Can you give a little help to NICHS this Christmas?

Somany little things go into making Christmas perfect. Wrapping gifts, decorating the tree and going Christmas shopping to name but a few. Most of us can’t imagine Christmas without them.

Sadly however, that’s the reality for many people living with a chest, heart or stroke illness.

Bosco McShane is one of them. The 44-yearold husband and dad of seven from Coalisland found his life turned upside down when he suffered a sudden stroke in the run up to Christmas in 2019.

Bosco says; ““I was probably the last man you would have expected to have a stroke. I was always on the go. I don’t drink or smoke and thought I was fighting-fit. But that’s exactly what happened to me.”

“I was kept in hospital for a month which impacted the whole family. The kids felt it when I was away for so long and it was tough for my wife Lynette.”

“One of the Care Co-ordinators from Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) contacted me. This was during the pandemic. Only for the support of NICHS, I was lost. When you come home from hospital, you’re left on your own. The support from the charity meant I got Zoom meetings and support phone calls and was able to speak to others who had the same experiences. Those chats were worth their weight in gold.”

“At Christmas little things can annoy me that would have never bothered me before - like blinking Christmas lights. Background noise is also difficult, like when the children are making noise playing with all their different toys. Sometimes I just have to avoid it or go and have a lie down which is hard. It affects the whole family.”

“Christmas shopping can be more difficult too. When I’m counting out money it takes a lot more concentration. You feel conscious that you’re holding up the queue. Those wee things can be tough. People don’t always realise, because on the outside you look okay.”

“I couldn’t recommend the support I received from NICHS highly enough. They supported me and thanks to them I’m keeping positive. With seven children Christmas will be hectic, but it’s those little things and moments with family that will make it special.”

To find out how you can support NICHS this Christmas, visit www.nichs.org.uk

Finlays of Ardee Ltd.

Office: Tierney Street, Ardee, Co. Louth

Factory: Kells Road, Ardee, Co. Louth

Finlay update 14th October 2022

Dear Customer,

I hope that this communication finds you well and that business is good with you.

Over recent months we have been working on our business to improve the service we provide to our customers and to improve the sustainability of our business as we move through these extraordinary times and the following are some of our current actions which we would like to make you aware of.

• Environmental (Energy) - We as all large electricity users have been impacted greatly by the very substantial increases in energy costs and we have been working for some time on a Solar energy project for our factory electricity needs and during the summer months the factory has been extensively surveyed both physically and by drone. Using the data provided a Solar plan has been devised for the factory and a decision has now been made to proceed with a project to install a farm of solar panels on the factory roofs during early 2023 which once operational will generate a majority of the factory’s energy needs. As the old farming saying goes, “a good farmer only spends money in a bad year” so we hope that what we invest in these incredibly difficult times will stand to us over the long term and will also greatly help reduce our environmental impact .

• Environmental (Waste) - We are now processing our wood waste into two environmentally sustainable areas, the generation of electricity and the heating of our factory. We currently have two wood waste burners onsite and these burn wood waste to deliver warm air into the factory and we have a third larger wood waste burner being installed at the start of November. These burners burn wood and veneer waste and the warm air they generate is blown through insulated pipes into the factory building. The wood waste which we do not use for heating is now transported offsite and processed as biomass for use in the generation of electricity.

• People - during the summer months we have maintained a full team in the factory and we have spent a lot of time on training and cross training in order to improve our process skill set and this will allow us fulfil our Customers orders more efficiently. Did you know, we now have Team Members from seven different nationalities working with Finlay.

• Materials - While availability of materials has improved somewhat, pricing of raw materials has not and certain materials continue to increase in cost.

• Non-Material inputs - Nonmaterial inputs (i.e. electricity, gas, diesel) remain a major concern and we will work to manage same through planning of the factory efficiency and hours of operation.

• Plant & Equipment - During the summer months we been working hard on preventative maintenance work and repairs on our factory machinery. One interesting (and challenging) job we had was to replace two half ton electrical motors on the top of our 30ft dust extraction tower. All credit to our fitting and electrical team lead by our factory foreman Alan McDonnell who craned out the old and in the new all in one day!

Finlay Team News - We would like to pay tribute to Martin Carroll who after 39 years with the Company has decided to retire, we are sorry to see Martin leave but we wish him all the very best for his retirement.

In summary I would like to thank you for your custom and your support and to assure you that we at Finlay will work as hard as we can to serve you.