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As the company rebrands, introducing the new black shop fascias across

the country, we thought this 20th edition of Communication Matters was

the perfect opportunity for a redesign to match. For the keen eyed you

may have noticed the new fascia and World of Sound mixing desk above

and some newly redesigned division logos at the bottom of the page.

This edition follows the annual company conference which this year

had the theme It’s why we do what we do... On 18 March shop and Area

Managers travelled from all over the country, along with head ofice staff, to the Sheraton Skyline Hotel near Heathrow where delegates

had the chance to hear about what The Salvation Army does with its

donations from SATCoL. Guest speakers included Major Anne Read from

Anti-Human Traficking, Major Margaret Hardy from Family Tracing Services and Lieut-Colonel Ivor Telfer, chairman of SATCoL.

Ex-professional tennis player and broadcaster Andrew Castle kept the

day on track as master of ceremonies and concluded the day with a

pre-dinner talk.

Exceptional efforts from all of the company’s shops resulted in some well

deserved awards, presented by Andrew Castle and, as we found out in

Trevor Caffull’s talk, a substantial proit for the year.

Evening entertainment was provided by singer Faryl Smith, whose father

Tony works for SATCoL, and SATCoL’s own Richard Phillips provided

the accompaniment. The conference provided an enjoyable day for

all with some informative and moving talks on the fantastic work that

The Salvation Army does every day. Without the support of SATCoL,

The Salvation Army wouldn’t be able to help as many people across the

globe as they do now. With such a large proit for 2013-14, the company has been able to help the work of The Salvation Army even more. Keep

up the good work and remember: It’s why we do what we do...

For more details and photos from the conference please turn to

pages 14-17.

Neil Brownless

Communication Matters Editor

The quarterly in-house newsletter of SATCoL

COMMUNICATION M A T T E R S

Edition 20 June 2014

It’s why we do what we do...

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TRADINGMATTERS

Welcome!

Nick Morton, Head of Retail Operations, reports:

As 2014 moves almost stealthily into June, I am already relecting on what has been achieved so far this year. The more obvious thought

that springs to mind is the work we have been doing in the shops to

review and change the way in which we price our goods. Ensuring

that we continue to offer the best prices on the high street is

obviously key, but a sensible approach to inding the right levels is much harder to do than to talk about. I am however delighted with

the work that has been done so far. I want to thank all shops for their

focus and energy as they continue to make the adjustments that will

ensure we remain competitive with all other charities operating with

shop chains.

There are now over 10,000 charity shops in the UK raising over £200

million pounds proit for their respective causes. Our contribution of £3 million pounds last year may seem small in the bigger picture, but rest assured that it is a signiicant amount when put into context with the number of shops we operate.

We are the 12th largest chain of charity shops in the UK and our aim

is to break into the top ive because it is important that the name of The Salvation Army continues to be seen everywhere by everyone.

Shops provide the very best form of advertising because they are

there all year round.

Open Your Hearts & Wardrobes

By the time you are reading this we will have launched our irst big donations push for 2014 with our ‘Open your Hearts & Wardrobes’ campaign. Launched in early June the campaign is designed to run for eight weeks until the school holidays start. As part of the campaign

we’ll be promoting our theme with posters and strong ‘reasons to give’ messaging and will also give away fridge magnets to all customers

who donate or make a purchase in the shops during June and July.

If you want to open your wardrobes and help out our local shop in

Wellingborough we would love to receive your clothing donations

at the ofice. For more information and to collect your fridge magnet please let us know (retail ofice opposite the board room) you have made a donation and we’ll let you have a fridge magnet as our way

of saying ‘thanks’.

Going the Extra Mile

After hearing a talk given by Major Anne Read at this year’s company

conference, Wellington Shop Manager Elaine East took part in a walk

to raise money for The Salvation Army’s ‘Stop the Trafic’ campaign. Elaine walked an incredible 65.4 miles raising £420.00 which she sent to Major Read in support of the campaign. This amazing achievement

was supported by staff from the company along with further

support from Oakengates corps and Elaine’s local church where she

worships. A massive thank you to Elaine for her sterling effort. (I

understand that Elaine set her walking target at 60 miles because she

was celebrating her 60th birthday this year – but in any event she

continued for a further 5.4 miles. I think that is the true deinition of ‘going the extra mile’!) Find out more on page ive.

Arbroath Heroes

Finally, we have some true real life heroes in Arbroath where some

timely intervention helped to prevent a serious medical emergency.

Tess Beal, mother of the infant affected wrote in North Scotland

DHQ Facebook;

Tess Beal – ‘I would like to say a huge thank you to Debra and the team in the Arbroath store today. My little girl collapsed, was sick

and took a seizure while shopping and they were very fast in phoning

an ambulance and keeping my darling and myself as comfortable as

possible. Their response was wonderful and heartfelt and I cannot

express my gratitude enough. Thank you!’

At a time when we are asking our customers to open their Hearts

and Wardrobes it is truly wonderful to see such acts of support and

kindness from our staff who have such big hearts.

Thank you to each and every one of you who cares so deeply and

passionately about the way in which you support the cause. Whether

it be saving a life or walking to save lives, everything needs heart and

that is something we appear to have in abundance.

TOP �6 SHOPS ACTUAL VERSUS

BUDGET %

1 *St Ives 58

2 Coatbridge 54

3 Prestwick 31

4 *Bilborough 27

= Evesham 27

6 Hanley 26

7 *Leighton Buzzard 23

= Longton 23

9 Outwood 21

10 Highcliffe 18

= *Loughborough 18

12 South Shields 17

= Long Eaton 17

14 Brechin 16

= Cumbernald 16

= Dumfries 16

17 St Andrews 14

= Airdrie 14

= Pickering 14

20 Newmarket 13

= Leith 13

= Forfar 13

23 Birstall 12

24 Leven 11

= Wigan 11

= Ryde 11

* New shops opened in March and April

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CENTRAL SOUTHArea Manager, Julie Wardley reports:

New Shops

Cluster Manager Julie Jordon and assistant Tracy Fairbrass (above)

enjoyed a very successful opening of the new St Neots shop.

Although it was a very low key opening, with Trevor Caffull leading

a prayerful blessing before the doors were open, customers were

soon lowing through the doors and buying many of the fabulous

items on sale.

Julie and Tracy have had a very busy time as both were involved in

the opening of St Ives 4 weeks earlier. Both shops are doing well, we

welcome Julie and her staff to the company and wish them all every

success.

St Ives shop, brandishing the new Black and red signage

Ace Volunteer!

William Starck has been a volunteer in the Ipswich shop for over

three years. His loyalty and commitment to the shop and staff has

been invaluable and Manager Becky said; ‘I would not want to be

without him. When William irst started with us as a volunteer he

was very nervous, a young lad with long hair, very little dress sense

and no self conidence. He quickly became part of the family team

and with his desire to learn more about our business, has become

greatly valued by us all.’

William recently became a key holder and has keenly taken on this

responsibility. Not only does William cover the shop when needed,

he also plays an active part in training new volunteers and sorting, is

the best re:bag seller, and will put his hand to anything asked of him.

But to top that William placed four re:ill bins in one day!!!!

Thank you William!

Ace Volunteer William Stark

TRADINGMATTERS

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TRADINGMATTERS

SOUTH LONDONArea Manager, Justin Frost reports:

Busman’s Holiday?

At the start of April I had the opportunity to visit my sister in

California for the irst time in eight years. Anybody who knows me will understand I was told that under no circumstance was I to take

my work phone or laptop and to just relax.

I just ‘happened’ to pass one of the huge Salvation Army Thrift Shops and I couldn’t resist! I thought our Leatherhead shop was a good size but I could have it about 10 of them into this shop! It was huge and everything was done on a grand scale. 17 paid members of staff, nine full time, no volunteers (the Manager looked at me as if I were

mad when I mentioned volunteers) and approx. 3200 items going onto the shop loor EVERY DAY! However, it must be said that the items were already sorted, priced and hung for them in a local hub

and they turnover $2.4 million a year! It is the largest turnover shop in The Salvation Army Western Territory and it was not dificult to see why.

Donors were literally queuing at the rear loading bay, car after car turned up with everything bar the kitchen sink, although I’m sure

they probably would have had one somewhere in the warehouse! I was there for around an hour and within that time three huge

Salvation Army branded trucks turned up full of collected door to

door items. Big business.

Stephanie the Manager was very pleasant and we chatted for a long

time about how each other’s businesses differed. The one thing

though that was clearly the same, was the end result. The passion

that her team demonstrated in the quest to help others was fantastic. As this visit was literally a couple of days after I had attended our

conference it was very heart-warming to be 6000 miles away and

speaking to someone with the same goals and the same mission.

Manager Stephanie (right) and one of her assistants

Justin and Becky

The huge Thrift Store loor

Wicked West Wickham Win (A)Wards!

I was very proud to see West Wickham not only win the area

award at this year’s conference but also the South Regional one.

However, no one was more proud than cluster Manager Julie Reid who delivered on every KPI across the board. Julie, her assistants Sharon and Sandra, and the army of volunteers that seem to grow

every time I visit, have ensured that they make the most out of every

bit of stock and every customer that walks in the door. Thoroughly

deserved and congratulations! Same again this year please, no pressure eh?!

West Wickham Winners

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TRADINGMATTERS

MIDLANDSArea Manager, Jayne Sargeant reports:

Cannock Shop

In the last edition of Communication Matters we printed a photo of

an empty room. Well folks this is what it looks like inished.

The opening of Cannock shop brought the number of shops up to

17 in the Midlands, clustered with Rugeley. New full time general assistant Katie Ward has lots of energy and hopes once volunteer

hours improve we will have a great community store. Supported

by Major Nigel Govier each week with visits and corps volunteers

turning up weekly, this small store will go from strength to strength.

Lichield StoreA new store in Lichield opened up with the local corps band supporting the opening. A high value of clothing into this small 1800

unit holding did Manager David Underwood and new Assistant

Manager Denise, clustered Burton on Trent, very proud. This saw the

shop inish on £2929 for the opening week! Some great comments in our desk comment book ‘we have been waiting in Lichield for a high quality charity to arrive and today we have one’.

Band playing for the Lichield opening (above) and the shop’s

boutique area (right)

The shop is also supported by Major Nigel Govier who has already

recommended new volunteers to Lichield – shop number 18 for the Midlands.

Well done to the shop opening team for getting both new stores

ready in ive days.

60 Miles in Elaine’s Shoes

On hearing at our yearly conference about

what fabulous work The Salvation Army

does in ighting human traficking one of our Managers, Elaine East, decided to do

a sponsored walk around her favourite

holiday destination in Wales. Elaine was

60 this year so decided that 60 was a fabulous number and the 60

mile challenge was set!

Here below, in Elaine’s words, is how the three days were achieved:

‘I started in Llanbedr at 7.20am and headed for Barmouth, by the time I reached Barmouth I was wet through to the skin. It was

there I met a lady who, when she found out I was on a walk for The

Salvation Army, gave me a donation for the walk. When I reached

Barmouth my heels were very badly blistered, so I plastered them up

and carried on. I went over the main Barmouth Bridge and headed to

Fairbourn. I realised I couldn’t stop or I would not get going again, so

tried to drink a cup of tea on the move…more went down me than

down my throat. I then started the return journey, but was in real

pain going back through Barmouth toward Llanbedr. On returning

to my friend’s house and taking my boots off my socks were soaked

in blood and the blisters were very deep.

Day one – 24 miles.

All I could think about was how was I going to do tomorrow, but

I bandaged my feet up and got blister plasters on, and the next day

went off to start the Mawddach Trail walk which is from the mountain

to the sea. It got easier as the day went on and with the sun out the

views were brilliant, I kept my eyes on the bridge as that is what I

was heading for. Once again through the town and up the coast road

back to Llanbedr. Now my hip started to play up.

Day two over, and another 20 miles under my belt.

I started late the next day but headed in the other direction as I went

up to Harlech and down on to the beach. It was easy going along the

5 miles up to Talsuarni and the beach was deserted, but with my head

phones on it was well worth the walk. On past Portmerion and then

time to return, it was good going back as it was all downhill!

On getting back I felt really chuffed as I had managed to complete

it all in the three days, but I did another 5 miles the next day up the

Artro river just to make sure I had really done over the 60, as this

was not just a walk for me but it was what people were giving money

for to help to stop human traficking.’

All the Midlands staff are very pleased in Elaine’s achievements and

the cheque has been sent to give continued support to the fantastic work The Salvation Army does day in day out. I do know Elaine has

always supported The Salvation Army but I am sure you all agree this

single act is one to be admired. Well done Elaine!

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TRADINGMATTERS

CENTRAL NORTHArea Manager, Christine Westwood reports:

Two New Shops

Central North has been busy with another two shop openings, one

on 20 February in Stafford and pictured below is Major Samuel Edgar

who opened the shop. To the left of the picture is Cluster Manager

Mike Payne, who has been promoted within the company from a

stand alone Manager. Well done to Mike.

We also opened on 25 March a shop in Loughborough which was

opened by our very own Regional Manager, Jill Sansom. I would like to say a big welcome to our new sales assistant Samantha Smith.

Jill Sansom opening the Loughborough shop

Easter Windows

April was a busy month with all shops decorating their windows

ready for the Bank Holiday Easter weekend. The Central North

winning window was from Longton, with Maureen and her team of

volunteers decorating baskets and promoting re:bags as well.

Longton’s winning window

Pictured below is the bedroom scence that our new Manager Emma

Sutton created to help increase her sales of linen and nightwear.

Emma and her team worked hard on decorating the windows,

making stencils and even making a bed. Great work Emma I’m looking

forward to what you come up with next.

Keeping it in the Family

May was a month to celebrate for myself as we welcomed a new

addition to our family, my beautiful daughter Amy gave birth to a little

girl on 10 May (day after her own birthday) weighing 7lb 2oz called Mia Samantha Rutter.

Mia with her

proud nana (above)

and parents

Amy and James (right)

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TRADINGMATTERS

NORTH EASTArea Manager, Anthony Cummings reports:

A Sad Farewell and a new Beginning

In May Wendy Glaister-Smith, Area Manager for South Tyneside,

sadly took the decision to leave the company. She had worked with

Salvation Army Trading Co Ltd for many years, starting as a Shop

Manager, then Cluster Manager and inally as an Area Manager in South Tyneside.

Wendy and myself have worked together for many years and seen

a lot of changes, watching the company grow from 40 shops to over 180. It felt at times as if the only thing we were doing was

shop set-ups!

A farewell party was held for Wendy in the North Shields shop

attended by Managers from the whole of the North East and

needless to say some tears were shed!

The North and South Tyneside areas have now been condensed

into one area and re-named North East area, and my challenge is to

ensure that the new area is the best performing in the company.

I have inherited, from Wendy, some excellent shops and, together

with my existing shops, I hope to take the area forward and give all

the Managers the support and encouragement needed to achieve

their targets and goals for the coming year. We can be the best!

Wendy with the North East team. L to R: Jill, Susan, Jackie,

Geraldine, Wendy, Leanne, Zoe, Sheena, Sharon, Diane and Julie.

Easter Window Competition

Winners of the North and South Tyneside best dressed Easter

window competition were Wallsend and Redcar. The Managers are

pictured being presented with the winning rosettes for the excellent

displays created in their shops.

Julie Durnion, Cluster Manager for Wallsend, Whitley Bay

and North Shields and Diane Bailey, Manager, Redcar

receiving their rosettes for their shops from Anthony and Wendy.

Shop of the Year Award Winners

Congratulations to the North Tyneside shop of the year winner –

Whitley Bay, and the South Tyneside shop of the year winner –

Peterlee. Very well done to both shops who achieved and surpassed their sales budgets in a very hard trading year.

The awards were made at the recent shop Conference and given

to the top shop in each area throughout the country. Although

the Managers collected the awards on behalf of the shops, a huge

thank you must also go to the staff and volunteers in each shop,

as without their hard-work, enthusiasm and commitment to the

Salvation Army Trading Company, the shops (and company) would not be achieving the success that it is doing today. Very well done to both shop teams!

This year the two areas have merged into the North East area and as

there can be only one area winner of Shop of the Year, the challenge is quite simple. Who will be top shop this year? Will it be you?

Improving Your Local Corps Partnership

The Newcastle upon Tyne, Clayton Street shop, recently unveiled

their new notice board which is speciically for the use of the Salvation Army Corps based in Gateshead.

The shop and the Corps recently rekindled their working relationship

after a new oficer took over in Gateshead and the local Corps building had a major reit and rebuild. So it seemed sensible that the shop had a new notice board itted to help promote the Corps events and facilities at the new site.

I sent the Corps the picture of the notice

board, being very professionally modelled

by sales assistant Hazel Graham, Newcastle,

and they were extremely happy with how it

looked and the response they’d had from it.

Sometimes even the simplest things just help

to keep that bond going with the local Corps.

Many thanks to Jonathan Peacock who very kindly brought the notice board with him and

put it up before attending a meeting.

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TRADINGMATTERS

YORKSHIREArea Manager, Linda Mayers reports:

Open Your Hearts & Wardrobes

Below is Birstall’s ‘Open Your Hearts & Wardrobes’ window where the staff have put in a lot of effort to make their window vibrant

and appealing. The aim of this national campaign is to encourage

people to have a wardrobe clear out and donate their unwanted

clothes, shoes and accessories to their local SATCoL charity shop.

The donated items can then be put to good use supporting The

Salvation Army’s valuable work helping those in need in communities

across the UK.

World Cup Fever

The World Cup this year is being hosted by the glamorous city

of Rio de Janeiro, but behind the glitz many people live in terrible poverty in the city’s suburban slums, called Favelas. The Salvation

Army is doing vital and fantastic work in the middle of a village, Vila dos Pescadores which translates as ‘Fishers Village’. As the World Cup kicks off in Brazil football fever hits shops across Yorkshire who have shown their support by decorating windows with lags, bunting and shirts from around the globe. Anything ‘football’ has lown out of the shops over the last week or so as customers get in the mood.

One England shirt has been sent all the way to an avid supporter in

France – Come on England!!!

Swinton lying the lag for England

Dinnington’s World Cup window

Shefield Staniforth Road’s display

Meet re:bag Ruby

Staff at Hoyland enlisted the help of ‘re:bag Ruby’ asking their customers ‘Clearing Out? re:bag It!’

Ruby looking glamorous with her top knot and feather duster!

Meanwhile Clara Wilcox, the new Manager of Dinnington Shop,

enters into the swing of things with an apron made from a re:bag

and a poster encouraging customers to buy ‘the bag that pays you

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TRADINGMATTERS

back’. Clara says “Customers think they are a great idea being a large

handy shopper as well as a strong bag they can use to bring in their

donations – the £2 incentive is a real added bonus!”

Clara Wilcox in her re:bag apron

D-Day Commemorations

Passers-by in South Elmsall could have been forgiven for thinking

they had travelled back in time to 1944. The Salvation Army shop window paid tribute to World War Two Veterans in recognition of the anniversary of the D-Day landings. With its display of vintage

uniforms, photos of tanks and planes and portraying the local

community hit hard during the Blitz, it generated a lot of interest

and was a talking point for many locals. We will remember them.

Now for something completely different....

Yorkshire is very much on the national scene at the moment with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds on Saturday 5 July. Yorkshire folk are very proud of their Heritage – why not try this traditional

recipe for Yorkshire Pudding:

Beat 300ml Milk; 110g Plain lour; 1 egg and a pinch of salt in a bowl briskly and leave to stand. Place oil, lard or dripping in your chosen

cooking tray and heat in an oven at 425F/gas mark 7. Make sure you let the oil or fat get nice and hot. Some people like to make lots of

small individual puddings and others like one large pudding.

The secret of a good Yorkshire pudding is to get the oil or fat as hot as possible before pouring in the mixture. Cook for 20-30 minutes checking periodically. A traditional Yorkshire Pudding fresh from the oven should be well-risen, golden brown with a crisp exterior and

soft middle. Enjoy with a rich onion gravy and lashings of Henderson’s

Relish!

South Elmsall’s D-Day display

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TRADINGMATTERS

LANCASHIREArea Manager, Ann Penny reports:

Ladies Day at Ellesmere Port

Ellesmere Port held a Ladies Day Event on Saturday 3rd May to coincide with the annual Boodles May Festival held in Chester.

Fascinators, hats, shoes and handbags galore brightened up the

window and shop loor. Ladies enjoyed the array of colourful dresses and designer hats we offered on the day. One young lady

from Ellesmere Port said: “I love Ladies Day, for me it’s the highlight

of the year”. She was delighted that she could purchase her whole outit for under £30. Wendy ‘GaGa’ added “I love getting dressed up, I love the glamour, I absolutely love it. There is a bit of competition

between the girls on the day, especially in terms of the hats, but it’s

a good-natured competition”. The weather didn’t dampen the good spirit of the day. Many customers complimented us on the displays

and the vibrance and quality of garments on offer.

Wendy ‘GaGa’ and the Ellesmere

Port hat display

Ashton-under-Lyne and Hyde re:bag Events

Ashton-under-Lyne and Hyde shops held re:bag events in February

and were very successful, with Ashton selling 34 re:bags and Hyde selling 44 re:bags on the day. Ashton’s team created a superb re:bag window and Angela, who is a volunteer in Hyde, created her own

re:bag outit to promote re:bag day. A fabulous effort and results by both shops!!

Angela’s re:bag outit

Ardwick’s Easter Windows

Ardwick’s shop won the area rosette for the Best Dressed Easter

Window and was also awarded the regional winner rosette from

Jill Sansom. Joyce Rock and all her volunteers worked very hard to create this lovely window and were thrilled to win both the area and

regional rosettes.

Ardwick’s superb Easter Window Display

Manager Joyce with volunteers Liz and Eddie

Ellesmere Port

window display and

handbag display

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TRADINGMATTERS

GREATER GLASGOWArea Manager, Alan Rankin reports:

A New Cambuslang

It was a great day when the Cambuslang community got to see their

local shop, which they have supported truly over the years, re-open

with not only a fresh new look but lots more space made available to

show off the vast variety of goodies available. Elaine (Shop Manager) said ‘ It’s brilliant to see the shop look the way it does, the customers love it’.

Elaine and her team preparing for the shop opening

with one thing on their mind ‘re:bags’

A Happy Farewell

It was smiles all round when everyone was saying farewell to Maureen

Barrett who was retiring from the Dalry Shop after 20 happy years

of volunteering. Many people turned up to say goodbye, including

Head of Retail Nick Morton, who personally turned up to thank

Maureen for the contribution she has given over the years.

Nick presenting Maureen with her bunch of lowers

Success Rewarded

It was a nice surprise for Rebecca Mayo (Manager) when she was presented at Scotland Central’s recent area meeting for Best Cluster

Performance YTD on the company KPIs, where she has managed to deliver a positive result in every one of her KPIs in both shops.

Rebecca being presented with Rosette and Chocolates

from Alan Rankin (Area Manager)

Saltire Rewards

It was quite an achievement for young Graham Crossbie, a volunteer within our Earl Grey St shop, when he recently attended the Saltire

Awards ceremony, a national organised programme that recognises

the efforts and hours contributed by young people within the local

community.

Graham and two other young volunteers from other charity sectors on

stage awaiting their award certiicates

Bellshill Warehouse

A huge congratulations to Bellshill Warehouse Manager Frances

Kerr and driver Mark Stephen, both passed their fork lift driving test

with lying colours and are now the proud holders of a full forklift driving licence. The warehouse has recently undergone a reit and

looks fantastic.

Mark and Francis with their fork lift licenses

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SCOTLAND WESTRegional Manager, Nicola Crawford reports:

Pop Up Events

Pop up events have been the talk of the area and two stores have

already made their mark!

Renfrew held a wedding event in the irst week of April to help with inspiration and ideas for upcoming weddings. The stock had been

collected over a number of weeks and meticulously catalogued and

stored by the team & volunteers at the store.

Renfrew’s wedding event

Renfrew also gathered their toys & games to build a fun illed window for Easter. They’re deinitely doing something right as sales are up 10% on budget and units are up 7% on last year – well done team Renfrew!

Renfrew Toy Window

Prestwick held a vintage event on Saturday 10 May. The team were

dressed to impress and made the most of the day by engaging with all

customers who walked through the door. As with Renfrew the event

has had the magic touch, sales are up a phenomenal 46% on budget and units are up 28% on last year – well done team Prestwick!

Team Prestwick in vintage clothing

TRADINGMATTERS

Prestwick’s vintage event

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TRADINGMATTERS

SCOTLAND NORTHArea Manager, Arlene McKenna reports:

Dumfernline Double

The Dunfermline duo strike again! Anne Neil and Michelle Bird (above) did a fantastic job of the Easter windows in the Dunfermline store. Not only did it win the area rosette but also bagged the

regional rosette too for the second time. The Dunfermline store

pulled off this triumph with their efforts made with the Christmas

window last year. There’s no stopping the team in Dunfermline, their

talents seemingly endless. Let’s see if they get a hat-trick.

Dumfernline’s winning window

I’m happy to say the whole area team made my choice very dificult with some amazing windows to choose from.

Medals for Angela

Angela Rennie has been volunteering in the Forfar store for four

years now. Angela took part and won medals in the Special Olympics

last year and also won two medals at the Dundee Disability Sports

last week. She scooped up a Bronze and Silver for soft ball and 60

metre run respectively.

Angela proudly showing off her medals .

Top Area Sales

Pictured below is Manager Debra Navin, happily receiving her award

for top area sales. Debra unfortunately missed the conference due to

bereavement. Area Manager Arlene McKenna presented Debra with

her award at the Managers area meeting. Debra’s dad was always so

proud of what she does for a living, and rightly so as Debra accepts

her award on behalf of herself and her team.

Debra accepting the top area sales award

from Area Manager Arlene McKenna

A Comfy Sale

The Arbroath store received a fantastic donation of a remote control

bed. When the store Manager called to say the bed had been sold

for £300, I honestly thought I might need a lie down! A very happy customer, Nick the Salvationist who sells the War Cry in Arbroath

town centre, purchased the bed. This gives Debra a great start of the

year sales igure to help her on her way to winning the award for top area sales again at next year’s conference. Debra’s Area Manager

is dreaming about her acceptance speech while typing this piece.

‘I know you’re impressed with the clever play on words’. I on the other hand will be impressed if I do have to help Debra with her

acceptance speech.

An Elegant Donation

Thanks to the supreme, and I do mean supreme efforts of full time

sales assistant for Coatbridge, Lillian Seel, using her powers of

persuasion, a local business, Touch of Elegance donated all of the

left over stock from their gift shop that closed down last month. To

date the stock has raised about £1000 in turnover. Lillian and her

volunteers carried all of this stock by hand, in boxes, trolleys and

by any means they could, working out of trade hours just to collect,

organise and set up took hours of work. Manager Isobel Murdoch

is really impressed with all of the effort and hard work the entire

team have put in to make this happen. The igures for the Coatbridge store are sitting at a very healthy +49% against budget and +49% against last year. Keeping in mind Coatbridge won the Company top

store award for sales and are now topping last year’s igure of +33% against budget and +27% against last year. A huge well done is well deserved by all.

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SATCoL CONFERENCECommunication Matters Editor, Neil Brownless reports:

On 18 March 2014 staff from all departments of SATCoL travelled to the Sheraton Skyline Hotel near Heathrow Airport for the annual

company conference. This was the irst time the whole company had got together for a conference since the 20th anniversary of

the company in 2011. The hotel proved to be the perfect setting

with a spacious conference room, excellent food throughout the

day, friendly and helpful staff and, for those that stayed, comfy and

welcoming rooms.

‘The Venue for the conference this year was very nice. The rooms were

exceptionally comfortable and classy looking, with tea and coffee available

and the lovely touch of shampoos etc to use. The actual hotel was very

impressive, regarding its superb cleanliness and its professional and polite

staff who were there to help on all occasions. It was also very easy to navigate

around this hotel.

The conference room was excellent and had suficient space for us all which

was really nice. I prefer it when we are all together rather than having split

rooms. Another very good point of this hotel was the lack of noise that

could be heard from outside, despite there being an airport runway very near

to our location. In fact there was no noise disturbance of any description

unless you were outside, which we were not. The food was my favourite

part of this hotel, serving an amazing buffet lunch, evening meal and breakfast

which were all exceptional.

The only comparable venues I have been to in the past for the company were

a hotel near Luton, and Head Ofice, and I preferred this venue. I hope in the

future we can again have a conference at this hotel, and I will remember to

bring my swimming costume next time.’

Rebecca Mutimer

Shop Manager of Ipswich

After a short safety brieing from the hotel the conference began and we were welcomed by Managing Director Trevor Caffull. As a lifelong

Salvationist Trevor has always been passionate about supporting the

work of The Salvation Army but, as around 95% of people in the

room were not Salvationists, the conference was the ideal platform

to learn more about the work of the wider movement. It’s why we do

what we do was chosen as the theme for the day to relect that the better we perform as a company, the better the charity is supported

through our efforts.

New Yorkshire Managers are welcomed

This was the irst conference for a number of staff, in particular members of the new Yorkshire region who were introduced to us at the start of the day. The latest shop opening was also acknowledged,

Cannock store in Staffordshire which opened the week before

the conference. Trevor got the day moving with his company-wide

update on the ‘state of the business’.

Company Update

Two weeks before the end of the inancial year was certainly an odd time to have a conference but the company was still on a irm footing to end the year with an above budget proit. This could not have been achieved without the hard work of every employee in

all departments so the company bonus scheme paid out at the

maximum level.

This outcome was achieved across the three divisions of the company.

Here are a few of their successes:

SP&S• 94.25% of our customers rate our service as good to excellent

• Uniform supply has been maintained against some very

dificult market conditions• Customer returns rates (all reasons) have reduced dramatically from nearly 8% to less than 2%

Retail Division

• Like for like sales have risen by 1% year on year

• Cluster management introduced in all but about 35 shops across the business

• Yorkshire Division shops – vastly enhanced proitabilityClothing Collection Division

• Volumes collected up nearly 5% on last year• Export prices maintained

• Nigel Hanger succession assured

With the recession and the decline of the high street, many shoppers

turn to the internet for their shopping. As a company we need to

move with the times and we were shown three ideas for smart phone

apps that could be used to place SATCoL into the digital world. We

were shown a World of Brass app, which is a digital version of the

catalogue with the ability to click on CDs and DVDs for a sound or video sample. The second app was of a similar design but this time

for the SP&S catalogue. The third app was for the retail division. It had a clickable map of the UK to ind your closest Salvation Army shop and when you clicked on each shop it showed you what it was

selling on its ebay page. This could become a fantastic resource for

the company to help boost sales even more.

Another thing helping SATCoL to achieve such a high proit is the retail gift aid scheme. In 2013-14 the company achieved an average of 13% of sales on gift-aided products. This means an extra £500k of sales are generated without selling any extra goods! Some shops are working at a fantastic 30% of sales on gift-aided products however

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some shops are only working at 5%. The scheme takes very little

effort and if every shop can increase their gift aid sales, we can

double our performance in this area and generate an extra £500k

for The Salvation Army – why wouldn’t you want to do that?!

‘When I returned from the SATCoL conference 2014 I felt a great satisfaction,

it was a really great conference. The choice of venue was brilliantly thought

out from the conference room to the location. It provided us all with an

ideal platform to network with senior management and Managers from other

regions enabling us to share new techniques and processes and how we can

apply them to our shops.

The hotel itself was a high class and stylish business environment which

catered to all our business needs. The staff were polite, helpful, and friendly

which added immense value to the venue, coupled with being able to offer

appealing and appetising food and drink to the attendees.

The conference itself was informative, senior executives delivered the

company statistics over the past year, highlighting outstanding achievements

and best practices in business planning to improve performance for the future.

The idea of employing the celebrity speaker Andrew Castle was certainly an

excellent way of keeping the audience engaged and keeping things lowing

professionally, he was witty and charming. Listening to the guest speakers

give us an insight in ‘why we do what we do’ was wonderful. I think we were

all touched by the presentations on Family Tracing Services and Anti-Human

Traficking. I felt totally empowered by watching these videos because it will

inspire us all to continue to do what we do to help transform lives.

I started to relect on why SATCoL was a good organisation to work for.

They invest in their staff because they believe we are their biggest investment,

allow us to feel more integrated into our professional roles as Managers and

reward us for our abilities and our contributions to the company. Believing

when we are recognised for our efforts, we will also continue in our desire

to excel and motive others around us.’

Debbie Morris

Shop Manager of Ellesmere Port

Guest Speakers

Trevor handed over to our master of ceremonies for the day,

ex-professional tennis player and BBC tennis commentator Andrew

Castle. Andrew directed the day keeping everything on track and

introducing us to the guest speakers. First to speak to us was Major

Anne Read from the Anti-Human Traficking department.

Major Anne Read

Anne told us about the work that The Salvation Army does to stop

victims of human traficking being bought and sold as ‘things’. In 1885

Eliza Armstrong was bought to expose how girls at the time were

being sold into prostitution. After her ‘purchase’ Eliza was sheltered in a Salvation Army home in France from her parents. From this The

Salvation Army set up safe houses for women who were vulnerable

and victimised. Since 1 July 2011 The Salvation Army has been the prime contractor for managing the support of adult victims of human-

traficking in England and Wales. The service supplies support and secure accommodation to help stop people being sold into sexual

exploitation, forced labour, slavery and to have organs removed.

The next speaker was Major Margaret Hardy from The Salvation

Army’s Family Tracing Service. In 1882 the irst advert for a missing boy appeared in The War Cry. As more families despaired about

missing family members William Booth set up a House of Help and

Enquiry in 1885. Florence Booth started the work as Mrs Booth’s Enquiry Agency to help families locate their missing relatives. Fast forward to today and the Family Tracing Service have an 88.5%

success rate in reuniting missing family members, that’s eight people

successfully traced every working day of the year! Margaret told us some very emotional stories about separated family members being

reconciled. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Major Margaret Hardy

Due to the retirement of Nigel Hanger, founder and Managing

Director of Kettering Textiles, the company put in place a plan for

succession over the last two years. As part of this Tony Hosking

joined the company in October 2013 and now takes over as Head of the Clothing Collection Division. Tony gave us a brief talk on his

plans to increase collections from the kerbside, collection banks in

supermarket car parks and community re-use initiatives.

Tony Hosking

Lieut-Colonel Ivor Telfer, chairman of SATCoL, delivered the keynote

speech for the day. This was Ivor’s irst company conference and sadly his last as he is being posted to Pakistan as Territorial Commander.

Starting with a joke Ivor continued on to tell us some stories about

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his experiences of the work and kindness of The Salvation Army.

This included a story about his father taking in and caring for Archie,

an alcoholic, helping him through his time at a Salvation Army Detox

centre and putting him on a path to sobriety. He started attending the

local corps, and after a few months became a soldier. He later met a

nice girl, got married and had two sons. He is still sober, married, still

a soldier and both of his sons have grown up and got good jobs. The

money SATCoL raises helps pay for this kind of help.

Lieut-Colonel Ivor Telfer and Andrew Castle

After a break Andrew Castle regaled us with stories of tennis victory

and, with the help of Ivor Telfer, demonstrated the ball throw that

made him realise when it was time to throw in the towel as a pro

tennis player. Earlier in the day Andrew had mentioned one of his

ancestors, Annie Besant, had played a large role in the matchgirls

strike of 1888. In his evening talk he showed us a video, kindly

pointed out to him by Garry Smith, about how Catherine Booth

worked to help improve conditions of the matchgirls and get rid

of the toxic yellow phosphorous that was being used on the match

heads. Andrew was very moved by all that he heard of The Salvation

Army’s work throughout the day and was delighted to ind this family connection to the charity.

‘This year’s conference was held at the Skyline Sheraton Hotel, Heathrow.

This venue was excellent! - It was almost like a mini break sitting around the

pool and certainly the best in my ive years with the company.

The conference was titled It’s why we do what we do and the topics covered

made it into a very emotive day.

Anti-Human Traficking Co-ordinator Major Anne Read really enlightened

me about the work that the organisation does with regards to this subject.

We all see reports on the news but to hear about it from someone with

irst-hand experience really brings the scale of the problem home. From July

to December 2013 399 people received support from The Salvation Army.

These were victims of domestic servitude, labour or sexual exploitation. It is

hard to believe that in the world we live people still use other human beings

in this way for their own gain!

Major Margaret Hardy spoke to us about the work undertaken by the Family

Tracing Service. This is another arm of the organisation that has touched the

lives of many people world-over. Watching a ilm featuring two reconciliations

brought tears to my eyes and made me relect on my own personal story.

With the help of the service, a relative was recently traced after losing touch

with other family members for 47 years following a re-location abroad.

On a closer to home note Lieutenant-Colonel Ivor Telfer spoke about

the efforts made by shop staff to help raise funds. It was lovely to be able

to congratulate the winners of the awards on their achievements and

to be able to put faces to names too!

The guest speaker was former tennis player Andrew Castle who was greeted

favourably - mainly by the ladies (now there’s a surprise!) His stories of

time spent as a sports personality and later as a presenter on ITV’s GMTV

were very entertaining, albeit a little risqué in places. A few eyebrows were

certainly raised!

Once again the wonderfully talented Faryl Smith provided the musical

entertainment. Her angelic voice was certainly one of the highlights of the

evening and gave me a real lump in the throat moment!

To sum up, this was an excellent conference with many emotional highs. I’m

looking forward to the next one already... and could I selishly request that

it’s at the same hotel please!?’

Marie Boulton

Cluster Manager of Cosham, Gosport & Waterlooville

After the talk from Andrew Castle we were served a delicious dinner

of soup, pork belly and pannacotta. During this we had entertainment

provided by surprise guest singer Faryl Smith who, as a friend of

Nigel Hanger, wanted to help the company wish him a fond farewell.

Faryl’s father Tony works for SATCoL and she was accompanied by

our very own Richard Phillips on the piano.

Faryl Smith and Richard Phillips

Company Awards

Rewarding shops for achievement and excellence has become an

integral part the annual conference. Formally presented to best

performing shops in retail conferences, the winners this year were

proudly presented awards by special guest Andrew Castle and rightly

paraded for recognition by all who attended the conference.

The awards fell into three categories; best area performance, best

regional performance and best in the company. A further award

for outstanding achievement was also presented and this award

recognised the shop team that achieved across a number of

performance areas.

The area winners were announced one by one by Andrew Castle

and asked to step up and receive their awards which were then

presented to the Manager by Lieut-Colonel Ivor Telfer before posing

for a photograph with the award alongside Lieut-Colonel Telfer and

Andrew Castle. Hearty congratulations to;

Ipswich (Central South Area), Ryde (South Coast Area),West

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Wickham (South London Area), Rugeley (Midlands Area), Long Eaton (North Midlands Area), Peterlee (South Tyneside Area), Whitley Bay (North Tyneside Area), St. Helens (Lancashire Area), Largs (Scotland West Area), Coatbridge, (Glasgow Central Area), Gorgie Road, Edinburgh (Scotland East Area), Arbroath (Scotland North Area), Pickering (North Yorkshire Area) and Staniforth Road, Shefield (South Yorkshire Area).

Next up were the regional winners. These shops were the best sales

performers in their respective regions and taking to the stage to

receive their awards were; Sally Whitlow, West Wickham (South

Region), Isobel Murdoch, Coatbridge (Scotland Region) and Linda Mayers, Area Manager, representing Angela Housley of Staniforth

Road, Shefield (North Region) who was unable to attend on the day.

There can only be one winner though and the Shop of the Year Award for best sales in the company was presented to Coatbridge.

For the third time in 30 minutes, Isobel Murdoch was asked to step forward to receive the shop award for a magniicent performance which resulted in the shop exceeding its sales target by an incredible

35%. Many congratulations to Isobel and her team at Coatbridge.

Finally, there was just one award left to make, the Outstanding

Achievement Award. This deines the shop team that has proactively managed and achieved in a number of business objectives including

providing a high level of customer service measured by the

achievement of re:bag sales, gift aid sales, re:ill bin placements, sales performance... to name but a few. It takes leadership and focus to

fulil the business objectives and Bellshill, managed by Anita Hughes, led from the front for the entire year and very deservedly were

awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award. The Bellshill shop is

no stranger to awards having picked up ive ‘best in’ awards over the last three years – an outstanding achievement by any standards! Congratulations to Anita and her team.

Who will be the award winners next year – check back this time

next year to ind out!

‘On the morning of the conference the Greater Glasgow area met bright

and early for their light. We lew with British Airways and to our pleasure

we received a breakfast. When we arrived at the airport we travelled by bus

to the hotel which was very nice but the rooms were nicer. I was looking

forward to the conference as it’s nice to meet staff from other areas, and

head ofice, and put faces to names. The guest speakers were motivational and

emotional, it’s good to ind out what The Salvation Army do. In the evening we

all prepared for dinner and I found myself at the top table with Trevor, Nick,

Ivor, Alan, Shirley, Andrew Castle (of GMTV fame), Claire and Anita. It was a

most enjoyable evening. On the whole I found the conference motivational,

educational and some parts emotional.

Oh and did I not mention I went up for three awards; best in area, region and

company. The staff and volunteers in Coatbridge were very proud to be the

triple winner. I can’t wait to do it all again next year.’

Isobel Murdoch

Cluster Manager of Airdrie & Coatbridge

‘Meeting all the staff from head ofice was a strange and interesting

experience, being able to put a face to the name that you only normally see

at the bottom of an email but actually feeling as though you know them, it

was a real pleasure to meet them all.

I thought the introduction of a guest speaker was a stroke of genius and

there was a lot of speculation beforehand as to who it might be. Andrew

Castle was an interesting surprise, he made everyone at ease and kept things

interesting.

It was also very interesting to hear and see the actual facts and igures for the

company as a whole rather than just our region. I found it particularly helpful

meeting other cluster Managers from other regions and sharing experiences

with them which made me realise that we all have the same challenges and

situations within our stores. The presentation of the trophies made me feel

really proud of my fellow cluster Managers and also inspired me to try extra

hard so that maybe next year I could win one.

I thought the whole conference was excellent and very informative and a

pleasure to be part of. I can honestly say I am very proud to be a SATCoL

employee. I came away with a renewed excitement about the job and I enjoy

it more now than ever. Roll on Conference 2015!’

Nicola Jackson

Cluster Manager of Ashton-under-Lyne & Hyde

Award winners 2013-14

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RECYCLINGMATTERS

News from the Clothing Collection Division

Head of Clothing Collection Division, Tony Hosking

reports:

Royal Navy Recycles its Unwanted Clothing

Earlier this year we joined forces with The Royal Navy & Royal Marines to encourage textile recycling among staff at four of its naval bases

across the UK.

Five specially designed SATCoL clothing banks have been placed at

HMS Nelson, HMS Excellent, HMS Collingwood and HMS Sultan for

staff, friends and family to bring their unwanted clothing and textile

items.

Money raised from donations will be shared between the Royal Navy

& Royal Marines Charity, to help provide a better quality of life to serving and former naval service communities, and The Salvation

Army, to help fund its vital social welfare work throughout the UK and

Republic of Ireland.

In March and April 2014 an impressive total of 515kg of unwanted clothing was collected across the sites.

Local Holiday Resorts Recycle Over 6�0kg of Textiles

Last year we teamed up with Haven Holidays to place banks at its

holiday sites across the country. Staff and holidaymakers have been

donating their unwanted clothing and textile items to the banks at 34 of the leisure company’s sites across the UK.

Naomi Woodstock, Head of Publicity at Haven, hopes the partnership

will continue to raise high levels of money for charity: “As part of our

environmental strategy, we were keen to reduce our levels of textile

waste and SATCoL offered a partnership we could really engage with

and it’s also helping us to reach our fundraising goal of £300,000 for BBC Children in Need.

Haven Holiday’s Clothing Bank

‘The SATCoL bank gives visitors and staff at our sites across the UK a safe and reliable way to recycle their unwanted clothing and other

textile items including household linens and clothing, while helping

to raise money for two worthwhile causes. We have many families

who enjoy visiting their caravans throughout the summer and the

opportunity to recycle using the SATCoL bank helps give a real sense

of community.’

Recycle With Michael continues to grow

So far in 2014, we’ve been working closely with local authorities across the country to expand our growing schools recycling scheme, Recycle

With Michael. Since its launch in 2012, we’ve received a fantastic

response and we’re pleased to have brought plenty of new schools on

board since January.

Haveley Hey Community School in Wythenshawe, Manchester, is just

one of the schools promoting the beneits of textile recycling through the scheme. A colourful clothing bank branded with the fun kid’s

recycling champion, Michael, was installed at the school last month to

encourage clothes recycling and raise money for The Salvation Army

alongside the school’s chosen charity, UNICEF. To launch the scheme,

the school hosted a special clothing collection week leading up to

UNICEF’s national Day for Change on Friday 7 February. Each week, pupils at the school are given SATCoL recycling bags to take home and

load up with any unloved clothes to donate to the bank at school.

Children from Haveley Hey Community School

In November last year, eco-friendly school Rice Lane Infant and

Nursery became the irst school in Liverpool to sign up to the Recycle with Michael scheme. After publicising the scheme in its newsletter,

the school has already collected 302kg of donated items, and the funds raised will be put towards refurbishing the playground. Tracy

Parry, Deputy Head Teacher at the school, said: ‘The scheme supports our whole school ethos of reduce, reuse and recycle. The school

councillors have driven this initiative to develop awareness of green

issues.’

Recycle With Michael allows schools to encourage textile recycling by

taking a hands-on approach, whilst raising money for their school and

The Salvation Army.

Zero Waste Scotland – Resource Conference

In March we travelled to London to attend Resource – a major

European conference and exhibition about realising the opportunities

of a circular economy. The event was aimed at organisations from

throughout the entire supply chain looking to develop better resource

strategy and security. We were pleased to have the opportunity to talk

about SATCoL’s work to representatives from local authorities, the

private sector and even the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary

for Rural Affairs and Environment. The three-day event was well

attended and the SATCoL stand received a lot of positive interest.

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CONGRESSMATTERS

Boundless �0��

Next year will see the 150th Anniversary of the founding of The

Salvation Army and the organisation’s leadership has announced that

there is to be a celebration to mark the event at the O2 in London

from 1 to 5 July 2015.

Salvationists from 126 countries will unite under the theme,

BOUNDLESS: The Whole World Redeeming, and SATCoL has

accepted the invitation to run the Congress shop for the duration

of the event.

This event is on a much larger scale and of a different nature to

anything the company has handled before and so an external Project

Manager has been brought in to co-ordinate our work for this event.

The person in question is Garry Smith who is no stranger to SATCoL having worked with the company a few years ago looking at their

corporate vision and values. Garry is a Salvationist from Chelmsford

Corps where he has just been appointed as the Corps Bandmaster.

He is an experienced Project Manager, having previously worked as

Director of Research & Development for the UK Territory.

Garry says: “this is a really exciting project and I’m delighted to be

involved. We will be taking over an 1800m2 area at the O2 called

the London Piazza and trading from 08.00 to 23.00 for the duration of the Congress. We’re currently talking to a number of potential

suppliers to build our pop-up shop and also looking to expand our

range of goods to appeal to the full range of international visitors.”

He continues: “I am so grateful for everyone’s support and

encouragement so far on this project and there is ample opportunity

for others to get involved at the event itself as we will need a large

and enthusiastic team to deliver this project successfully.”

If you’re interested in

getting involved, Garry can

be contacted on:

garry.smith@satcol.org

Boundless 2015 is happening at the O2 Arena with SATCoL trading in the London Piazza

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PEOPLEMATTERS

First Class First Aid

Congratulations go to Neil Brownless, Ali Pearson, Teresa Souch,

Nigel Anniwell and Christopher Taylor who all recently qualiied as First Aiders. A big thank you to the group for volunteering to train

as irst aiders and then well done for all gaining the qualiication with lying colours.

Christopher, Ali, Nigel, Teresa and Neil with their certiicates

Denington Road First Aiders:-

Zoe Cleaver ext 410 CCDNeil Brownless ext 484 World of SoundTeresa Souch ext 447 Mail OrderNigel Anniwell ext 609 Warehouse

Christopher Taylor ext 203 Accounts

Tiverton Street Shop:-

Ali Pearson ext 281

Good luck to you all in the future and let’s hope your new found skills

are not called upon.

David Hannah

New Staff at HO

In the last few months we have had some new staff at head ofice, here is an introduction to our new members of the SATCoL family.

Leighanne Bell – Reception

I started working for the Salvation

Army Trading Company at the

end of March this year. Although I

have only been here a short while

I feel I have settled in well. Being on

reception at irst was quite daunting as I did not know people or their

departments very well, however

with the help of each department, I

learnt fairly quickly how to deal with

each phone call or query in a manner that presents the company admirably. Being the receptionist here isn’t the mindless job that so

many think it could be. Aside from taking phone calls I have many

other things to be doing throughout the day such as sorting the daily

post, iling, labelling, shredding and archiving documents for various departments. The role has lots of administration qualities which I enjoy as it helps me build up my own knowledge of understanding of

how each department operates, as well as helping them. Personally my

interests include photography and design, so although I am a creative

individual, I ind the administration within my role very interesting. I am initially quite a shy person, however when I started working at SATCoL I felt very welcomed and comfortable with talking to lots of

different people, improving my self conidence.

Anabel Kanjurs – Human Resources

I am the Senior HR Administrator

working in the Human Resources

ofice in Wellingborough. Previously I have worked in HR for

Tesco and the Austin Reed Group.

More recently I have taken a few

years out to look after my three

young children. I live in Market

Harborough and enjoy spending

time with my family, running and

going to the gym.

John Clayton – Websites Manager

I’m John Clayton, Websites Manager, in charge of redeveloping our presence on the world wide web, amongst other things. I spent the

last 10 years honing my skills up on the Shetland Islands so nothing the

weather throws at me down here will ever phase me.

When not working on websites or writing code, I cook Indian, Thai,

and Mexican food for my family – wife, ive kids, two cats, and ive chickens. As a through-and-through geek I’m a big fan of Dr Who

(as my desk will testify), Star Trek and Firely. I’ve played Dungeons and Dragons on and off for 30 years and don’t understand sport. I sing in the Greenwood Quire and am – slowly and painfully – learning

the Mountain Dulcimer so I can join in the folk music sessions in my

local tavern.

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Double Surprise for Denise Waterson at the Glasgow Shop

Denise Waterson was 60 on 26 May. The staff at the shop put on a

surprise birthday party on Saturday 24 May. It was a double surprise on the day as Jill Sansom, Regional Manager decided to join the party.

Happy Birthday Denise from all of the staff and volunteers at

Glasgow.

Denise Waterson (second from the left) and staff at the Glasgow shop

Double Celebration in Accounts

Here at SATCoL we like to take every opportunity to

appreciate people.

As I write this, it is June 2014 and it has been two years since I joined the company. I feel so privileged to work here and especially to work with

my colleagues in Accounts. Mandy Dowell became Ofice Manager for our department on 5 June 2013 so as a double celebration I took the opportunity to have some cakes made for us.

Mandy inherited a challenging role here as the company continues to

grow and prosper, each day brings us new challenges.

As I begin my third year I am looking forward with expectation and

excitement with what we all can achieve.

Christopher Taylor

Auto Enrolment

New Pension Reform

Pensions & Welfare Manager, Lynn Barker reports:

You are in!I am pleased to conirm that 364 eligible employees were automatically enrolled into The Salvation Army Employees Deined Contribution Pension Scheme, provided by Friends Life.

The payments into your pension pot will be:-

• 1% of your pensionable salary by way of your

contribution of 0.8% of your pensionable salary and the

tax relief will be 0.2% of pensionable salary. This will be

taken directly from your pay.

• SATCoL’s contribution is an amount equal to 2% of your pensionable salary

On your payslip, the igure you will see is your contribution and the tax relief added together. You will also see the Company’s contribution on your payslip.

You will receive a statement each year from Friends Life showing how much your pension pot has built up so far and the possible

potential beneit when you reach the scheme’s pension age.

If you so desire, you can have an inluence about how your pension pot is invested. You don’t have to, but have the option if you so choose.

More information on the scheme can be found in the Member’s

Booklet and Fund Guide which have already been given/sent to you.

PEOPLEMATTERS PENSIONMATTERS

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WORLDOFBRASSMATTERS

European Brass Band Championships �0��Recording Projects Coordinator, Neil Brownless reports:

At the start of May Scotland hosted the European Brass Band

Championships in Perth Concert Hall. This is an event that is

recorded every year by World of Sound to be released on CD and

DVD by World of Brass. This year’s event saw the introduction of a live internet stream which was sponsored by British Bandsman,

Yamaha and the Scottish Brass Band Association. This enabled people unable to attend the event to watch live in the comfort of

their own home.

People from all over the world tuned in to watch the live stream

hosted by percussion virtuoso Simone Rebello. Between band

performances Simone interviewed various people at the event

including; conductors Russell Gray and Philip Harper, composers

Phillip Sparke and Jan De Haan, and SATCoL Managing Director Trevor Caffull amongst others.

Map of live stream viewers

People tuned into the live stream from 20 different countries with

the top four representations being:

- Great Britain (31%)- Norway (18%)- Netherlands (14%)- Switzerland (13%)There were even viewers tuning in from the Northern Mariana

Islands and Ghana!

Feedback of the streaming was positive with viewers wanting to see

more brass band events streamed. Watch this space...

In Perth World of Brass also had a trade stand open over four days

where a batch of new releases from Black Dyke, Cory, Foden’s and

The Household Troops Band were popular. Brass band enthusiasts

from all over Europe came to visit the stand. For some kilted fans it

was right on their doorstep.

The Highlights CD and DVD of this year’s event will be available

from World of Brass soon.

Look out for the European

Brass Band Championships

2015 being held in Freiburg,

Germany.

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Studio Upgrade

Senior Recording Engineer, Adam Goldsmith reports:

The recording studio here at Wellingborough has recently undergone

a major equipment overhaul to ensure we keep up to the very latest standards.

The World of Sound studio is now entirely digital with a fantastic

sounding new mixing desk and a brand new mac-based ProTools

system. That may not mean much to most of you but trust us, it puts

us right at the forefront of the recording studio market and we’ve

already started to see the results!

Our philosophy has always been to concentrate on great sound and

getting the best out of musicians. The new set-up is based around

quick and powerful computing power as well as fantastic sound and this enables us to open up the scope of what we can deal with in the

studio. The irst project was certainly a good test! Having worked some very long days and nights to ensure the new equipment was installed, tested and working in time, we had musicians arrive from

Los Angeles and around the UK ready for probably the biggest studio

project we’ve ever taken on.

21st Century Gowans and Larsson is an album of ‘big band’ style arrangements of songs from old Salvation Army musicals. Recorded in a

very contemporary way, each section of the band recorded separately

to a click track before adding the 16 piece choir and featured vocal

soloists. An entire week of long recording days resulted in a CD which

sounds current and fresh. We’re very proud of it and are hopeful that

it opens up a new avenue for both our studio and the SP&S label.

Recording musicians for the

Gowans and Larsson project

The other high proile use of the new studio has been the world’s best and also best known a-cappella vocal group, The King’s Singers.

The group had speciically asked to come back to our facility after recording here a couple of years ago for SP&S. This time it was for their usual label, Signum records, and they really took advantage of the

studio situation. With double-tracking, overdubbing and an extensive

mix-down process they really wanted that ‘studio’ sound and we delivered it! The album is due for release in October and will be called Postcards.

We at World of Sound are very grateful to be part of SATCoL and the

ability that brings to stay ahead in our market. This latest development

is one that opens up a very bright future indeed!

WORLDOFSOUNDMATTERS

World of Sound’s new Studio Control Room

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Tel 020 7398 5440 or visit www.reliancebankltd.com for more information

Reliance Bank reserves the right to withdraw any product with immediate effect.

Reliance Bank Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered in England. Registration number 68835.

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31/08/2012 16:33