Bark around the Park!

Last Sunday saw all three Directors getting involved with a sponsored dog walk on land adjoining Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice, supporting many BluCrew volunteers as well as helpers from the home itself.

Anne was busy throughout the day collecting sponsorship money while Michelle and Rhys borrowed family pets to take on the walk. They were joined by 70 other pooches, with their very well behaved owners and the weather was very kind to them all.

The amount raised by this fun day has yet to be announced as we wait for the remaining sponsorship money to come in, but early indications are looking good.

This was the second year that this event has been held and it is proving to be a very popular one which we hope to be able to support for many years to come.

For more infromation about BluCrew's events why not pop across to their facebook page (search for Blu Crew) or on their website at http://www.blucrew.co.uk/ (although the website is 'still under construction' as they say).

Blogs...what to write?

Whenever the word ‘blog’ is bandied around the office there’s an audible groan; when do we have the time to write a blog and what should we write about? Consequently the blog seems low on our list of priorities and doesn’t get the attention it deserves. So, having been prompted to look at our blog by our website developers we’ve finally sat down to put pen to paper....but what shall we say? What message do we want to put across?

It has been suggested to us that the blog doesn’t have to be all about the job or the company, it could show our human side, much like an online journal or diary. So we’ve sat down and made a list (we like lists) of all of our planned events both in and out of the office with a view to using this as the basis for our future blogs (and hopefully to make us post more often!?)

And so to kick it off (pun intended) one of our staff was lucky enough to win a free tour behind the scenes at Rotherham United’s new football ground, the New York Stadium by becoming the 1000^th fan on their Facebook page. The pitch was in great shape and Rotherham should rightly be proud of their new community stadium, it’s a great facility which is already helping to bring a whole new generation back to the sport.

The Stadium also has great conferencing facilities which we made use of on the 4^th October 2012 where we exhibited at the Rotherham Enterprise Event ‘business-to-business exhibition’ which was hosted by the Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce. The speakers on the day represented Oxley & Coward Solicitors, RiDO, UKTi, Rotherham College of Arts and Technology as well as local MPs and representatives from Rotherham Council and the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership who were there to talk about their plans and visions for the local region.

And our final thought, sat here next to the window as the sky darkens, turns inevitably to the English weather....it has made our job a little more challenging this week; trying to take notes outside in this wind and rain has proven almost impossible. We’re so glad to be sat inside now with the heating well and truly on.

New School Year

Well, the madness has started again with Michelle’s first day back at Sheffield Hallam University as she begins her fourth year of part time study in Architectural Technology.  

This year’s subjects include Architectural Conservation, Environment & Technology, and the History of Architecture.

In Architectural Conservation she will be exploring the philosophy, principles and practice of Conservation.

The Environment & Technology module will be looking at environmental strategies and technologies that are considered to be appropriate in the design of medium scale non-domestic buildings with a drive to design environmentally conscious buildings.

And for the History of Architecture a short residential trip is planned to Edinburgh in November to look at the varying forms and types of architectural building style and to help bring the lectures to life.

All in all quite an interesting start to the year, of course, university + study = assignments and exams and the first assignment has already be issued, there really is no rest for the wicked!