucy or Sophie today on (01202) 520 220 or e-mail us.

Swim, Bournemouth!

[Online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley has provided shirts for Swim Bournemouth Swimming Club as it competes at the 2015 ASA National Summer Championships in Sheffield This week.

The national battle to become an ASA Champion will see athletes from across England compete in five age groups and in multi-classification para-swimming races. 

Swim Bournemouth – the largest swimming club in Dorset – will send teams for individual and relay races. We’ll be cheering them on!