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.