Excellence deserves to be recognised and celebrated. The 2024 Stray Ferret Business Awards is the event to put your business, people or great initiative in the spotlight!
Make the most of your efforts by reading our top 10 tips for writing your submission for success.
Entries close on January 19, 2024.
The owners of a Harrogate-based care equipment specialist have announced plans to move its offices away from the town.
Vivid Care said its decision to move away from Linkside House on Forest Lane Head to new premises at Thorp Arch, near Wetherby, is part of a strategic change of direction for the family-run business.
Vivid Care supplies specialist seating, care beds, falls response devices and mobility equipment, and is part of the CoreCare Group. It will be moving its Harrogate showroom to an appointment-only showroom at Thorp Arch at the end of the year. Vivid Care’s employees will join colleagues at the new site from CoreCare Group sister companies, including Innova Care Concepts, Dependall Logistics, and Aquadapt Home Installations.
The current retail showroom in Harrogate will close on December 21, and the new appointment-only showroom will open at Rofta House, Thorp Arch on January 2, with retail sales continuing online.
Formerly Yorkshire Care Equipment, Vivid Care has 50 years of experience in supporting the NHS and care organisations to provide independence and enhance the lives of those with care needs. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the team worked closely with colleagues at sister company Innova Care Concepts to help the NHS with the setup of the Nightingale Hospitals.
Managing director Tristan Hulbert said:
“It’s the right time to enact the next stage of our strategic plan to move our offices to be in our group headquarters in Wetherby.
“As part of this move, the head office building is undergoing new investments with a refurbished office, new video conferencing facilities, a redesigned canteen, and a new state-of-the-art showroom.
“It will allow us to continue our growth in supporting our NHS, reduce our carbon footprint, and promote further collaboration across the CoreCare Group as a whole.
“We’d like to thank all our loyal Harrogate customers for their custom over the past 27 years, and look forward to welcoming them by prebooked appointment to our new space in Wetherby in the new year.”
Phone-to-walkie-talkie firm announces deal
Mobile Tornado, the Harrogate business whose push-to-talk over cellular (PTToC) technology can turn mobile phones into walkie-talkies, has announced a reseller agreement with Hampshire-based Foresolutions.
Foresolutions provides integrated technologies for workforces in the aviation, construction and infrastructure sectors.
Nathan Williams, managing director of Foresolutions, said:
“We like Mobile Tornado’s technology because it is easy to use, has exceptionally low latency and is feature rich. It has superb options for lone workers and emergency situations. It fits perfectly with our ethos of offering our customers a ‘single plane of glass’ that has multiple applications.
“We are seeing more and more organisations adopt push-to-talk over cellular for critical communications as mobile networks become stronger and stronger. More than eight out of 10 premises in the UK are now able to access 5G. We are also seeing increasing take-up in aviation – the main ground-handling crew at one of Europe’s busiest airports has been using PTToC for the last year.”
Foresolutions was founded in 1979 and is a family-owned business with clients across the UK.
Andrew McNamara, channel sales manager at Mobile Tornado, said:
“We are excited to be joining forces with Foresolutions, a long-established provider with a blue-chip customer base. We are looking forward to working together to help more UK organisations increase safety, reduce costs, boost productivity and improve efficiency among their workforces.
“We totally support Foresolutions’ ‘single pane of glass’ ethos. Today’s users have expectations about what a single device should be able to do and don’t want to be saddled with lots of different devices for different applications in challenging operating environments.”
Read more:
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate firm wins dealer excellence award
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesses collect chocolate for people in need
- Business Breakfast: Ripon bucks national footfall trend – data
Business Breakfast: Harrogate marketing agency announces two new hires
Are you already thinking of how to reward your employees this Christmas? Why not choose the Harrogate Gift Card?
The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in over 100 businesses in Harrogate town centre including retail, hospitality and leisure, whilst keeping the spend locked into the local economy.
Complete a corporate bulk order of over £250 and receive 15% discount from November 1 to 15 with the code ‘HGT15’.
A Harrogate marketing agency has made two appointments to its team.
Extreme, which is based at Windsor House, has hired Lucy Willis as a social media manager and Garon Ross as a developer.
The company said it has seen a rise in enquiries as businesses seek to elevate their position and gain competitive advantage with consumers.
Garon Ross.
Mark Gledhill, director at Extreme, said:
“2023 has been another busy year, with demand for our web development and social services particularly high, so we’re thrilled to welcome Lucy and Garon to enable us to meet that need.”
Harrogate communications company announces new partnership
A Harrogate communications company has announced a partnership to expand its reach into the UK market.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, has agreed a reseller deal with The Barcode Warehouse.
The agreement means the company’s push-to-talk over cellular and workforce management technologies will be made available to a wide range of sectors including education, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail and utilities.
Andrew McNamara, channel sales manager at Mobile Tornado, said:
Business Breakfast: Harrogate law firm hires three new solicitors“This exciting new partnership opens up important new markets for Mobile Tornado in the UK and gives large organisations and SMEs the chance to improve safety, efficiency and productivity through our cutting-edge technologies for instant communications and workforce management.”
Are you already thinking of how to reward your employees this Christmas? Why not choose the Harrogate Gift Card?
The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in over 100 businesses in Harrogate town centre including retail, hospitality and leisure, whilst keeping the spend locked into the local economy.
Complete a corporate bulk order of over £250 and receive 15% discount from November 1 to 15 with the code ‘HGT15’.
A Harrogate law firm has hired three new solicitors to its team.
LCF Law, which is based on Station Parade, has appointed newly qualified Anisha Kaur, Ennah Hussain and Jemma Hobson to the company.
Ms Hussein completed her training at a high street law firm before joining LCF Law, while Ms Hobson and Ms Kaur completed in-house training contracts.
Neil Shaw, partner and head of personal law at LCF Law, said:
“We make things as straightforward as possible and achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. We also value our team and support them with their progression, so we are delighted that Anisha and Jemma have qualified as solicitors after completing their training with us.
“It’s also a pleasure to welcome Ennah to our 21 strong personal law team and we look forward to advising even more clients across Harrogate and beyond.”
Praise for Mobile Tornado after emergency storm response
Communications company Mobile Tornado have been praised for their role in the evacuation of vulnerable people and pets from their flooded homes.
The Harrogate-based global company supplies push-to-talk over cellular solutions to organisations that depend on fast, robust and reliable communications between individuals and large groups.
It donated licences for its technologies to Search and Rescue Lincolnshire, helping efforts to locate people cut off by floods during last month’s Storm Babet.
Paul Woodman, chief executive at Search and Rescue Lincolnshire, said:
“Mobile Tornado has been absolutely invaluable for emergency teams to stay in touch. We are able to see the location of our volunteers, communicate with them in an instant and record everything we do across a wide area.
“Previously, we relied on legacy radio systems which had a limited range and were restricted to line of sight. Mobile Tornado enables us to have county-wide communications without having to purchase very expensive radio equipment. For strategic, intergroup and long-distance communications, it is absolutely great.”
Read more:
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- Business Breakfast: Growth Hub hires Harrogate district business advisers
Business Breakfast: Harrogate mobile company reports improved revenue
A Harrogate-based mobile company has reported improved results in its half-year report.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, recorded total revenue of £1.26 million for the six months up to June 30.
The figure is an increase from £1.10 million in the same period in 2021/22.
In that time, the company has reached a landmark agreement with Leeds Bradford Airport to provide push-to-talk over cellular equipment for the airport’s workforce.
Jeremy Fenn, chairman and acting chief executive of Mobile Tornado, said:
“The company has for some time been a key player in the PTToC (press-to-talk over cellular) market, with a presence in Africa, South America and Europe.
“Our solution meets the mission-critical communication needs of our customers, and is characterised by a number of key differentiators, such as seamless transition, market-leading group sizes, a unique dispatcher console, and highly efficient data utilisation.
“These features continue to set us apart from our competitors and allow us to deliver market leading performance to our partners and customers.”
Companies build bike track for Boroughbridge school
Local companies have come together to create a bike track for a Boroughbridge school.
Jon Cole, of Infrastructure Managers Ltd, and Mark Simpson, of Tarmac, helped to convert a piece of muddy playground at Boroughbridge Primary School into a new track for pupils.
The opening of the bike track.
The new facility was opened last week.
Neil Ryder, deputy headteacher at the school, said:
“We are thrilled the children at the school have access to such a quality resource, they are very lucky and we can’t thank all the people involved in producing it for us.
“We want our school to promote the importance of active lifestyles and environmental responsibility. We hope this will start our desire to get more children and adults riding bikes and scooters to get to and from school.”
Read more:
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate housing company secures £150m funding for new homes
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate care provider opens new training centre
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate business meeting to focus on inflation
Business Breakfast: Harrogate education companies to host schools conference
Three Harrogate district education companies are set to host a conference for the school sector.
BlueCow Education and Pobble, both from Harrogate, and Ripon-based Picture News have organised the event, which will see more than 100 school leaders from across the UK “inspire, innovate and improve” as the latest challenges in education come under the spotlight.
Among those taking part in panel discussions will be the Harrogate Grammar School head Neil Renton, who will also be signing copies of his new book New School Leader: What Now? at the conference.
Other speakers include Dave McPartlin – the head famous for taking his school onto TV’s Britain’s Got Talent programme; the world-leading authority on artificial intelligence in education, Dan Fitzpatrick; and Simon Hunt, the BBC Bitesize teacher.
Simon Blower, co-founder and director of Pobble, said:
“As a company with strong Harrogate roots, working closely with North Yorkshire schools, it has long been an ambition to bring a high-quality event to our home town.
“These leading experts-in-their-field will help those attending to think about new ways to innovate, inspire and improve pupil outcomes, whilst reflecting on today’s challenging climate for current and aspiring leaders.”
The event will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Harrogate on Friday, October 13, from 9.30am until 3.30pm.
For more information visit the Blue Cow Education website here.
Harrogate company agrees deal to expand into Africa
A Harrogate telecommunications company has agreed a deal to expand its presence into Africa.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, has reached the agreement with communications company Instacom which extends its partnership until 2026.
Instacom, which has headquarters in South Africa, provides critical communications solutions to government agencies and private enterprises on the continent.
The agreement will see the company extend its resell contract of Mobile Tornado’s push-to-talk over cellular technologies.
It will also see the Harrogate company act as exclusive UK reseller for Instacom’s PTX personnel management platform.
Luke Wilkinson of Mobile Tornado, said:
Business Breakfast: Masham brewery agrees beer listing deal with Asda“We have been working with Instacom since 2010 and are thrilled to be taking our relationship to the next level.
We are looking forward to working more closely and sharing our mutual knowledge and expertise.
“We are already discussing a number of exciting ideas and can’t wait to start implementing them.
“The continued growth of mobile network coverage across Africa is creating big opportunities for government agencies and private enterprises to increase safety, reduce costs, boost productivity and improve efficiency among their remote workforces.”
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A Masham brewery has secured listings at 240 Asda stores for one of its popular beers.
T&R Theakston confirmed the deal with the supermarket giant to sell cans of its Old Peculiar pale ale.
The agreement will also see 140 Asda stores nationwide sell cans of Theakston Best Bitter.
The news comes as the brewery says it has seen a rise in demand for its beers.
Simon Theakston, joint managing director of T&R Theakston, said:
“These two new listings are evidence of the continued strength of our portfolio. Theakston Old Peculier has continued to capture the attention of the country’s discerning drinkers, and we’re delighted that it is becoming more widely available as a result this growing partnership with Asda.
“Additionally, to see the increased off-trade success of Theakston Best Bitter speaks to a consumer preference for high-quality, handcrafted beers such as our own.”
Harrogate mobile company targets improved performance
A Harrogate telecommunications company is targeting improved performance amid a drop in revenue last year.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, saw its reported turnover drop 12% from £2.59m in 2021 to £2.28 for the year ended December 31, 2022.
According to the company’s annual report, which was published in April, the loss of a customer in Canada accounted for 20% of total revenue and 10% of recurring revenues in the prior year comparative figures.
However, the firm said it now intends to improve its performance.
The company recently signed a deal with Leeds Bradford Airport, which will see it provide push-to-talk over cellular equipment for the airport’s workforce.
Jeremy Fenn, chairman of Mobile Tornado, said:
“The board is fully committed to maintaining the technical advantages that have been established, at the same time driving a much deeper and wider business development operation.
“The outreach campaign that has been running since the start of the year has already generated a good flow of new partner and customer opportunities, many of them in new geographic markets. We believe that this momentum can be accelerated significantly if we can successfully deploy our solution into a public safety organisation.
“Our teams worked hard on multiple trials during the last 15 months and we are hopeful that we will very shortly see a successful conclusion with full platform deployment. This would represent a significant commercial breakthrough, and we are confident will lead to a material uplift in financial performance as we push towards profitability in 2023.”
Read more:
- Business Breakfast: Boroughbridge company celebrates long-service staff milestone
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesses recognised as ‘best places to work’
Business Breakfast: Harrogate mobile company secures Leeds Bradford Airport contract
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A Harrogate mobile company has secured a contract for communications at Leeds Bradford Ariport.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, announced the agreement which will see the firm provide push-to-talk over cellular equipment for the airport’s workforce.
The company said the move would help LBA to “improve safety, efficiency and productivity in complex daily operations”.
Luke Wilkinson, global head of sales at Mobile Tornado, said:
“This agreement with one of the UK’s busiest regional airports represents another big vote of confidence in our push-to-talk over cellular platform as an improved radio system for critical communications.”
Damian Ives, chief operating officer at LBA, said:
“Mobile Tornado’s world-leading technologies will help us to manage operations and achieve our ambitions.
“As a regional airport, we plan our development with the local economy, environment and stakeholders in mind and we are delighted to be working with Mobile Tornado, a local company with world-leading technology.”
Bettys and Taylors partners with Woodland Trust
Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate has announced a partnership with the Woodland Trust.
The move will see the company form a tree planting partnership at the trust’s Snaizeholme project in the Yorkshire Dales.
The scheme will see up to 50,000 trees planted as part of the company’s five-year project.
Alice Tollan, sustainable development specialist at Taylors, said:
“As a family business that relies on agriculture for much of our produce, we have a long commitment to protecting our environment.
“Our Trees for Life campaign was launched in 1990 and since then we’ve supported the planting of over seven million trees in both the UK and in tea and coffee growing regions around the world.
“We’re proud to have worked with the Woodland Trust for many years on tree planting initiatives across the UK and we’re pleased to partner together on this latest unique project.”
Pip Greensmith, head of partnerships for the Woodland Trust, added:
“Snaizeholme offers a chance for us to boost biodiversity at a time when the natural world is in crisis.
“Tree planting and habitat restoration will boost the water quality of the river and beck, safeguarding habitats for species such as otter, as well as attracting birds such as herons, grey wagtails, kingfishers and dippers.
“It’s great to see Bettys & Taylors Group invest in nature-based solutions here in the UK.”
Read more:
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesswoman wins lifetime achievement award
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate property specialists move to new office
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate mobile company partners with United States firm
Business Breakfast: Harrogate mobile company partners with United States firm
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. The fourth in our series of networking events, with Banyan Bar & Kitchen, is a breakfast event on April 27 from 8am.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A Harrogate mobile applications company has announced a partnership with an American telecommunications company.
Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, has partnered with Stolz Telecom, which provides telecommunication services to public safety and enterprise sectors in the United States.
The partnership will see the American company act a reseller for Mobile Tornado’s push-to-talk over cellular and workforce management technologies in the US.
Luke Wilkinson, of Mobile Tornado, said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Stolz Telecom, a highly respected company in its field. This partnership will open up new growth opportunities for Mobile Tornado in the United States.”
Robert Stolz, president of Stolz Telecom, said:
“Our vision is to create safer, more proactive organisations by redefining the boundaries of critical communications.
“We are excited to be able to offer Mobile Tornado’s world-leading solutions to our customers, the people who keep our communities safe.”
Directors group celebrates 120th anniversary
Business leaders across Yorkshire are celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Institute of Directors.
The group was formed in 1903 and granted a Royal Charter in 1906 ‘to represent the interests of members and of the business community to government and in the public arena.
Jon Geldart, director general at Institute for Directors.
To mark its 120th anniversary, IoD members are gathering at their prestigious London headquarters – 116 Pall Mall – on 13 June to celebrate with networking, exhibitions, speeches and a tour of our iconic building.
IoD Director General Jon Geldart said:
“We are very proud of our heritage as the voice for business and directors across the home nations.
“The IoD is also a movement for good, shaping regional and national agendas and influencing policy makers and government.”
Read more:
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesswoman wins lifetime achievement award
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate property specialists move to new office
Ripon estate agent wins gold property award
Ripon estate agent wins gold award for the city
Ripon-based estate agent, Davis & Lund, has won the British Property Award for Ripon.
The agency will now be shortlisted for a number of national awards set to be announced later this year.
This award focused on customer service levels which the British Property Awards judges found to be “outstanding” at Davis & Lund.
Paul Lund, director, said:
“I am delighted and exceptionally proud of my team for all their hard work helping us win this award. Not only are we market leading agents in Ripon, we have now been recognised with this award.”
Chris Davis, co-director added:
“We have also just found out this week that we have won that same award for our new branch in Thirsk, which just goes to show customer service is at the heart of everything we do.”
Chris Davis
Harrogate mobile app business targets growth after a difficult two years
Harrogate-based mobile app business, Mobile Tornado, has said that after an unpredictable two years is it is now focused on growth.
The listed company reported total revenue of £2.59m for the year ended 31 December 2021, up from £2.53m in 2020. Its pre-tax losses also reduced to £861,000 from £1.39m.
Jeremy Fenn, chairman of Mobile Tornado, said:
“It has been an extremely difficult two years for the business. The principal markets we operate in have been badly hit by the pandemic, dramatically constraining our business development activities.
“We have managed to maintain our revenue levels through this period, and executed significant improvements to our operational efficiency, such that we have reduced our operating expense from £3.16m in 2019 to £2.53m in 2021. This has allowed the business to trade through the period with modest losses, funded by a small working capital facility provided by our principal shareholder, and no further recourse to shareholders.”
Mr Fenn added that business had been “promising” in the first quarter of 2022.