Wolseley Talent Guild: A great way to start and progress your career

This article is sponsored by Wolseley.

Beth Stephenson has become a rising star at Wolseley in just ten months with the Ripon company’s award-winning Talent Guild.

The Loughborough University student, who is reading accounting and financial management, was debating where to go for her placement year when she found the perfect fit in Wolseley.

Wolseley is the UK’s leading plumbing, heating and cooling specialist with 560 branches across the UK and its headquarters in Ripon.

The company employs more than 320 people in the city and recently completed a £500,000 refurbishment of the Ripon office.

So this is an exciting time to join the team and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door than through the Wolseley Talent Guild.

A taste of different career paths

The opportunity to move around and learn in different parts of the business through the Wolseley Talent Guild was a major draw for Beth, who is originally from York.

She started in August 2021 with the transactional input team but she has also worked with the tax and treasury teams. Beth, 22, said:

“That experience with different departments has meant it is much easier for me to understand the whole business and piece it altogether.

“It seemed daunting at first but I had heard from other people that they had gone to a business and stayed in one department the entire time – sometimes it’s an area they don’t like.

“Now I know which areas I like so when I progress, I can start my career in the area I like. It’s beneficial for my career but also for Wolseley as I have been able to connect the different teams.

“Ripon is lovely. I am from York so Ripon is similar to York but smaller so it’s a very nice place.

“There are lots of lovely places to walk and lots of independent shops. There’s a new vintage shop that has just opened up too which I am excited about.”

Beth is a student at Loughborough University.

Why join Wolseley?

Wolseley’s award-winning Talent Guild is a great way for employees to ensure progression and realise career goals. This industry-leading approach received formal recognition in December 2021, when Wolseley scooped the HR Excellence Award for Talent Management Strategy of the Year.

It includes apprenticeship programmes, talent boosters and career ladders, right through to more technical qualifications and higher education programmes.

Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.

When employees progress they will notice that Wolseley strives to do the right thing – whether that is in the way they treat customers, suppliers or employees.

Wolseley knows how to attract, develop and retain the best people. The company offers competitive salary, holiday entitlement, a fantastic pension scheme, life insurance and much more.

Would you like to join Wolseley and unlock your potential with the Talent Guild? Click or tap here to find out more information.

Harrogate district unemployment figures remain low

Just 2.2% of all adults in the Harrogate district are claiming out-of-work benefits, latest figures show.

Monthly figures published today by the Office for National Statistics show 1,755 people were claiming the benefits on May 12, which was similar to April’s figure of 1,779.

The figures appear to have stabilised after falling by around 150 people a month since the start of the year.

However, they are still above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits that includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

Many of the district’s key sectors including hospitality and social care have reported difficulties hiring staff since the end of covid restrictions.

Read more:

 

Garden seeks artist for year-long residency in Harrogate

Artists across the Harrogate district are being sought by RHS Harlow Carr as the garden aims to appoint its next artist in residence.

The year-long appointment would see the chosen artist encouraged to take inspiration from the landscape, as well as the charity’s scientific and biological work.

Education and learning manager Kirstie Blything said:

“We are looking for an artist to present a personal interpretation and perspective of Harlow Carr, creating new work that is innovative, pushes boundaries and inspires well-being.

“We hope this new work will inspire the public to examine their own vision of the gardens and encourage them to engage in new, creative conversations, continuing the development of Harlow Carr as a site that inspires creative practice.”

Read more:

The artist would spend at least three weeks on site, carrying out research and demonstrating their practice at the garden.

They would be able to work closely with the garden’s team as well as discussing their work with the public. The role includes creating a programme of workshops, talks, open studios and more to encourage visitors to take inspiration from the gardens for their own creativity.

The year would end with an exhibition at the RHS Harlow Carr Flower Show in 2023.

Previous artists in residents include Nel Whatmore and Anita Bowerman.

For further information about the role, click here. Applications close on Friday, May 20 at noon.

Harrogate architecture firm expands to Leeds city centre

Harrogate-based S&SA Architects will be expanding the company to Leeds city centre.

The architect practice, which operates out of a head office in Harrogate, will open its new office at Park House in Park Square in April.

The company had continued to grow during the pandemic and received several notable commissions in the healthcare and residential sectors, which created a demand for its expansion.

Inside the new office at Park House

Inside the new office at Park House Credit: S&SA Architects

It plans to recruit people in roles at all levels, including in apprenticeship and senior positions.

Chris Paraskos, associate architect at S&SA Architects, said:

“We’re incredibly excited about this expansion. The office location is easily accessible for our diverse London and Leeds clients, being only a few moments’ walk from the station.

“It also offers all our staff the ability to work flexibly at home and across both offices. It will encourage collaboration between teams and better wellbeing, which is a part of our cultural response to the changing world of hybrid work post covid.”

S&SA Architects specialises in residential, retail, logistics, healthcare, sports and leisure sectors. Clients include Tesco, Keepmoat, Exemplar Healthcare and Broadacres.

Read more:

 

Harrogate bakery expands with £250k project

Bakery site Bakeri Baltzersen has begun a £250k expansion project.

The site, in Kettlesing, supplies the company’s sister brands in Harrogate town centre, as well as other, wholesale partners.

The project will involve knocking through to a unit at Springfield Business Park, which will then create triple the floorspace of the bakery.

It will be part-financed by a £20,000 grant from the Product and Process Innovation Fund, a European funding programme. Harrogate Borough Council has also provided a grant of £27,390.

Along with it, more jobs will be created, with a particular demand for trainee bakers, packers and drivers.

Paul Rawlinson, co-director of Baltzersen’s and Bakeri Baltzersen, said:

“We are proud to be a part of the Harrogate community. We want to grow our range of products to offer a wider selection, work with more wholesale partners across Yorkshire as we fly the flag for our town, and create new jobs, training and career opportunities for local people.”

The work is expected to be completed in June.

Harrogate woman semi-finalist of Florist of the Year

Helen Pannitt, owner of Helen James Flowers

Helen Pannitt, owner of Helen James Flowers

A Harrogate florist is celebrating making it to the semi-final of the Florist of the Year competition run by Interflora.

Helen Pannitt, who owns and runs Helen James Flowers in Harrogate, has been a florist for 37 years. She has previously won a gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

For the competition, she created a hand-tied bouquet, under the theme ‘Inspired by Nature.’

The winner will go on to represent Great Britain and Ireland at the Interflora World Cup in September 2023.

Helen Pannitt, owner of Helen James Flowers, said:

“I simply love competitive floristry and with the curtailment of competitions over the last couple of years due to COVID, it’s great to have something to get the competitive juices flowing again.”

The finals will see participants creating floral designs on the theme of ‘growing together,’ with a final unknown topic that will be revealed on the day.

The winner of the competition will be announced on Sunday 24 April.

See more:

 

Butcher serving Harrogate district appoints first resident chef

A butcher that provides meat and poultry to restaurants, cafes and homes across the Harrogate district has appointed its first resident consultant chef.

Greg Lewis will help Wetherby-based Sykes House Farm develop products and build and run a new demo kitchen on site.

Rachael Hirst, who runs the third-generation family business with her brother Robert Smith, said:

“We are delighted to have Greg on board and are extremely excited for our future plans with him.”

Mr Lewis began his career as a bakery assistant in New Zealand, then progressed onto cooking for athletes at the Sydney Olympics. He then moved to the UK and worked under Jeff Baker at Pool Court, Leeds, which was England’s only inner-city Michelin starred restaurant outside of London at the time.

Estate agent makes series of appointments

Georgie Williams

Estate agent Dacre, Son & Hartley has made a series of appointments and promotions across its North Yorkshire offices.

Georgie Williams has been promoted to branch manager in the Wetherby office, where she will lead the team selling homes throughout the town and surrounding areas including Boston Spa, Collingham, Tadcaster, Spofforth, Sicklinghall, Bramham, Harewood, Scarcroft and Kirk Deighton.

Alison Reilly from Dacres’ Pateley Bridge office and Dan Rice from the Ripon office have both been promoted to sales managers. Reilly has worked at Dacres for almost 19 years and Rice joined in 2018.

In the company’s Harrogate office, Alex Jackson and James Curtis-Bean have been appointed as sales negotiators. The pair will work alongside the team’s branch manager Sophie Tillisch.

The North Yorkshire teams are led by area director Paul Baxter. He said:

“These promotions and appointments will enhance the standard of service that our clients enjoy, and further strengthen our Wetherby, Harrogate, Ripon and Pateley Bridge offices.”

Harrogate IT firm acquires company

Harrogate IT firm Redcentric has acquired a provider of security testing, incident response management and consultancy services.

7 Elements works with customers to assess security threats, identify weaknesses and provide tailored support.

The company, which has operations in Edinburgh and Leicester, has an annual revenue of about £1m.

Following the acquisition, it will continue to operate as a standalone business and will be led by its former owner, David Stubley, who established the company in 2010.

Redcentric paid £1.95m in cash, which could rise to £2.4m based on the future performance of the business over the next 13 months.

Chief executive Peter Brotherton said:

“I am delighted to welcome 7 Elements into the Redcentric family. The addition of its services to Redcentric’s existing DDOS, SIEM, managed WAF and information security consultancy services means we are now able to offer a complete portfolio of security services to our customers.”

Harrogate district unemployment continues to fall

The number of people receiving out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has fallen again.

Latest monthly figures by the Office for National Statistics show 2,080 people were claiming the benefits on February 10, falling by 55 from January’s figure of 2,135.

The figure, however, remains considerably above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits, which includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

Across the UK, 4.3% of all adults are claiming the benefits. In the Harrogate district, it is 2.3%.

Read more:

In a boost for jobs in the district, a 600,000 square feet business park approved was approved last week by Harrogate Borough Council.

The business park will be called ‘Harrogate 47’ because it will be built at Flaxby close to junction 47 of the A1 (M). The developer Opus North believes it could support 2,000 jobs.

It is allocated as the main strategic employment site in the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which identifies where development can take place.

Stray Ferret to launch local daily business news round-up

The Stray Ferret is to launch a daily business news feature for the Harrogate district.

Business Breakfast will start tomorrow and be published every weekday at 5am. It will bring together all business information for the district including appointments, contracts, awards and financial performance news.

Later this week, The Stray Ferret will celebrate its second birthday – it launched just before the first lockdown in March 2020 at a time when local businesses were in turmoil as shops and venues closed and everyone left the office to work from home.

The Stray Ferret director Tamsin O’Brien says, as the district slowly returns to normality, now is the time to produce a comprehensive roundup of daily business news.

She said:

“During the first two years of our existence we were preoccupied with covering the covid pandemic in the best way we could for the district. We reported continually on how the crisis impacted on businesses and the local economy.

“Now that we’re coming out of covid, we wanted to create a daily round-up of all local business news that we hope will become a must-read before work.”

Since its launch the Stray Ferret has seen rapid growth. In January this year the website had 210,000 readers and more than a million pages were viewed. It has a highly engaged social media following of more than 23,000 people and in December The Stray Ferret app was launched which already has 3,000 regular users.

If you would like your businesses’ news to be included — send us the information to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Read more:

 

Harrogate charities host care recruitment event today

Two Harrogate charities have joined forces to host a care recruitment event in Harrogate town centre today.

Staff from Disability Action Yorkshire and The Avalon Group will be answering questions at the Everyman Cinema from 11am until 1:30pm, discussing the work they do and the roles currently available.

The recruitment drive comes as North Yorkshire suffers from a shortage of care workers, with over 1,000 estimated vacancies in the sector across the county on any given day.

Disability Action North Yorkshire operates a care home on Claro Road in Harrogate and has a training centre in Hornbeam Park, providing services for disabled people to live their lives fully.

Read more:

Jackie Snape, Disability Action Yorkshire’s chief executive said:

“As two Harrogate-based charities operating in similar fields, we’ve decided to partner for this social care recruitment event.

“For those considering a career in social care, this will be an ideal opportunity to find out about the importance of this sector, what we as individual charities do, and the jobs that are currently available.”

The Avalon Group works across the north of England to support anyone who needs additional care and support, including those with dementia, learning or physical disabilities, mental health difficulties and more.

 

Bettys marks highest ever Christmas sales

Bettys has reported its highest ever sales figures for a Christmas period with 2021 seeing a 37% year-on-year increase.

The family-owned company, with two cafes in Harrogate, described it as a “huge achievement” after facing financial and recruitment challenges during the covid pandemic.

Its five cafe tea rooms report a £1.6 million increase on previous years with similarly high numbers in its retail sales. All shops also exceeded retail targets.

The 102-year-old company received a 4.2% increase in online orders, with 40% of those from new customers.

In response managing director, Simon Eyles, said:

“The Bettys business has had to weather a few storms in its 102-year history.

“This year all the teams across the Bettys business have done a truly exceptional job in the face of the worst recruitment challenges we’ve known, and the continuing worries and concerns of the global covid-19 pandemic. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved and cannot thank them enough.”

The business is still facing a recruitment a crisis and has been forced to continue with the shorter opening hours, which were brought in last August.

In Harrogate, the current opening hours are Monday to Friday 9.30-4pm, Saturday 9-5pm and Sunday 9-4pm.

It also made the decision to close one of its York stores this year. The 50-year-old store on Stonegate, known as Little Bettys, was closed as it was no longer “commercially viable”.

Read more: