NEW FACES AT PRICE & BUCKLAND

We’re continuing to expand here at Price & Buckland, with extensions to our facilities both in Nottingham and in India. It’s great news for the business, and also means that a few extra pairs of hands are very welcome!

As part of the expansion, we’re delighted to introduce our new Operations Manager, Steve Head. Steve joins the team from MiRiCal Emblems where he worked for two years as quality control manager.

With over 20 years of experience in the print industry, Steve is an expert in how businesses like Price & Buckland operate, so he’ll be keeping a close eye on our day-to-day procedures and working to increase quality and efficiency. Steve is also looking to introduce new and more effective production systems, helping to improve our delivery facilities, as well as the service we provide to our much-valued customers.

We think Steve is going to fit in perfectly at Price & Buckland. He’s a very energetic and driven individual, who outside of work manages an under 18s rugby team, is a brown belt in Ju Jitsu, is taking microlight flying lessons and enjoys kayaking, hiking and 4x4ing – it’s tiring just thinking about it all!

We’d also like to welcome five more new recruits to the Price & Buckland team. Emma Collier, Ann Sisson, James Jones, Gemma Harris and James Bartington have all joined our office team and will be working to ensure all our customers receive the highest quality service possible.

A very warm welcome to you all!

Seeing Spots for Children In Need

Coming to work in PJ’s, wearing spots, baking, buying and eating yummy cakes, donating prizes to a raffle… these are just some of the ways staff got into the charity spirit to raise an impressive total of £240 for this years Children in Need appeal.

We even had a few animals lurking around...

ALL THE BEST AUNTY IRENE!

We want to wish our embroidery manager, Irene Leake, all the best as she looks to retire this Friday. Irene is one of our longest-serving members of staff, if not the longest having started at Price & Buckland over 30 years ago.

Having joined the company as an embroiderer in May 1981, when it was based in Cross Street, Arnold, and ran by Geoffrey Buckland, Irene remembers Ant and Nick coming into the office as young boys, and Ant often referred to her Aunty Irene!

Within two weeks of starting at Price & Buckland Irene was promoted to supervisor and since then has played a key role in driving the business forward. In her 30 years, Irene has witnessed considerable business changes, including the site relocation to Hucknall, the arrival of Ant and Nick, and the shift from serving clubs and corporate accounts to focusing on the schoolwear market.

In her retirement years, Irene plans to spend much more time with her family and grandchildren, and she may even go travelling around the world.

Irene will be sorely missed and we want to thank Irene for all her dedicated years to the company. Good luck Irene!

A FOND FAREWELL TO DIANE

It’s time to say goodbye to one of our longest-serving members of staff here at Price & Buckland. Our account handler Diane Harris has been working with us for over 20 years, but will be retiring at the end of the month.

Joining Price & Buckland in 1990, Diane has seen the business change considerably over the years, including our relocation from Arnold to Hucknall as well as Ant and Nick joining us.

Diane plans to move back to Kent and be closer to her immediate family. She’ll certainly be missed and we hope she comes back up to visit us!

We wish Diane all the best for her retirement and are working on a little surprise to say goodbye to her in true Price & Buckland fashion. Good luck Diane!

LOOKING THE BUSINESS

We recently spotted an interesting blog post from Katharine Birbalsingh on the Telegraph website that discusses the importance of school uniform, and its effective implementation, in encouraging good behaviour in schools. Katharine makes the point that a uniform can ‘transform’ a school, by impacting pupil behaviour.

Creating a positive learning environment is one of the most important things in education and we agree with Katharine and believe that uniform can play a key role in this. Not only does a properly enforced uniform policy help to instil discipline in pupils, but it can also encourage a sense of pride.

A number of the schools we work with have told us that their new uniforms have helped to improve behaviour and reflect the high standards they hold. But not only this, we’ve also noticed that when involved in the selection of the uniform, pupils often opt for something smarter, suggesting that they really do take pride in their uniform!

This is why we’ve added a stylish new tailored suit to our range. It’s been designed to reflect a business suit and is perfect for older pupils or schools looking for a more business-like appearance.

Thanks to everyone that helped us to the top of the class

Thanks to everyone that took part in our Comic Relief extravaganza. With your help we donated a total of £233 which went towards the nationwide campaign which saw an extraordinary £75million raised by the British public.

I think everyone had a fantastic day dressing up, taking part in the ‘Bring and Buy’ cake sale, testing our brains in the general knowledge quiz and choosing a lucky pose for the ‘Pick a Pose’ competition. Plus the Hucknall and Bulwell Dispatch came to join in the fun too and took some great pictures to remember the occasion. They took a real shine to one (Toystory) character in particular! You can check out the picture of us and what they said here.

It’s great to be able to raise money having fun and it just goes to show that when we join forces we can have a real impact on worthy causes. We’re a strong believer in supporting charities, and as you many of you will be aware, we have a long-standing relationship with Room to Read. This is an incredibly important charity that provides educational opportunities for children in developing countries. We donate 2p from every uniform garment sold and to date have been able to donate over £50,000 to the charity which is an achievement we’re tremendously proud of.

We’re already looking forward to the next Comic Relief and have some exciting ideas that will help beat this year’s amount!

Doing something for fun and that really matters!

With Comic Relief just around the corner, we’ve put our heads together and have come up with some great ways to raise donations for the charity.

Firstly we’re all coming into the office wearing either a school uniform, pyjamas or something that’s equally out of the norm and everyone that takes part will have to pay for the privilege.

We’re also planning on having a ‘bring and buy’ cake sale, which will see our staff bake some tasty treats. In fact, our new stock analyst, Beth is from America and plans to make pumpkin pie – delicious!

A general knowledge quiz has also been arranged, which we’re all really looking forward to. All participants will have to pay £1 to enter and Anthony and Nick are donating a mystery prize, so I hope everyone has their thinking caps on. Finally, we’re also taking part in the Red Nose Day sweepstake ‘Pick a Pose’, which will help raise further money.

The day is set to be good fun with all donations and proceeds going to Comic Relief. We’re all incredibly excited about what we have planned, plus the Hucknall and Bulwell Dispatch are coming along to take some pictures!