Steve Croot, of Croots Farm Shop, named Derbyshire Local Food Hero 2014

 Steve Croot, of Croots Farm Shop, Duffield, accepts the Local Food Hero award from celebrity chef Valentine Warner and Councillor Janet Hill, vice chair of Derbyshire County Council.

Farm shop owner Steve Croot has been crowned Derbyshire Local Food Hero 2014 at the Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards.

Steve, who runs Croots Farm Shop near Duffield, Derbyshire, was presented with his prestigious award at a ceremony hosted by celebrity chef Valentine Warner.

“I am absolutely thrilled and incredibly proud to be named as Local Food Hero 2014 for Derbyshire. There is some fantastic local food produced in Derbyshire, and I am honoured to be part of it all,” said Steve.

“When we launched Croots Farm Shop in June 2008 the recession started, but we’ve had amazing support from customers, staff and our suppliers, and Croots has gone from strength to strength – so much so that we’ve expanded our butchers’ department and last year we extended our Shires Eatery to cater for demand.
“We stock a wide range of items produced on our doorstep, as well as many from across the region and beyond, which has proved to be a winning combination. Our sausages, pies and other meat products have won numerous national awards, thanks to the talented staff we have on our team.

“I am very passionate about Croots, about good quality food and drink, and about Derbyshire, which has been my home for many years, and I am delighted to receive this award. Well done to all the other winners in all the other categories and also to all the finalists.”

Croots Farm Shop, based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, was also a finalist in the best Derbyshire breakfast category of the Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards, which were presented at a ceremony held at Chesterfield Football Club's Proact Stadium.

Councillor Joan Dixon, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Jobs, Economy and Transport, said: “Derbyshire has so many fantastic food and drink businesses that it is getting harder each year to pick a winner.

“They all play an important role in the Derbyshire’s economy and we are delighted that our awards give them all much deserved recognition.”

Steve’s passion for Derbyshire food and drink, good quality food and drink in general, and for the county, manifests itself in many ways. He is a keen supporter of new and fledgling producers, and he regularly visits schools and other organisations to give talks about food and drink.

One of the farm shop’s adopted charities is Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which was established in 1891 to give disadvantaged Derbyshire children holidays in Skegness, Lincolnshire, and currently provides 450 holiday places per season for boys and girls aged from eight to 14.

Croots Farm Shop employs 21 people and sells products from more than 40 producers from within a 50-mile radius. It has won a number of Great Taste Awards, which are regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the fine food industry.

Croots Farm Shop is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (Shires Eatery until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

The Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards were sponsored by HSKS Greenhalgh Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors and Holdsworth.

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Civil and structural engineering firm BSP Consulting announces senior appointments

Three senior appointments have been made by East Midlands-based civil and structural engineering firm BSP Consulting.

The company, which has its headquarters in Nottingham, and branches in Derby, Leicester and Sheffield, has appointed chartered structural engineer Paul Elphick as associate director. Paul, who joined the company in 2004, leads BSP’s Leicester office in De Montfort Street.

Meanwhile, chartered civil engineer Matt Viggars and civil engineer Tim Wilson have both been appointed as associates.

Matt leads the civil engineering team at BSP’s Pride Park offices in Derby, and has been at BSP since 2005. In 2009, at the age of 26, he became one of the youngest people in the East Midlands to be awarded the status of chartered engineer. Tim, who joined the company in 2005, heads up the civil engineering team in BSP’s Leicester office.

“We are delighted to make additional senior appointments from within the company. These promotions reflect the roles that Paul, Matt and Tim have been fulfilling and the dedication they have given BSP Consulting,” said BSP managing director David Sumner.

“I’d like to congratulate them on their new positions, thank them for their efforts, and wish them well for the future.”

BSP has appointed a number of new staff in recent weeks. Civil engineering technician Amandip Sahota, chartered structural engineer Monika Anszperger and structural engineer Marta Prokop have been appointed to BSP’s Derby office. Meanwhile civil engineer Craig Noonan and junior structural technician Danny Doherty have joined the Nottingham office, while structural engineer Hemendra Lalgi is now working in BSP’s Leicester office.

The firm provides a comprehensive range of consultancy services in civil, structural, geotechnical, transportation and environmental engineering to all sectors of the construction community, from architects, project managers and contractors to developers and estate agents. It was founded in 1999 and operates across the UK.

BSP engineers are currently working on a number of high profile developments across the East Midlands, including Castleward regeneration in Derby, improvements at Brooksby Melton College in Leicestershire and a new multi-million pound medical centre in Wilford Lane, West Bridgford, Nottingham.

Further afield, the firm is involved in a major road redevelopment and the building of a large Tesco store in Rotherham, and numerous projects across the country.

For more information visit www.bsp-consulting.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Croots Farm Shop raises cash for charity

Generous customers and staff at Croots Farm Shop have raised almost £300 for Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre.

The money was collected via a range of fund-raising efforts, including selling special reindeer food in the run up to Christmas Eve and a festive raffle. Cash was also collected for the charity through carrier bag sales during 2013.

Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre is one of two charities regularly supported by Croots Farm Shop, based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, Duffield. The other is the Shire Horse Society.

“Once again our customers and staff have dug deep and have helped us to raise much-needed funds for a local charity,” said Steve Croot, who runs the farm shop. “We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated in some way.”

Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre was established in 1891 to give disadvantaged Derbyshire children holidays in Skegness, Lincolnshire, and currently provides 450 holiday places per season for boys and girls aged from eight to 14.

The centre needs to raise more than £150,000 every year, and generous customers and staff at Croots have already raised several hundred pounds for the charity since adopting it two years ago.

Croots Farm Shop is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (Shires Eatery until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Focus Consultants helps secure £2.46m Heritage Lottery Fund grant for Peterborough Cathedral

Heritage and funding experts at Focus Consultants are celebrating the news that Peterborough Cathedral has been awarded a £2.46m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Nottingham-based Focus Consultants was appointed to assist the management of the second-round bid to the HLF. News of its success means that Focus has now helped to secure more than £925m of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK since 1994.

“It is great news that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a £2.46m grant for the ‘Peterborough 900: Letting it speak for itself' project, which is introducing ambitious improvements to Peterborough Cathedral to mark the 900th anniversary of its founding,” said Steven Fletcher, partner at Focus Consultants.

“Focus worked with a number of specialists to develop the scheme design for the planned new Heritage, Visitor and Education Centre at Peterborough Cathedral, which is the first phase in a multi-million pound project. Other developments being planned for the future include a new Cathedral and Community Music School and improvements to the cathedral, its furnishings and its precincts.”

Focus Consultants specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages, and has worked to help a number of significant heritage, ecclesiastical, arts, culture and leisure schemes gain grants from a range of funding sources.

It is part of the team that earlier this year secured a £3.55m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for work on England’s second oldest cathedral, Rochester Cathedral. Focus is project manager and quantity surveyor on a project at the cathedral which is introducing new visitor displays in the crypt and library, while improving access to the atmospheric spaces and showcasing the cathedral's centrepiece manuscript: the Textus Roffensis.

Focus has also been successful in helping clients with Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bids. Engineering firm Bifrangi secured up to £4.8m of growth funding from the RGF to develop a research and development centre in Lincoln after working closely with Focus to develop the bid.

The Very Reverend Charles Taylor, Dean of Peterborough said: “This award is very good news both for Peterborough Cathedral, for the city and the wider region. It affirms our plans to make our cathedral more accessible to new visitors, not only physically but also intellectually and culturally. This can only be good for the regional life and economy. We are enormously grateful to HLF for recognising what the cathedral can offer to the community, and also to all who have supported the bid.”

Focus Consultants is based at Phoenix Business Park in Nottingham with offices in London, Leicester, Boston and Aubourn, near Lincoln.

For more information visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

 

 

Derbyshire farm shop Croots sells reindeer food for charity

Customers and staff at Croots Farm Shop near Duffield are raising money for Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre this festive season by making sure that Santa’s reindeer are fully fed. 

The farm shop on Wirksworth Road is selling special packs of reindeer food, which children will be encouraged to sprinkle in their gardens and near their homes on Christmas Eve. 

Proceeds from the fund-raising effort will be given to Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which is one of Croots Farm Shop’s adopted charities this year. 

The charity was established in 1891 to give disadvantaged Derbyshire children holidays in Skegness, Lincolnshire, and currently provides 450 holiday places per season for boys and girls aged from eight to 14.

The centre needs to raise more than £150,000 every year, and generous customers and staff at Croots have already raised several hundred pounds for the charity since adopting it two years ago.

“Any food the reindeer don’t eat will be scooped up by wild birds, as the packs contain rolled oats, as well as a sprinkle of something sparkly,” said Steve Croot, who runs the farm shop based at Farnah House Farm. 

The packs cost £1 and are part of this year’s annual festive fund-raising at Croots, which also includes a raffle and the chance to win a £50 hamper packed with tasty goodies. More than 70 packets of the special reindeer food have already been sold.

Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre is one of two charities regularly supported by Croots. The other is the Shire Horse Society.

Croots Farm Shop is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (Shires Eatery until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

BSP Consulting appointed as engineers for supermarket scheme

Nottingham-based civil and structural engineering company BSP Consulting has been appointed as part of the team building a new £8m Tesco supermarket.

Work has got underway at the site in Hoyland, Barnsley, where Sheffield-based contractor JF Finnegan is building the 28,000 sq ft food store.

JF Finnegan is constructing the eco-store at the redundant site of the former Hoyland Market Street Primary School after being appointed by Litton Properties and Tesco who have partnered to deliver the supermarket, which is expected to create some 140 local jobs.

BSP Consulting, which is based at Oxford Street, Nottingham, with offices in Derby, Leicester and Sheffield, is handling the structural, civil and traffic engineering aspects of the scheme.

One key challenge for the team has been the re-engineering of the sloping site to remove a 13-metre difference between levels and to form a plateau.

“Landscaping in and around a modern retail store is restricted to very tight gradients and this proved a challenge for the scheme, the site of a former school which had a significant existing slope,” said BSP director Carl Hilton. “Our team is highly experienced, both in re-engineering and in retail development, however, and we are very pleased to be involved in a scheme which will breathe new life into this particular site.”

Preparatory site work has now begun, with handover scheduled for summer 2014.

The Hoyland scheme is the latest in a number of retail projects that BSP has been involved in. The company is currently also working on a major new Tesco Extra store and filling station in Rotherham, which is due to be completed in late 2014.

BSP Consulting provides a comprehensive range of consultancy services in civil, structural, geotechnical, transportation and environmental engineering to all sectors of the construction community, from architects, project managers and contractors to developers and estate agents. It was founded in 1999 and operates across the UK.

For more information visit www.bsp-consulting.co.uk

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Building and project management firm Focus Consultants appointed for Pilgrim Hospital work

Building and project management firm Focus Consultants has been appointed by new client United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) to carry out a range of improvement work at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston.

Currently design work is continuing on the new Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) reception desk in the main entrance. Work is due to get underway on-site in the New Year.

Focus will be working with the trust on various projects, including demolition, remodelling and refurbishment work at various locations across the Sibsey Road site.

In delivering the schemes, Focus Construction and Property Services will be providing a full spectrum of services including building and quantity surveying through design services, technical project management and contract administration to take the projects through to completion.

ULHT joins a number of other NHS trusts and hospitals which have used Focus Consultants’ services to help with improvement schemes, including Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Trust and St Luke’s Hospital, Market Harborough.

“We are proud to be working with United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust on these projects at Pilgrim Hospital, which is just ten minutes from the Focus Boston offices in Endeavour Park,” said Trevor Newton, partner at Focus in Lincolnshire.

“The health service is a very important public sector service, and, having worked with a number of NHS trusts, we are pleased to now be bringing our skills and expertise to helping with improvements at our local hospital.”

The work that Focus Consultants will be carrying out is part of on-going refurbishment at Pilgrim Hospital.

Focus Consultants, which also has offices in Aubourn in Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Leicester and London, specialises in funding, research and economic development, project and programme management, construction and property services and energy carbon sustainability services.

www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk