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.