Tag Archive for: Initiative

Praise for JCB food initiative

Praise for JCB food initiative: The leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council today paid tribute to JCB for helping make a “real difference” to the lives of vulnerable people with its special food aid initiative.

Councillor Abi Brown’s comments came as JCB increases its production of meals for the community and works with more local organisations to extend its delivery of the food to the most disadvantaged adults and children.

Praise for JCB food initiative

Praise for JCB food initiative

The company’s catering staff in the UK and India are preparing more than 37,500 meals a week for distribution around towns and villages located close to its plants. The initiative is the idea of Lady Bamford, wife of JCB Chairman Lord Bamford. In the UK, staff started producing 2,000 cottage pies a week for distribution in the North Staffordshire area – and have now boosted production to 2,600.

The first meals have now been delivered to the city council with around 1,000 JCB meals a week expected for distribution to vulnerable adults and children across the city, who have asked for help during the Coronavirus pandemic through the #StokeonTrent Together initiative.

Today Councillor Abi Brown, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “People, businesses and individuals across the city have stood up and been counted in these testing times. JCB is one such organisation that we are proud to have as a business supporting Stoke-on-Trent. We are grateful to have a business of such calibre supporting the city where hundreds of its employees live and know it will make a huge difference to our most vulnerable residents that we are supporting through our #StokeonTrentTogether initiative. Our heartfelt thanks go to JCB.”
JCB’s kitchens in Staffordshire are being supported with the provision of food from organic farms at Daylesford in Gloucestershire. So far, Daylesford – founded by Lady Bamford – has supplied more than half a tonne of organic beef mince to the project, with staff working seven days a week to support the food aid initiative.

The meals being prepared by JCB arrive in specially prepared containers with a message, which reads: “Lovingly prepared by JCB’s chefs for our local community.”
The scale of the operation in India is even bigger, where the Coronavirus has caused huge disruption to people’s lives. Forty-five JCB staff have been mobilised to cook more than 35,000 meals a week in the company canteens for communities around JCB’s factory locations in Delhi, Pune and Jaipur.

In the UK, JCB is also working with the The Hubb Foundation in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, to distribute food to children and families in need of support across the city and the first of the cottage pies were delivered last week.

Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit puts measures in place to support the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in an emergency. One of the partners in this, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, has been helping JCB co-ordinate the distribution of the food, ensuring meals reach front line theatre staff at the Royal Stoke Hospital and providing the link to the city council to extend distribution to more parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

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New Harrowden Turf initiative

New Harrowden Turf initiative: As Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are becoming more widespread and the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) have now upgraded this current outbreak to the status of pandemic, we are now having to think about how this affects all of us.

Let’s Build A Garden” is a social media and e-communications campaign initially aimed at our customers and followers but designed to encourage sharing of information and to engage with vulnerable groups, those with unexpected childminding responsibilities and those self-isolating because of covid-19.

Stuart Ridd-Jones, Managing Director:-

“Horticulture and gardening are “soul” activities and in these unprecedented times we are being encouraged to nurture mind, body and soul. “Let’s Build A Garden” will use social media platforms to provide step by step ideas, resources and “homework” to get these key groups and others starting a garden project. Each week a new step will be introduced – hopefully with ever-growing support.”

We have  also teamed up with the #keepcalmandgetreadytogarden initiated by Porters Fuchsias and #plantsmakepeoplehappy  to try to bring ideas together.

As well as utilising social media platforms “Let’s Build A Garden” will encourage people to send in plans, mood-boards, mind-maps, pictures and ideas to marketing@harrowdenturf.co.uk to be shared and used as inspiration for others.

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21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative: Twenty-one turf professionals from across the UK and Ireland have completed the 2020 Future Turf Managers Initiative (FTMI) at Jacobsen’s Ipswich headquarters.

The intensive three-day event is focused on providing future turf managers with the skills and confidence to manage people and progress their careers, with 33% of candidates moving on to managerial positions over the seven years the initiative has been running.

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

In association with BIGGA, the course uses professional trainers and mentors to provide the practical tools and guidance needed, including communicating a professional image, conflict resolution and building budgets.

Mentors for this year’s initiative were Craig Haldane, Andrew Laing, Steve Lloyd and James Bledge. In 2017, James became the first candidate to return as a mentor and, having experienced the initiative from both sides, views the FTMI as a unique opportunity to learn vital management skills.

“There are so many brilliant volunteering programmes, but the FTMI is different because it is proper management learning,” he explained. “It’s intense as well, it’s seven o’clock in the morning to ten at night, it’s non-stop, and it does subject you to proper hard work and proper hard learning in a classroom environment.

“When you go from being a deputy or greenkeeper to course manager, managing people is your biggest shock. The agronomy side of it is twenty percent, and the management is eighty. If you’re making that transition, then it’s a big bump down to earth because there are so many banana skins out there and managing people is difficult.

“Everything you get taught is beneficial, there’s no grey areas or bad parts of it, you’ve got to be engaged the whole time and not miss anything because it’s all important. There’s nothing that’s more important than anything else because you’ll deal with every single part of it.”

Because the initiative covers a range of topics, it allows individual candidates to take different things from it. Zoe Lee-Amies, greenkeeper at Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club, applied to the course to increase her confidence and has already benefited from what she has learnt.

“The reason I applied to come to the FTMI as a majority of people on the course have expressed is confidence – confidence to talk in front of people. It’s already helped give me the tools to cope with it. I find myself needing cue cards, so now I know that where ever I go and whatever I do I can have that, that’s how I can outline bits and pieces. The coping mechanisms like squeezing the ball, pressing your hand on the table or holding my cue card really hard – those are great learning tips, and I’ve got a lot out of it so far.

“But, predominantly for myself, it was conflict resolution, and how to talk to people, how to get information out of them and out of myself. To be able to meet in the middle like we’ve been discussing and it’s only when you’re here that you start to reflect on yourself and others. You realise that it’s a learning opportunity of yourself, it’s a mirror for yourself and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Gemma St John, first assistant at Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club, also values the self-reflection the course offers, but like Zoe, has found the communication side invaluable for old fashioned attitudes she unfortunately still has to face as a female greenkeeper.

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

Gemma explained: “I applied mostly for confidence to try and deal with the older generation. I did a talk at the BCA College in front of greenkeepers from the ages of 16-19 and the question they asked me was ‘why do you find it hard in greenkeeping? You’re just a greenkeeper.’ And I explained that they’ve learnt in this day and age that we’re all equal, but what you’ve got to remember is 40 years ago we weren’t. So, talking to you guys was lovely, but I’ve now got to go and talk to members who think ‘how can you lift that, how can you use a chain saw, you can’t do what he can do.’

“With the FTMI, hopefully, my conversations with them will be more positive and not have that shaky voice where I do feel a bit intimidated by them. Now I know how to process the questions they’ve asked me and answer them in a more confident way by using the strategies that we’ve learnt here.”

Providing candidates with skills they can use immediately is an essential part of what is on offer over the three days, and Jack Percival, deputy course manager at Chipstead Golf Club, already has plans on sharing what he’s learnt to benefit his team.

“I’ve applied for the FTMI three years running and didn’t get it, so I wanted to take full advantage of it and take as much information as I can from the mentors and use it with my team.

“I’ve already thought of ways that I can go back and use what I’ve learnt. Because I’m quite confident and good at presentations, I’m already thinking of how I can help the team back at work and get them to channel their energy and help them with their presentation skills. We’ve got a few guys on our team who are fantastic guys, but they’re a bit shy, and I want to help them come out of their shell using what I’ve learnt.”

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Jensen Support Fundraising Initiative

Jensen Support Fundraising Initiative: For the second consecutive year Jensen woodchippers have offered their support to a charity Christmas tree collection run by Dorothy House Hospice Care which has raised over £26,000 this Christmas, and £40,000 over the two years Jensen have been involved.

Once again Dorothy House and Wiltshire College & University Centre have joined forces for a Christmas tree collection and recycling scheme, with volunteers collecting more than 2,300 trees from across the region and delivering 300 of them to the college’s Lackham campus for chipping and recycling with support from Jensen.

Jensen Support Fundraising Initiative

Local hospice Dorothy House provides compassionate end of life care and support for patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families and carers in Bath and North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Somerset.

The Wiltshire College & University Centre Lackham site is a dedicated landbased campus providing qualifications in subjects such as agriculture, land and wildlife management and horticulture. Jensen are the original manufacturer of woodchippers, built in Germany since 1884 and distributed in the UK by the Machinery Imports division of the T H WHITE Group, whose head office is based in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Jensen UK Business Manager, Bill Johnston, was delighted to spend the day at the Lackham campus with students from the Horticulture and Countryside Management departments, teaching them skills in the safe use of woodchippers and sharing his wealth of industry knowledge about the arboricultural sector and the Jensen woodchipper brand.

“We’re delighted to offer our support for this fantastic fundraising initiative in partnership with Dorothy House and Wiltshire College & University Centre once again” says Bill.

“Not only are we assisting Dorothy House in their esteemed efforts to recycle the trees but giving Lackham students valuable experience with the woodchippers and guaranteeing that the trees don’t go to waste, so everybody wins.”

On hand to reduce all 300 trees was the Jensen A540 woodchipper, which with its powerful feed roller grip, wide hopper and 8-inch chipping capacity made light work of even the bulkiest trees.

Bill also brought along the best-selling A530 towed woodchipper to show the students, which at sub-750kg and with a 6” capacity proves consistently popular with arborists across the UK.

Phil Nicholls, Gardener at Lackham, said: “We’ve filled almost two trailers with chippings now, all of which will be reused around the Lackham site. This is a great opportunity to support the Dorothy House charity, teach the students something new and ensure that all of these trees have a chance to be recycled where they may have otherwise ended up in landfill”.

Verity Clark, Community Fundraiser for Dorothy House Hospice Care said: “This was our third Christmas tree collection and we’re glad to have helped local people recycle over 2,360 used Christmas trees while also raising £26,000 of vital funds for Dorothy House. A big thank you to all our volunteers and supporters for their generous help and thanks also to all involved in recycling and chipping our trees at Wiltshire College Lackham.”

For more information on the range of quality Jensen woodchippers and to book your own free, no-obligation demonstration, visit www.jensenwoodchippers.co.uk

Find out more about Dorothy House Hospice Care at www.dorothyhouse.org.uk, and more on the courses available at Lackham at www.wiltshire.ac.uk.

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