Sunrise Bushcraft expands with crowdfunding loan from Go2 Business Loans

[Press release and photography for Go2 Business Loans]

Survival and bushcraft training company Sunrise Bushcraft, which operates in Dorset and Hampshire, has expanded with a crowdfunding loan from Go2 Business Loans.

Having won contracts to deliver new courses to vulnerable young people, Sunrise needed funding to train a new apprentice and purchase new equipment.

Go2 raised a £15,000 crowdfunded business loan from its group of investors within just four weeks.

Go2 director Rob Bennet said: “Go2 is a peer-to-peer lending network – local money supporting local small businesses – and it’s very simple to apply for a loan.

“It’s purely a business loan; our website puts investors in contact with a business but they do not take shares or get involved in any other way.”

Sunrise Bushcraft’s loan also funded the purchase of storage sheds, equipment lockers, woodland management tools, new composting toilets, cooking area, washing facilities, first aid kits, and clothing.

Its director James White said: “Applying for the loan was one of the most painless experiences I have ever had with funding – I was shocked and impressed how easy it was.

“Go2 were excellent; compared to other funding options I’ve tried, this was like making a cup of tea.”

Sunrise Bushcraft offers tailored events that include activities such as shelter-building, fire-making, woodland foraging, team games, cooking, bow-making, primitive living, plant medicines, animal track and signs and knife-work.

James said: “In particular we work in response to demand from local councils and charitable organisations and we are renowned for being a leading force in nature deficit disorder studies.”

Sunrise also runs courses for the public in bushcraft and survival, works with Groupon, Wowcher, Amazon and Activity Superstore. It is a contracted trainer for Girl Guides and also delivers national qualifications to adults in forest school, teaching and assessing awards.

www.sunrisebushcraft.com

www.go2businessloans.co.uk

Infinite diversity

[Photography and online PR for high-end joinery Kirolite]

Wehad a lot of fun building this mountain-style accessible dance set for inclusive charitable project Infinite – we love its aims and happily manufactured the stage for free.

Architectural designer Katie Thomas of KTM Design created the concept to fuse architecture, design and inclusive performance, with the aim to reframe perceptions of disability.

We took her concept to working drawings after exploring how performers would move upon it and offering various improvements. Our workshop manufactured the components while timber supplier James Latham was generous in reducing timber costs for us.

Katie founded Infinite during her MA studies in architecture at the Arts University Bournemouth. Deriving from her passion for fusing architecture and dance, the project helps break boundaries within the realms of theatrical design, performance and disability. 

She said: “Infinite is about inspiring people to use their personal challenges as a motivation to succeed, instead of as a reason for giving up.”

To launch the stage, Katie ran a performance with local inclusive performance group Diverse City (pictured), celebrating the abilities of diverse bodies through dance, circus and physical theatre.

Free networking event in Basingstoke

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Our next free business drop-in networking event in Basingstoke takes place on November 9 at our premises in Houndmills.

The regular event takes place on the second Wednesday of each month between 8am and 10am. We provide free refreshments – tea/coffee, fruit juice and a selection of pastries.

If you only have a spare 30 minutes you are more than welcome to pop in.

The informal meeting has no restrictions on how many businesses from each trade sector can attend. But please bring along your business cards to share around. And one lucky guest will also win a bottle of wine.

For more information on upcoming events and to book your place, please visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/store-secure-2nd-wednesday-tickets-26537989842 – or call Kevin on (01256) 444455.  

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 and Basingstoke shops and online businesses are taking space in our self-storage facilities – 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. Our Basingstoke and Bournemouth facilities 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.

Kirolite appoints new managing director

[Photography and online PR for high-end joinery Kirolite]

High-end wood joinery and solid surface manufacturer Kirolite Ltd has appointed Paul Waite as managing director.

Mr Waite (51) joins from Johnson Service Group with 20 years management experience of production, logistics, customer service and engineering within the service industry.

He said: “My main focus is to grow an already successful business. Currently we’re looking at modern manufacturing techniques, service delivery and customer engagement as ways to maximise our resources and deliver the highest quality products with a service to match.”

Dorset-based Kirolite manufactures luxury furniture and fittings in wood and solid surface for the marine, commercial property, residential property and retail sectors.

Former MD Bonnie Randall remains on the board as finance director.

Groveley: IT investment boosts 3D CAD-CAM

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

A £2.5k IT investment is enabling us to handle 3D modelling and CAD-CAM at the same time, for greater efficiency in preparation and manufacturing.

Twin screens permit dual function such as running a 3D simulation of a complex component while working on a completely different CAD job.

Faster processing and better graphics also allow us to use full 5-axis CAD software within the Edgecam CAD-CAM 3D CNC package.

Edgecam enables us to accurately produce complex parts direct from a customer’s solid model. And because its programmes contain less CNC machinery idle time, our efficiency, lead times, competitive edge and pricing are constantly being enhanced.

The package creates coding for CNC machinery programmes, saving many hours of manual programming and engineering time. Latest manufacturing strategies are utilised – essential for manufacturing complex components which are virtually impossible to programme longhand.

We’re in the UK’s top 3

Doh, we didn’t get an award this year at the UK self-storage industry ceremonies… but it was great being finalists for the third year running!

Our Bournemouth store was selected as one of just three finalists in the section Best Independent Facility UK.

But our congratulations go to this year’s winner of that section – Stock N Lock in Worcester. Well done, you deserve it.

Always great to see another self-storage company providing exceptional customer service.

Child of Hope: Travel and holidays that donate to slum kids!

If you book a holiday or travel through travel agent Not Just Travel, the company makes a generous donation to Child of Hope!

CoH has entered into a partnership that will help us raise ongoing funds for our work with slum children. And at the same time, you may even pay less than going direct to holiday operators – and you’ll be delighted with the amazing range of holidays that are on offer, and the very personal service the staff give you.

To make contact, first visit our joint website www.notjusttravel.com/child-of-hope

Not Just Travel is probably the UK’s fastest growing travel company and part of Hays Travel Ltd. Its travel consultants have over 450 leading brands and tour operators to choose from and over 12 million holiday options at any given time – it’s no wonder it is now the trusted travel partner of major organisations such as Marie Curie, The Royal British Legion and London University.
For more information, please click here

Child sponsorship worked for Peter

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

This young guy, Peter (aged 15), used to be a street kid… but is now pretty chuffed with himself for reaching secondary school.

He was 8 when we first met Peter’s mother, who begged and pleaded with us to help her son. He had run away from home and was living on the streets. He had grown tired of the constant gnawing hunger of poverty and had been seduced by the seemingly free lifestyle of the street kids.  

He seemed like a good candidate for our help and brought him into our nursery. But it was tough going for the first year of two – a life on the streets changes a child and he was constantly fighting with other children and generally getting into all kinds of trouble.  

After a lot of love, attention and strict boundaries, Peter’s life started to turn around and we realised that he was actually pretty bright! His mother died a couple of years ago and Peter now stays in our children’s home. 

His life since coming to Child of Hope hasn’t always been easy going, though. A couple of years ago ‘the street’ called to him again and we had a tough job getting him away from bad influences. But he turned things around again and worked really hard for his primary leavers’ exam. He managed to achieve division 2 results (narrowly missing division 1 by just 1 mark) and is happy to be in secondary school…  a huge change from the certain life of crime (and possible early death) that was his future on the streets back in 2008.  

He said: “Thank you to Child of Hope for sponsoring me. I am now living a good life and in the future I’d love to be an astronaut – but if that doesn’t work out I’m hoping to study to become a doctor. Please continue helping us.”

Would you like to sponsor one of the children at our school? Click here for more information.

Groveley Precision Engineering: FaroArm helps maintain on-time delivery and top quality

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

We have installed a FaroArm portable coordinate measuring machine (CMM) – which allows us faster verification of product quality by performing 3D inspections, tool certifications, CAD comparison, dimensional analysis and reverse engineering.

Peter Bennet said: “The £40,000 investment in equpment, software and training will help us to maintain our current SC21 Silver rating of 100% on time delivery and 99.99% quality.”

A superb first article inspection tool, the arm quickly verifies the part to the master 3D model (or drawing) and creates a report, which streamlines the process.

Reverse engineering is an option enabling quick digitisation of a part or object and creates a fully-surfaced CAD model which can then be used to reproduce an item. That provides a way to generate missing CAD files and update or create as-built documentation.

Being portable, the FaroArm avoids the removal of parts from a machine to a temperature controlled inspection area for surface or dimensional inspection of the part. Now we have efficient in-line, in-process and on-machine inspections for many parts – which delivers consistent, accurate measurements directly on or at the machine producing the parts.

How do we choose the children to join our school?

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Bex is often asked: “How do you choose which children to take into Child of Hope?” It’s a serious question and the answer is evolving and improving year-on-year. A lot of parents in the slum want their child to get a free place at the nursery school, thereby accessing all the other Child of Hope programmes (healthcare, food, primary education, income-generating opportunities for families, clothing and welfare).

Well, we won’t provide a place to a child where her family could actually afford to send her to school themselves. So, over the years, we have developed a process of assessing the homes and families that the children come from in order to ascertain if the family is suitable. 

Our staff use a form containing various 

questions that give a clear indication of how poor a family actually is. For example: How many members in the household? Can the (oldest) female head/spouse read and write with understanding in any language? Does every member of the household have at least one pair of shoes?

The welfare team visits the homes in pairs and simply writes down the answers, which are then scored and compared against other families’ answers back at the office. Local officials and pastors can recommend families for a placement, but they still have to undergo the same assessment.

Spot checks are carried out on some of the answers by a staff member outside the welfare department, as an anti-corruption method. Many families have attempted to bribe our officers in the past in order to achieve a placement for their child!

After the analysis and comparison of ‘scores’ for the families, it becomes easier to see who is most in need and therefore most suitable for a place at school. No-one has to use their judgement and no-one is biased by a ‘cute-looking kid’ or a manipulative parent!

Car storage in Basingstoke

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

You can now store your car at the Basingstoke branch of Store & Secure. It’s easy to do – we’re located straight off the A339 in the industrial area of Houndmills, next to many car dealerships and the Basingstoke railway. By arrangement, you can drive straight in, park or store your car and access it on any day, at surprisingly low cost.

If security is vital to you - and you don’t have a secure garage or appropriate parking area, your car may be prone to security risks, especially if you have to park it on the road for long periods of time. Well… Store & Secure’s car storage has 24/7 security in place, with staff on site, 7 days a week, and the latest security CCTV systems installed.

And if you’re a car enthusiast, a car mechanic working in a garage from home or you own a second car, storage allows you to free up room in your garage or protect classic cars.

For more information, prices and other reasons why storing your car makes sense, click here!

Business for bed

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Mum-of-six Margret was so poor that she didn’t have a mattress to sleep on – which became one of her goals when we helped her start her own business selling vegetables.

Now, a few years down the line, she is able to pay for three of her children to go to a local school, while one attends the CoH School for free. Two of her children are of pre-school age, but she hopes that they too will receive an education.

One thing that has really helped in her business was to acquire proper scales, so she can sell her goods at a fair price… and be known for it.

In the future she hopes to be able to buy a plot of land and build a house on it. She said: “ Having my own business has taken away stress and worry and anxiety about the future.”

And yes… she’s been out and bought a new large mattress, which she and the children all sleep on.  

Secure document shredding

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

If you have documents that you no longer need but which are data-sensitive, we offer a secure shredding service in both Basingstoke and Bournemouth. At Store & Secure we can provide a safe and highly reliable outlet for destroying confidential documentation, which also includes recycling upon completion. 

For more information about any of our products call us on 01202 520 220 (Bournemouth) or 01256 444 445 (Basingstoke). 

Store & Secure: Shortlisted for national award – again!

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

We entered this year’s UK self-storage industry awards and guess what… our Bournemouth store has been selected as one of just three finalists in the section Best Independent Facility UK!

Our family-run company – run by sisters Lucy and Sophie Maidman and dad Brian – has now been shortlisted to the final for three years running… and won the category in 2014 for both the UK and then for the whole if Europe.

The winner of this year’s SSA UK awards will be announced at a special dinner event on September 15 in Manchester… we’ll be there!

Self-storage companies entering the awards are judged on various aspects, including what makes this business stand out from the rest and how it meets the needs of its local market. Plus, or course, things like how well the business is performing and what investments have been made for its future.

If anything, our professionalism and business systems have matured and are even better than before, so we’ve got a great chance to bring home the trophy.