Friday 27 March 2009

Cwmbran dress to impress for Comic Relief

A special Red Nose mention goes to the Cwmbran office who raised over £600 for Comic Relief.

The office obviously went to a great deal of effort with their costumes - notably Marge Simpson, the peacocks, a samba dancer, and a Darlek!!

The team also produced a special Comic Relief DVD - Cwmbran 9 to 5 – to mark the occasion with Antony Hyde, a member of the office’s Social Committee, working extremely hard during his lunch hours and after work in order to produce the masterpiece - you can see some stills from the DVD in the pictures below.

A copy of the DVD can be purchased for just £2 from antony.hyde@capita.co.uk

The office’s Social Committee also devised a whole week of delicious and fun events including cake baking and what is probably the most impressive fancy dress display we have ever seen.

Well done to the whole office!

Charty Abseil - follow-up


Following on from our previous post Charity Abseil, we can now confirm Richard Skeets sucessfull completed his challenge!

Richard Skeets from our Southampton office abseiled down Parkstone House (a 13 storey nurses home at Poole Hospital) to help raise funds for a new maternity project.
He's already raised over £300 and you can still sponsor Richard at www.justgiving.com/richardskeets

Well done Richard!

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Over the Wall

As part of Capita Symonds’ commitment to promoting and delivering a Sustainable and Responsible Business, a team from the Procter Street office is currently supporting the Over the Wall charity by undertaking a preliminary cost review, environmental assessment and design development on a pro bono basis to assess the feasibility of a permanent camp for the charity in the UK.

Over The Wall is a UK charity providing residential activity camps for children and young people affected by serious and terminal illness. It is the only residential camp provider in the UK and is modelled on Paul Newman's renowned ‘Hole in the Wall Gang Camp’ that operates in North America.

The Oscar-winning star of films such as ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ and ‘The Sting’, Newman created the camps as places where kids could escape the fear, pain and isolation of their daily lives and, according to the man himself, “….kick back and raise a little hell.”

Over The Wall provides a facility for children aged 8-17 to use during Easter and Summer Holidays. The children are all at different stages of their illness and the charity aims to give them a chance to have fun among others with similar experiences. The Charity aims to provide places for as many children as possible and already runs a number of camps each year at venues in Dorset, Shropshire and Perthshire.

The charity is now entering its tenth year of operation in the UK and has been renting facilities for its week-long camps, mainly via public schools during non-term times. However, as the demands for its services continue to grow, the charity has decided that it’s time to look at building their own base camp, similar to the ‘Hole in the Wall’ camps built in North America.

Capita Symonds’ Managing Director, Jonathan Goring, has also recently become a trustee for the charity.


Find out more about Capita Symonds' Sustainable Responsible Business (SRB) strategy

Tuesday 17 March 2009

'Living Streets' keeps Blackburn's streets clean

Residents have teamed up in Blackburn to help improve their neighbourhood for pedestrians - supported by Capita Symonds....find out more

Monday 16 March 2009

Comic Relief activities - Colwyn Bay office

Our Colwyn Bay office also went red, raising approximately £80 in the process.

Nick Owen was patriotically dressed in a Welsh flag kilt (see pic) and Mike Kelly won a bottle of champagne for dressing in red women’s clothes. Paul Terry and Joe Gardias also put an extra £10 in the pot for the privilege of seeing Lynnette Holden singing in front of the office!

Comic Relief activities - East Grinstead office

To celebrate Comic Relief 09, the East Grinstead office dressed up for the occasion (any excuse) but the highlight of the day was definitely a custard pie throwing contest.

‘Willing’ volunteers agreed to be pelted with make shift custard pies and big thanks go once again to Jonathan Goring (MD), John Southgate (Director), Garry Pratt and Martin Beckett who all took their turn in the Yellow Poncho of Fear! As a result of the day’s activities the team raised over £100 for the Red Nose cause.





Thursday 5 March 2009

Ecobuild update

Yet another busy day at Ecobuild yesterday, with people queuing to get into Rob Firth's sustainable schools seminar!

Still time to get down there today - get more details on the Ecobuild website

Follow what's happening:

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Sustainable solutions brochure

For all those at Ecobuild or interested in sustainability, we've produced a new Capita Symonds Sustainable solutions brochure.

Find out more about our experience and expertise - view our Sustainable solutions brochure

Charity Abseil

Richard Skeets from our Southampton office will be abseiling down Parkstone House (a 13 storey nurses home at Poole Hospital) on Sunday 15th March to help raise funds for a new maternity project.

You can sponsor Richard at Just Giving - www.justgiving.com/richardskeets

Update from Ecobuild

It was a great day at Ecobuild yesterday - with the Capita Symonds' theatre packed for every session.

Don't forget to catch Rob Firth, Head of Architecture, today talking about "Building Zero Carbon Schools" today at 12:00.

Here are a few photos from yesterday:













Tuesday 3 March 2009

New Education Brochure

We've produced a new education brochure - "Building better futures", showcasing our expertise and experience in the Education sector.

There's some really great case studies, including schools, colleges and academies we've worked on, have a look:

Building better futures

Capita Symonds at Ecobuild

Don't forget Capita Symonds are at Ecobuild until Thursday 5th March, Earls Court, London.

We're sponsoring the Road to Zero Carbon theatre and speakers from Capita Symonds include:

Links:

Monday 2 March 2009

Southampton FE Rugby Festival

More than 250 Hampshire students gathered for the inaugural Capita Symonds Further Education Rugby Festival at Trojans RFC in Eastleigh recently.

Organised by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Capita Symonds Southampton office, the tournament saw Brockenhurst College win the men’s prize while the Peter Symonds College from Winchester won the ladies’ trophy.

Both teams were presented with trophies and vouchers for a new set of team shirts by Craig Manton, Operations Director of Capita Symonds in Southampton. Craig said: “We were very impressed with the standard of rugby and the level of support from local colleges. We look forward to supporting the event in the future.”

Louise Hall, Director of Sport for Brockenhurst College added: “It was a superb tournament, very well organised. We had a great day and look forward to defending the trophy next year. Everyone would like to say a huge thank you to the RFU and Capita Symonds for organising the event.”

Jamie Sanders, Rugby Development Officer for Hampshire, commented: “It was great to see such a high quality of rugby from the higher education colleges and it’s fantastic that Capita Symonds allowed us the opportunity to run such a popular competition for the colleges in Hampshire. We look forward to expanding it next year.”

The ladies event attracted teams from across Hampshire and Sharon Evans, Community Rugby Coach for Women and Girls thanked all involved for their assistance: “It’s fantastic for the girls to have an opportunity to play in a festival and to put our skills into practice. We are grateful to Capita Symonds for sponsoring the event and look forward to being here next year.”

Capita Symonds would also like to thank Hampshire Referees Society, Trojans FC and Solent University for their help and expertise in organising the day.

The final results were:

  • Men’s Cup Winners – Brockenhurst College, Brockenhurst (RFU accredited college)Men’s Cup Runners Up – Oaklands Catholic College, Portsmouth
  • Ladies Cup Winners – Peter Symonds College, Winchester
  • Plate Winners – Peter Symonds College, Winchester
  • Plate Runners Up – Tauntons College, Southampton