Peter Winslow, Chief Executive of the BGL Group, said: “Our annual management conference allows us to focus on key topics which impact on our business and employees. Corporate Social Responsibility is an integral part of who we are, and it is therefore important that we stay in touch with employee views.”

“The conference saw our Senior Management team discuss and debate how we can make an even greater contribution in our future activity. BGL employees have already demonstrated incredible dedication towards our pledge to raise one million pounds for good causes. For example in 2009 we set ourselves a target to raise £100,000 for the NSPCC, which BGL employees smashed – our total donated was £210,000! As a result, the BGL Group is now a NSPCC ‘lifetime patron’, which only 85 corporates have achieved in the NSPCC’s 120-year history – quite an accomplishment.”

Julie Daniels, BGL employee and part of a team winning £5,000 donation, said: “Our team selected Peterborough’s Renal Unit to receive the donation. Thanks to BGL’s match funding policy, I was able to double my fundraising from £573 to £1,073 – making the total donation £6,073. Peterborough’s Renal Unit was overjoyed to receive this generous donation and it will go directly towards improving the facility.”

The BGL Group has pledged to donate one million pounds to community, charity and environmental causes by July 2012. The Group offers various channels for donating funds which include local give committees, match-funding of employee fundraising activities, payroll giving and numerous team building events focused on its corporate charity partners, Marie Curie Cancer Care and WWF. Recently the Group launched a charity trek that will take place along the Great Wall of China. 30 BGL employees have been tasked to raise £3,500 each, by April 2012, which will help raise more than £100,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Richard Hammonds, chairman and grandson of the founder, is personally overseeing the new store opening.  He comments on the reasons for Hammonds’ investment in Peterborough: “Despite some recent reports we see huge potential for Peterborough and this is a fantastic retail park.  Our customers are looking for a quality lifestyle shopping experience and that is just what Peterborough Garden Park offers.”

Hammonds are recruiting four new staff to work in the store which will feature all of the latest bedroom and office collections. 

As well as dedicated showrooms the leading fitted furniture specialists also have a presence in another 60 retailers around the UK, operating as concessions.   This is their first store to open in 2012 – with another five planned by the end of the year.

Peterborough Garden Park combines garden centre Van Hage’s dramatic ‘crystal palace’ building with a mix of other leading lifestyle retailers such as  Bedeck Home, Cotswold Outdoor, Cotton Traders Cath Kidston and Le Creuest.

Gordon Edington Chairman of Peterborough Garden Park commented: “We’re delighted to be welcoming such as prestigious interiors brand to the park, Hammonds is a perfect addition to our portfolio.”

Ambitious £15 m plans for a second phase of works to expand Peterborough Garden Park were presented last year which includes the possibility that a superstore is built, creating about 300 jobs as well as a training centre and a cycling hub for the Green Wheel. It is thought the work required to build the new section of the park, in Peterborough Road, Eye, will generate about 150 jobs in the construction industry.

This latest management appointment follows early 2012 growth for the Bretton-based contact centre, which handles insurance enquiries for some of the UK’s leading financial services brands. More than 200 new roles have been filled in the last 12 months and, as part of her remit, Kate will help support this new group and ensure employees are delivering the best possible customer service across multiple brands.

Richard Crane, head of site at Fusion Peterborough, said: “As a growing business it is important that our management team continues to evolve with some of the industry’s best talent. Kate’s experience and industry knowledge is second to none and she joins Fusion at both a challenging and exciting time for the business.”

Kate Lampett, Fusion Contact Centre manager added: “Fusion’s dynamic and fast-paced environment really attracted me to the role. People here are passionate about the brands they represent and the customer service they deliver – so I am really excited to be joining the company.”

Fusion handles over 8.4 million customer enquiries every year for brands including Budget Car and Van Insurance, Bennetts Motorbike Insurance and Bradford & Bingley Insurance.

Only ten Academies in the country have been awarded the mark, and no other Academy has received it in two subject areas. Staff and students at Ormiston Bushfield are now celebrating the achievement which recognises the quality of educational provision at the Academy in Performing Arts and PE (Physical Education).

This quality mark follows hot on the heels of two further awards that have been received by the Academy. In October 2011 Ormiston Bushfield became only the second school in the UK to achieve the Continuous Professional Learning Development award. This award recognises the commitment to investment in staff to ensure ongoing professional development. It also acknowledges the link between this commitment to investment and student attainment.

Ormiston Bushfield Academy has also recently received the ICT BECTA quality mark which is awarded to educational facilities where ICT is used to enhance learning across the curriculum and not simply as a standalone subject. Schools receiving the mark must demonstrate that ICT offers value for money for the school, through significantly improving the learning environment and opportunities for students. Ormiston Bushfield is now mentoring other schools, both locally and nationally, to achieve the award.

Chris Bennet, deputy principal at Ormiston Bushfield Academy believes it’s important for all schools to seek external review and evaluate their progress on an ongoing basis. He said “I’m delighted to have been awarded these quality marks – they are recognition of the hard work we put in to providing the best possible learning environment for students. Achieving awards and quality marks involves external review of our performance which is an important part of quality assurance. The key thing is to ensure that our students are benefitting from the improvements we make; their well-being and helping them to achieve their aspirations is our priority.”

The six-minute film was produced over three days for Cross Keys Homes and was commissioned by the housing association to help promote its successful Shared Ownership scheme.

The film was co-directed by Kharum Kaur of Cross Keys Homes and was shot in Stanground and Donington near Spalding. It was shown at a Shared Ownership event at the Cross Keys Offices on January 19 and can be viewed on the Cross Keys Homes website.

Martyn Moore, who filmed and edited the video, said, “It’s great to work with companies like Cross Keys Homes who understand the power of film to help communicate their messages. They have great ideas, too. Video productions are a lot more affordable than many companies realise and the fact that NorthLight offers great value and quality keeps us busy.”

For more information about the film-making division of NorthLight Media, see www.videopeterborough.co.uk or phone 07768 261276.

The East of England Showground venue hosted the popular Opportunity Peterborough event, which was attended by around 150 members from the local business community.

The Bondholder Breakfast was sponsored by Middlesex University, where Jerry Grafton from the university was among the speakers.

Other speakers included John Bridge OBE, Chairman of Opportunity Peterborough; Neil Darwin, director of economic development at Opportunity Peterborough and Rachel Huxley, chief executive of Peterborough Environment City Trust.

Exec Peterborough managing director Keith Dalton said: “Once again, we were delighted to be chosen as the venue to host this event which we recognise to be one of the most important in the local business calendar.”

The news of Shelley’s promotion comes just months after she was made a senior mortgage consultant. Shelley puts her success down to hard work, dedication and a genuine love of helping her customers to move home.

“I am really thrilled to have received another promotion, especially in such a short space of time,” says Shelley. “As part of my new role, I will continue to provide mortgage advice as well as training and mentoring trainee mortgage consultants to ensure we provide the highest standards of care and advice to Sharman Quinney’s mortgage customers.”

Shelley has risen quickly through the ranks since starting with the local estate agency in May 2010 despite the fact she had no previous mortgage experience.

“It gives me great pleasure to promote Shelley again so quickly, she is highly skilled at the job she does, providing a personalised service to each and every home buyer,” says Sharman Quinney’s mortgage services director Jeremy Collis.

“The challenges across the housing market over the last couple of years have been well documented, but Shelley has never failed to approach each customer’s case with enthusiasm and provide innovative ways of allowing them to move home,” Jeremy continues. “She is fully deserving of this promotion and I wish her ever success.”

If you would like to arrange a mortgage appointment with Shelley, please contact her directly on 01733 205000 or email: shelleyibbertson@sharmanquinney.co.uk

The sports presenter is set to take centre stage at the gala evening organised by the NSPCC’s Peterborough Business Support Group.

Jake, who was born in Peterborough before moving to Norwich aged seven, grabbed public attention as the face of the BBC’s Formula One coverage. He has now become one of the highest profile tv presenters, fronting the BBC’s New Year celebrations on London’s embankment and set to take a leading role in the coverage of this summer’s Olympics.

“We are delighted that Jake has agreed to take time out of his very busy schedule to come to the gala dinner,” said organiser Carol Bunning. “We are looking forward to welcoming several members of his family who are coming along too, as well as Formula One fans from as far away as Somerset.”

The event at the Holiday Inn West, Thorpe Wood, Peterborough, is expected to be a big money spinner for the charity which last year celebrated its 15th anniversary and an incredible half million pounds raised to help vulnerable children in Peterborough.

As well as having the chance to meet Jake, the black tie evening on February 23rd will feature a charity auction with a VIP lot donated by Red Bull and a yet to be announced ‘money can’t buy’ lot from the special guest. Tickets are priced at £60 and include a champagne reception and three course dinner.

For more information or to book tickets please email Carol Bunning at carol@tme.uk.com

Michael Hudson - head of development Carter Jonas eastern region

THE identification of the right sites and the ability to bring them forward for housing as quickly as possible will be crucial to fulfilling the Government’s strategy for boosting housing and home ownership, say the new homes experts at Peterborough property consultancy, Carter Jonas.

The comment comes after the Government unveiled its housing strategy towards the end of last year (November 2011), in which it acknowledged that, when the housing market grinds to a halt, the effect ricochets around the economy affecting all the trades and professional services and supporting business that depend on a housing market that is moving.

In the strategy, a £400 million fund was allocated to kick-start building and to unlock the mortgage market, with targeted help for first-time buyers.

While welcoming the Government’s announcement and, in particular, its identification of the fact that building more homes will help create more jobs, Carter Jonas’s development and new homes specialists in Peterborough are saying that, in this area, the identification of the right sites is crucial to fulfilling the Government’s hopes for the market.

Michael Hudson, a partner of the firm who, on the development side underpins the new homes sales operation of the Peterborough office which is headed by senior associate Zoe Davies, believes that proximity to London and a favourable price comparison with other commutable locations further south in the country, are the key characteristics of the brand new homes markets in Peterborough and the surrounding villages.

He also believes that this area’s appeal will only strengthen in the coming years, if the right sites are identified.

“On the sales side, Zoe and her colleagues confirm that there is always strong interest in any new homes development launched for sale in our patch and this interest has been maintained through the toughest of markets. On my side of the business, developers’ interest in the area has been sustained throughout this time too and many are actively returning to the land market to seek suitable sites they know will attract buyers in the coming years.

“To meet the Government’s hopes for the housing market, it’s important that a policy context is created – locally and nationally – to bring forward the right sites in the right locations with the right product and mix of homes to have a package in which developers and housebuyers have confidence.

“After all, on a business level, it is the developers who are the real experts at knowing what their customers want and what the market will bear at any one time.”

Although the UK Government recently postponed the proposed fuel duty increase of 3p per litre until August 2012, fuel prices continue to fluctuate and remain within touching distance of the all time UK record high of 136.9p per litre set in May 2011.

Data issued by the AA (20^th December 2011) revealed the average price for a litre of unleaded fuel in East Anglia is now 133.3p, with diesel users facing an average price of 141.4p per litre. Should prices remain at or around this level into 2012 it could mean fuel prices approaching, if not exceeding, an all time record high come August’s fuel duty increase.

However, businesses in the East of England can prepare for any fuel duty increase and fluctuating fuel prices by exercising a fuel hedging contract. Fuel hedging brings stability to a business’ fuel purchasing strategy, allowing prices to be fixed for a set period, removing the element of uncertainty.

David McGill, Head of Treasury Solutions at Clydesdale Bank, said: “Even businesses using just 50,000 litres of fuel a month should be looking at the security provided by hedging, particularly during times like these when speculation over fuel prices is intense. Should the proposed duty increase go ahead in August, a business with this level of fuel consumption would be facing additional costs of £1,500 per month.

“Businesses should be taking this opportunity to review their fuel purchasing strategy and budgets. The obvious advantages of fuel hedging are the benefits of removing guess work from budgeting and relieving worries about possible sharp increases in fuel prices affecting cash flow.”

The hedged fuel prices relate to the daily rates quoted by the Platt’s Index, which is a source of benchmark price assessments for commodities like fuel. This hedged price is agreed at the start of the partnership between the company and the bank and will not deviate with any changes in the market price over the term of the contract.

David McGill said: “While average UK petrol prices have dropped from their record high of 136.9p per litre in May there is no guarantee that the downward trend will continue. The elevated prices of mid-2011 arose due to a combination of volatile factors, including unrest in the Middle East and economic uncertainty in the established high fuel consumption countries.

“Both these factors are still very much in play so it remains important for businesses of all sizes to stabilise their fuel purchases and be in a more secure position to manage their business.”