Exeter Business EXPO gets off to a flying start!

The inaugural Business Expo ‘Business Gives Back’ held at Exeter Racecourse in aid of Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) during ‘National Air Ambulance Week’ is confirmed as a resounding success by organisers, thebestofexeter.

Glen King, Glen King PR / Michelle Downey, Head of thebestof / Derek Philips, Vice-Chairman Exeter Chamber of Commerce / Hélena Holt, CEO DAAT / Tim Jones FRICS, Chairman - Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership/ Linda Bennett, Managing Director thebestofexeter / Dave Barr, Business Gives Back Expo / Caroline Creer, Fundraising Director DAAT

More than 400 delegates had the opportunity to visit local business exhibition stands and seminars presented by key-note speakers chaired by Derek Philips plus 1:1 business clinics in ‘The Business Advice Centre’.

The day kicked-off with an early morning ‘Big Breakfast’ chaired by Nick Agg-Manning and Exeter Chamber of Commerce hosted a networking lunch for members and non-members who pre-booked. Each of the 100 exhibitors generously donated £17,000 worth of business prizes in line with the “Business Gives Back” ethos for the charity prize draw in aid of DAAT. A total of £612 including a donation from thebestofexeter was raised for this worthy local cause during ‘National Air Ambulance Week.’

Tim Jones FRICS, Chairman - Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership gave the opening address and was joined by Michelle Downey Head of thebestof, Linda Bennett Managing Director of thebestofexeter and Caroline Creer Fundraising Director DAAT

Michelle Downey Head of thebestof says: ”Giving something back to the businesses of Exeter has been wholeheartedly achieved at the inaugural thebestofexeter Business Expo supporting a very worthy local cause. In my role as Head of thebestof I attend business events across the UK, yet the enthusiasm, passion and camaraderie I found at the Exeter Business Expo was amazing.  The help and support offered to each other by local businesses is incredible and there is a real sense of pride for independents in Exeter and Devon as a whole.  This was the launch of Business Gives Back Expo for thebestofexeter and it promises to get bigger and better.  When speaking to exhibitors throughout the course of the day, many are already keen to book for next year.”

Business Gives Back EXPO organised by thebestof Exeter, sponsored by Exeter Racecourse & Peninsular OneSource, with support from Exeter Chamber of Commerce, Business Network SW, Basepoint Business Centres and 4Networking. 

Each year it costs around £4.5m to keep the Devon Air Ambulance service airborne with every penny coming from donations and fundraising by the community and businesses. National Air Ambulance Week is 24th – 30th September which has an emphasis on raising awareness of the services in addition to raising funds.  

Triple Exam Success for Local Chartered Accountants

It’s a triple celebration for three team members of Exeter based chartered accountants; Haines Watts who have each passed their professional exams.  

Andy Chant (32) has completed his final exams enabling him to become a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT).  Emma Banfield (22) joined the firm in October 2010 and is looking forward to developing her career with Haines Watts after passing the first two Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) exams.  Finally, Ryan Lewis (24) who has been with the local office for four years has recently completed the professional stage of his ACA qualification,  bringing him a step closer to gaining his Chartered Accountancy qualification. 

Ben de Cruz, Senior Partner Haines Watts Exeter says: “We believe it is fundamental to invest in our staff training and we are very proud of the hard work they have put in to achieve such great results.  By having an experienced and qualified  team and being able to offer a range of services means we can ensure our clients are receiving the best service.”  

www.hwca.com/accountants-exeter

City Centre Manager ‘Slashes’ Ribbon to Officially Open New Café

City Centre Manager John Harvey officially opens an exciting new Moroccan-style café based at Evolution, a spiritualist centre and shop.  The unconventional ribbon cutting ceremony was carried out by John using a traditional Viking sword and Buddhist prayer flags and proprietor Dudley Hambleton dressed as ‘Merlin’. 

The new ‘Crystal Café’ which opened for business on 7^th July, seats up to 45 customers in the intimate dining room and outside private courtyard.  Exeter-man Luc Francis, an experienced chef has created a bespoke menu where customers can choose from a selection of high-quality organic, vegetarian and vegan fare to make their own perfect repast. All produce is sourced locally, freshly prepared daily on site and served on historically accurate crockery from the 16^th/17^th Century accompanied by bronze cutlery. 

Based in Fore Street, Evolution has had only one change of ownership over the last 20 years before being acquired by local businessman Dudley Hambleton in November 2011. Switching from ‘corporate to crystals’, former co-director of Concorde Copiers, Dudley purchased the business in November last year and has invested substantial funds in refurbishment, updating and extending the number of services and products on offer. This includes selling ethnic clothing, fair-trade African jewellery and a comprehensive range of exciting ‘wizardry and magical’ books for both children and adults.  Since taking ownership, Dudley has also introduced a diverse range of workshops and therapies by a full qualified team of counsellors and therapists hosted in numerous therapy and seminar rooms located in the three storey building.

Dudley Hambleton Proprietor Evolution says: “In my previous role I was co-director and founder member of Concorde Copiers which we built up into a very successful business with branches across the South West. At that time I was very much deep-rooted in the commercial world, however, one day out of the blue I had an amazing and unexpected first-hand spiritualist experience which changed my life.  As a result I know my calling is in the spiritual world and find myself much more fulfilled and at peace. It is my desire to make Evolution ‘The Spiritual Centre of the South West’ with  something for everyone including different and interesting sessions held in the evenings including astrology, crystal therapy, mediation and a drum circle.”  

John Harvey City Centre Manager says: “It’s an absolute pleasure to reopen Evolution, one of the many fabulous independent businesses in Fore Street. The eclectic and exciting mix of retailers in Fore Street is strengthened by the presence of Evolution and I wish the team the best of luck in growing their business over the coming months and years. The team at Evolution are great and their future is a bright one.”

Photography by Mark Campbell, On The Mark Photography - www.onthemarkphotography.co.uk

North Devon Accountants Celebrate National Award Success

Champagne corks popped at Haines Watts North Devon LLP when the Bideford team celebrated winning ‘Auditor of the Year 2012’ in the SME’s category at the national FD’s Excellence Awards.  

The prestigious awards ceremony held in Grosvenor Square, London and hosted by Real Business in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), recognises excelling service within financial management.  The awards commemorate the work of FD’s and those supporting business including banks, auditors, recruiters and financial software providers, who are perhaps less widely recognised but essential to business operations.  

Haines Watts is a Top 20 firm of Chartered Accountants that specialise in the owner managed business sector with a broad range of services and over 80 years experience in working with privately owned businesses. From audit, accountancy, tax, VAT, financial services, expense control, corporate finance and business advice. 

The group has a national network with over 50 offices and each office operates independently offering a wide range of services tailored to the local market.  Each office provides accountancy and taxation services to SME’s across the UK with the primary area of focus in the South West dealing with owner managed businesses and individual’s tax affairs.  Haines Watts North Devon LLP, formerly known as Sully & Co (Bideford) joined the Haines Watts Group last year.  The Bideford team looks after over 500 owner managed businesses including corporate and professionals, small businesses, sole traders and the farming community.  

John Edwards Managing Partner Haines Watts North Devon says:  “The award exemplifies what Haines Watts is all about; affordable excellence and personalised service. This accolade is particularly important as it was voted for by more than 1,000 Finance Directors and decision makers in our target SME market.  It’s an honour to be publicly recognised and I think it’s important to share the group’s success with the staff who work so hard at a local level.  I want to take this opportunity to thank all our clients that voted for Haines Watts and for their confidence in us and we look to continue to support their businesses in the coming year. It is an exciting time to be part of an award winning firm and since we joined the Haines Watts group in August 2011 we are able to offer our clients a wider range of services and continue to go from strength to strength.”

170 YEARS ON AND STILL PION"EAR"ING

Independent hearing specialist Broom Reid & Harris are celebrating their 170^th year in business making them one of the oldest running independent companies in Exeter. Cast your mind back to 1841, the year that BR&H opened their doors on Queen Street as a pharmacy and opticians. Less than a decade earlier the city had suffered an outbreak of cholera and there was a real need for pharmacies to make healthcare of the day readily available.

The pharmacists would wrap prescriptions for ailments like indigestion, influenza, coughs and headaches in a white paper bag and seal it with wax. Many of these were exclusive to BR&H and over 120 recipes can be seen hand written in a book over 100 years old now on display at BR&H's practice in the Guildhall Shopping Centre, along with other artefacts from their 170 year history.

Looking closely at old photographs of BR&H reveals an Aladdin’s cave of items: artificial eyes and knee caps, oxygen, cameras, binoculars and barometers. But it was none of these things that the company would eventually be famed for.

BR&H introduced electric hearing aids in the 1920s. At the time they were considered to be something of a gimmick; a fad. Today over two million people in the UK use hearing aids and another four million would benefit from them. 

In the early days it was the opticians who would fit them, and even they didn't realise just how pioneering they were.  Practice owner Curtis Alcock explains, “They would run upstairs to the glasses workshop to announce the sale of a hearing aid which, I'm told, was greeted by great cheering and hollering! You have to remember that those first hearing aids were so large and cumbersome you would have to set it on the table or wear it on your body; no wonder people thought it would never take off!” 

In the early 1940’s, Ron Silmon joined BR&H, carrying out general work within the pharmacy. He was to eventually develop BR&H's dedicated hearing aid dispensary. The invention of the transistor in the 1950’s meant hearing aids were fast becoming smaller and more discreet, a far cry from the original bulky designs. As demand increased, it was no longer enough for hearing aids just to be a “bolt-on service for opticians”: to do it properly required dedicated experience and expertise, and Ron began laying those foundations, implementing the best practices of the day and sourcing cutting-edge technology to ensure his clients had the best results.

When talks of a new Guildhall Shopping Centre for Exeter meant relocation for BR&H from their premises on Queen Street, plans were made to merge the optical and photographic side with other businesses. BR&H was now free to focus on hearing aids. Ron moved the practice into the Guildhall Shopping Centre, where it remains to this day “tucked away discreetly” on the Higher Market Gallery. 

Ron has long since retired, but his commitment to providing unrivalled private hearing care in Devon continues today through Curtis Alcock, who now owns BR&H with his wife. After 170 years, it's reassuring to know that not only is Exeter home to possibly the longest established hearing care practices in the country, but BR&H is still a name synonymous with personal service, traditional values and pioneering cutting-edge technology.

CATHEDRAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT NAMED IN TOP 100

EXETER INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISERS IN TOP 100 OF NEW NATIONAL INDUSTRY PUBLICATION

Exeter-based Tim Ames and co-director Emma Ames of Cathedral Financial Management (CFM) − Independent Financial Advisers & Chartered Financial Planners, have each been selected as one of the top 100 new model advisers in a prestigious new trade award.  Citywire compiled a selection of advisers who represent the ‘New Model Adviser^® Top 100’ in a new publication on the 17th September, 2012.

Established in 1993 and operating from three offices in Exeter, Sidmouth and Plymouth with a turnover of £1.8 m and looking after client assets totalling £250m, CFM is no stranger to national awards.  The firm previously won the Citywire’s South West ‘New Model Adviser^® of the Year’ award for 2008 and 2010 and shortlisted for 2011 −the only advisors based in Exeter to have achieved this industry recognition.

Tim Ames, Director CFM / Debra Searle MBE / Emma Ames, Director CFM / David Ingram, Three Sixty Consultating

Tim Ames was one of the first 10 advisers to be profiled by New Model Adviser^®.  Both chartered and certified, he served as the south west regional branch chair of the IFP (The Institute of Financial Planning) between 2008 and 2010.

Tim Ames Director − CFM says: “Emma and I are proud and delighted to have received this esteemed accolade and recognition as leaders in our profession.  To be in the Top 100 with over 20,000 true IFA’s in the UK is a wonderful achievement and our success is based on the quality of the service we give to our valued clients backed up by our robust systems.”

The New Model Adviser^® Top 100 was launched to select the movers and shakers in the industry and highlight some of the leading lights in the community and the contribution they have made to the profession, together with their plans to drive it forward.

“Our Top 100 represents not just the very best in the profession, but those at the vanguard of innovation using new model principles” says Natalie Fast − New Model Adviser^®‘s audience development manager.

www.cfmltd.co.uk

OPEN DAY TO CELEBRATE 21st ANNIVERSARY & RE-BRAND OF SHIELDS BUILDINGS

SATURDAY 8th SEPTEMBER 2012 – 9am – 5pm

IN AID OF DEVON AIR AMBULANCE TRUST (DAAT) 

registered charity # 1077998

 Join us in a glass of Bucks Fizz and light refreshments

Enter our charity prize draw for the chance to win a bottle of champagne

Showcasing the launch of our brand new ‘Garden View’ range of contemporary garden studios

Be the first to preview our exciting new architect-designed contemporary garden office studio

View our extensive range of traditional style garages / studios / garden offices / sheds / workshops and stables

Special Open Day Offer – FREE rain-saver kit and water butt worth over £100 with all orders for buildings following enquiries on the day.

Treat yourself to something special with a jewellery display by local silversmith Helen Lepper

Venue: de Bathe Farm, North Tawton, Devon, EX20 2BE

T: 01837 82442

M: 07812 893328

www.shieldsbuildings.co.uk

www.shieldsstudios.co.uk

www.shieldscommercial.co.uk