The Mortimer Society, a Kent-based residential care home employing 130 contracted and agency carers has improved efficiency, reduced wage costs and saved staff and management time following the installation of an interactive, biometric time and attendance system.

Following their recent move to The Knowledge Centre at Wyboston Lakes, ACTON Security Ltd is looking for apprentices as part of their growth strategy to become one of the leading national companies in the security services market place.

Wales Air Ambulance has just installed a Jewers' electrically operated multi-leaf sliding folding Osprey hangar door to their new purpose-built helicopter hangar at Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. The new hangar is integral part of their new headquarters due to be completed later this year, and will be a fully operational airbase housing the South Wales helicopters as well as the charity’s administration centre.

Fortunately, the days of staff clocking in and out with punch cards and time clocks are long gone. Old-fashioned time and attendance systems not only treated employees simply as numbers on a payroll, but implied their honesty was suspect. As a result, shop floor and management were poles apart; employee engagement was unheard of so it’s hardly surprising that increasing productivity was challenging.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Bedfordshire have today presented a cheque for £15,116.27 to the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital Prostate Cancer Appeal to aid the early diagnosis of this condition.

Jewers Doors put the finishing touches to the new £15 million Ambulance and Fire Services Resource Centre (AFSRC) at Wrexham with the installation of 14 pairs of Swift fast-acting, bi-fold doors. The new AFSR Centre accommodates eight fire appliance vehicles and six ambulances and replaces an obsolete fire station and two ambulance stations which are now co-located onto one modern, fast-response site.

More than three quarters of small businesses that have outgrown their offices are delaying upscaling because of the hassle of moving, according to a recent survey by E.ON. This means many businesses are operating from premises that are often cramped, dilapidated, expensive or inefficient which is seriously compromising their future growth and success.

One hundred and thirty schools went into lockdown in one month alone because of a perceived threat to the students according to a BBC report1. Admittedly this was in the USA, where 50 school shootings are reported annually, but UK schools have also experienced a growing trend for violent attacks on staff and students.

A real party atmosphere abounded at Wyboston Lakes when tenants of the Knowledge Centre celebrated a decade of success since the serviced office centre was opened in December 2005. More than 70 people representing over 38 businesses that have built their businesses at Wyboston Lakes downed their pens, switched off their computers and met their colleagues to mark the 10th anniversary of the Knowledge Centre.

Specialist industrial door manufacturer Jewers Doors have installed several of its Phoenix range sliding folding doors at Hitachi’s new UK rolling stock manufacturing centre at Newton Aycliffe. Flagship buildings require that little extra, which is why leading architects Ryder Associates chose Jewers to develop bespoke industrial doors  for Hitachi’s recently opened £82m facility in County Durham; the Japanese giant’s first new rail factory outside of Japan.

Europe’s leading Time Management specialists have just introduced a new interactive time and attendance system that not only saves time for HR and payroll staff but also dramatically increases staff engagement. Employees simply clock in and out, and the data is used by payroll for calculating wages and by management for historical attendance reporting.

Blossom House School have just installed a new child-friendly class change and PA system to help the smooth running of the school, increase learning time and improve safety for staff and students.

Bodet Ltd has just launched the Kelio Visio X7, an award winning interactive attendance and communication terminal designed to simplify and improve staff interaction. The new multifunctional terminal has already scooped a 2015 Red Dot Award for its innovative qualities and design excellence.

Dolphin Sails, one of the largest manufacturers of sails, covers and awnings in the UK, has just installed a new Blackman and White Mastercut heavy duty automated flatbed cutting machine which is both improving productivity and saving costs.

There is neither a shortage of permanent jobs in the NHS nor fully qualified staff to fill them, but it’s in the interest of agencies to ignore this and focus on temporary staff according to Margo Leftly, director of recruitment agency Healthier Recruitment  Ltd.

Bradfields Academy, a leading centre of excellence in the Special Education sector based at Chatham, Kent, has just installed a new ‘child-friendly’ class change system to help the smooth running of the school.

Wyboston Lakes has its fingers crossed that the sun will keep shining following the installation of 80 new slim-line solar panels on the roof of the Knowledge Centre. This investment is the next stage of the company’s policy to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole site.

Acrylicon, one of the world’s fastest growing industrial flooring specialists has moved it’s UK headquarters to The Knowledge Centre at Wyboston Lakes in Cambridgeshire. Formerly based in a small office in St Neots, the UK operation has grown to a turnover in excess of £5M in just 4 years and now has 8 additional licensees and employs over 25 people.

Stand up comedian, actor and writer, Omid Djalili, accompanied by a TV film crew recently dropped into Bedford’s renowned chilli experts Joanna and Shawn Plumb at Edible Ornamentals. The reason for their visit was to discover some of the truths and myths behind the fascination so many people have for this fiery gourmet ingredient to include in Omid’s new culinary programme ‘Hot and Dangerous’.

Universally Speaking, providers of localisation and quality testing services to the computer and video games industry has just received approval from international software giant Microsoft and has become an integral part of the Microsoft Authorised Xbox Test Program.

The historic Stapleford Park Country House Hotel and Sporting Estate in Leicestershire has just installed biometric fingerprint scanners to provide accurate real-time staff attendance data for the HR and payroll teams

A rapidly growing management consultancy which specialises in working with public sector organisations to deliver long-term and continuous improvements in effectiveness, quality and performance has just moved their headquarters to The Knowledge Centre at Wyboston Lakes.

UGO Foods, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of high quality pasta and noodles, has just installed a new biometric-based time and attendance system to improve data accuracy and save time for payroll staff. The award winning company employs over 100 production staff and runs a complex range of shifts as the company operates 24/7 to supply leading retailers including Waitrose and John Lewis Food Halls.

Hope Technology, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of high precision bicycle components and accessories has just taken delivery of a Blackman and White Genesis automated flatbed cutter to help development of new range of composite bicycle components.

A new café/restaurant at Chawston serving chilli inspired dishes has just been officially opened by Rt Hon Alistair Burt, the MP for North East Bedfordshire.  The Edible Kitchen is the latest addition to Edible Ornamentals which will ensure that every chilli aficionado will enjoy their visit to the nursery even more.

Blackman and White, the UK’s only manufacturer of flatbed industrial automated cutting machines, have broadened their portfolio of entry level machines with the addition of the Graphtec FC8600 series of roller cutting plotters.

Local European Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate for the Eastern region Margaret Simons felt things were definitely warming up when she visited chilli specialist Edible Ornamentals at their nursery in Chawston last week.

There were tears in the eyes of the staff at Bedfordshire Growers on Tuesday night, but fortunately not from the onions for which they are famed. The consortium were celebrating after they scooped a farming ‘Oscar’ award having been proclaimed Vegetable Grower of the Year at star spangled ceremony held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.

Chawston-based chilli specialists Edible Ornamentals have once again achieved national acclaim having topped the poll as ‘The Best Farm Shop in the UK’ in the Local and Loved Awards organised by Thebestof.co.uk national website.

Chilli aficionados who believe they can cook an amazing Chilli-Con-Carne now have an opportunity to see how their favourite recipe compares with the best in the UK.  The Mansion House at Old Warden, in association with Edible Ornamentals and the UK Chilli Cook Off Association, are holding   the first heat in the Great British Chilli Cook Off. This event will be one of the highlights of the Chilli and Gourmet Food Fiesta which will be held in the grounds of The Mansion House on 8th and 9th June.

Hitchin Priory supported Garden House Hospice celebrate when they raised £32,000 on annual Starlight Walk

'Reproduced from Hitchin Comet '

Local chilli specialist Joanna Plumb hit national television screens once again this week when Edible Ornamentals was featured on Gordon Ramsay’s new ‘Ultimate Cookery Course’ programme on Channel 4.

The programme looked at growing and storing chillies to get the maximum flavour, so the film crew visited Cherwood Nurseries in Chawston during the summer to get advice from Joanna Plumb

Chartridge Conference Centre has teamed up with Chartridge Park Golf Club to offer special weekend break leisure golfing packages for players of all abilities from just £99 per person. 

Family owned Chartridge Park Golf Club is set in the tranquil Buckingham countryside, and golfers can enjoy the wonderful views over the Pednor Valley and Chiltern Hills which have been designated areas of outstanding natural beauty.

No matter how good their skin tone, at some point during their training every serious bodybuilder will develop stretch marks. When a bodybuilder bulks up too quickly they put on pounds of muscle in a very short space of time. As the muscle builds the skin surrounding it has to stretch to accommodate the bulk, and a stretch mark is formed.

No longer do women have to accept that stretch marks are an inevitable side effect of pregnancy, thanks to a new product that is now available in pharmacies in the UK.  SilDerm Stretch Mark Prevention Oil is the first treatment that has been clinically proven to prevent stretch marks developing during pregnancy.

SilDerm Group, the UK’s leading cosmeceutical company, have just launched SilDerm™-Celfix™, a range of new DNA based skin treatments that use natural enzymes to repair the fine lines, wrinkles and age spots caused by the damaging effects of the sun.

In the past it was considered not only fashionable but positively good for us to lie in the sun baking for hours just to get a tan. Now we know that it the absolute opposite and too much exposure to the sun is not only harmful but also accelerates the ageing process.

A Room for London, designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner, is a one-bedroom installation that sits on the roof of Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and is part of the London 2012 Festival.

Chartridge Conference Centre was magically transformed into Lapland-style ‘Hotel Santa’ when it was used by BBC One to film its Christmas comedy drama special, ‘Lapland’.

The bittersweet comedy features the Lewis family from Birkenhead who save all year to make Christmas special. This year they decide to really push the boat out and book a package tour to Finland to see Father Christmas, complete with huskies and reindeers and, maybe even the Northern Lights. But when they get to Lapland, things don’t go quite to plan!

Cambridge-based Construction Access Systems (CAS) working in conjunction with the University of Southampton Research Institute for Industry (RIFI) has developed an innovative low profile, common tower system designed to speed up construction and save costs on high rise construction projects up to 70 storeys or 300 metres. The first system is now in use at London’s 51 storey St George’s Tower project.

The wedding day is the highlight of every girl’s dreams. The importance of the occasion, the excitement, the dressing up, the party atmosphere all make it a special day that will be treasured by all the family and friends. But planning and organising a wedding to make sure it all goes smoothly isn’t easy. There is so much to arrange, which is why Lydiard House are holding another of their successful Wedding Fayres on Sunday 11th September.

If Doctor Who fans suffer sleep disturbance after watching ‘Night Terrors’, the next episode of the popular sci-fi TV programme, they  might find a solution from a Healthcare company based in the i-Lab in Bedford.

Hitchin Priory played host to a Family Fun Day on Father’s Day to raise funds for Keech Hospice Care for Children.  The event was the brainchild of Hitchin Priory’s head chef Stephen Hepworth and Keech Hospice’s Sandra Luff and despite the atrocious weather, which kept many visitors away, more than £500 was raised for the charity during the event.