Inform Magazine - St Albans Edition - August 2021 by thebusinessescommunity

inform M

Issue 4 - August 2021

Keeping you “Inform”ed with all the news, products, services, events and opportunities available in St Albans!

THE

It’s never too late to write that book!

Businesses COMMUNITY

Issue 4- August 2021

Contents

What’s in store for you in this month’s Inform Magazine?

“Child’s Play” Marketing with Immersive Walkthroughs

Making Online Gaming A Positive Experience For Your Family

Let’s Get Abseiling!

Life After Publication with Nikki Vallance

Six Steps To A New You

Super Simple Sustainability Tip

Let’s Go Shopping!

Local Business Directory

What’s “On Trend”?

News Round Up

5 Questions We Asked A St Albans Business

Local Recipe

Events

The Alternative Prom

THE

Businesses COMMUNITY

Hello August! Things are starting to open up a lot more and we are looking forward to a lovely summer ahead. In this months issue of Inform Magazine, we have 5 Questions We Asked A St Albans Business with GHPS, we’ve got local products from local businesses in our brand new #ShopLocal section. We’ve got top tips on how to make online gaming a positive experience for the whole family from BT, and tons of tips, news and recipes from local businesses.

Do you have news, events, products, services or stories to share with thousands across St Albans? We want to hear from you - get in touch at stalbans@ thebusinesscommunity. com

Sit back, relax and enjoy. The Businesses Community St Albans

03 5

Making your nursery marketing child’s play It all began with a chance phone call last April… ‘Can you help us? We need a way to showcase and market our nursery to parents as they aren’t allowed in anymore and we think you can help’...

For so many childcare settings, providing parents with the opportunity to come in and have a look around is a critical part of their marketing so not being able to welcome people in with open arms was a real problem. These unique virtual tours have provided them with a superb way to showcase their premises and market them to parents without the need for people to actually visit. You can see some examples here… And they are continuing to be a big hit too!

Little did we know then the impact of that call which has resulted in us travelling throughout the UK, from our base in St Albans and Harpenden, over the last 12 months to help a wide range of businesses create a unique way to showcase and market their businesses in a fully immersive and unique way. We’re Immersive Walkthroughs - a local family business and provider of unique 3D Virtual Tours - and it’s been fascinating over the last 12 months to see how technology has been fast tracked into all areas of our life. One such industry that’s really beneﬁted from our unique technology and 3D virtual tours has been the nursery and childcare sector.

But will the trend continue? As we slowly start coming out of the pandemic, we thought that the demand for these may reduce but it’s not showing any signs of slowing down at this point. Indeed forward-thinking owners/managers of nurseries have recognised that their 3D virtual tours are giving them a marketing ‘edge’ over other nurseries that haven’t adopted this unique technology. In addition, it’s helping nurseries improve their conversion rate with new parents as the virtual tour is acting like a ‘ﬁrst showing’ meaning that those that do then want to chat further are better qualiﬁed leads. And that’s giving them a ‘head start’ over other providers when it comes to parents short listing potential options for their children.

Samantha Rennie, Managing Director Nurture in Nature Education, also tells us that ‘Our 3D Virtual Tour has transformed the way we showcase our nursery and it’s a superb way for parents and supporters to take a tour and see what we have to offer our children and families. Highly recommend it!’ Special Offer for Local Childcare Providers But what do nursery owners say? We asked three owners of nurseries that have adopted our 3D virtual tours what impact they had and here’s what they said… Samantha Devoti - Owner of Apple Trees Nursery in Hertfordshire said... ‘We’re delighted with the 3D virtual tour for our Nursery & Pre-School. It not only provides us with a great way to take parents and carers on a ‘virtual show around’ of our facilities, but it gives us a unique way of marketing our nursery too. We’d deﬁnitely recommend this service to other childcare providers.’ Laura Causley - Owner of Over the Rainbow Day Nursery, in Essex, goes a step further suggesting that ‘this is a must have resource for all nursery owners.’

We’re continuing to support local childcare settings with a unique ‘special offer’ to help them market their facilities. Our unique ‘Business Bounceback’ offer is a bit of a nobrainer for forward thinking owners of local nurseries, pre-schools and childcare settings.. You can ﬁnd out more about this unique special offer here… Want to know more? If you feel your business would beneﬁt from a unique 3D virtual tour then please do contact us and we’ll be happy to help. You can also view some additional examples here too... www.immersivewalkthroughs.com

Top Tips with Tania Bringing you tech tips from BT Skills for Tomorrow Make online gaming a positive experience for your family With the Summer holidays upon us, do you worry that your kids will be spending more time online gaming? Gaming has been the single most popular digital activity during lockdown with over half of school age children gaming every day from their mobile devices – and they’re not just using gaming platforms to ‘play games’. Research conducted by Internet Matters, a not-for-proﬁt online safety organisation, suggests that children are using games to connect with friends, discover new interests and to learn and participate in online events - so just like playing physical games, playing games online is a huge part of your child’s development.

Whilst there are many positives to online gaming, there is still a real worry from parents, that their children spend too much time on multiplayer gaming. Seemingly unable to disengage or simply ‘pause’ the game. As the sun ﬁnally comes out, there is the daily battle of trying to get kids off the screen and outside for some physical exercise.

Gaming has been the single most popular digital activity during lockdown

Kids don’t have to be gamers to participate in the gaming world -

> 61% play alone > 48% play with others

64% say they watch videos of games they don’t play as a source of entertainment* How to make online gaming a positive experience for you family It’s a ﬁne balance but make a start by talking to your children regularly about their online activity – make it part of the norm, just as you’d ask them about their day at school. As you feel more comfortable talking about their gaming activity, try introducing the following:

• Family agreement o Work with your child to agree what games and what times in the week they can play - that works for the whole family. o Try and be ﬂexible if there is a particular time that your child will be meeting with their friends for a speciﬁc game. o Why not consider a family game night where the whole family gets involved? • Agree rules and boundaries - Ensure your child knows what to do if they: -

are contacted by a stranger

are being bullied or witness bullying in a game

feel they have to play/show the same behaviour as others i.e., an expectation to behave in a certain way when gaming

o Configure your web browsers securely, using a firewall o Set up their user profile to include age appropriate language and game content, ensuring security is always set high on their profiles and accounts o Ensure your child is aware that they should never give away personal information over the internet whilst playing or downloading games o Help your child create and use strong passwords, which should never be shared Want to help your family get the most out of tech?

•

Head to BT Skills for Tomorrow to ﬁnd a range of free courses and advice – from parental controls and gaming advice to digital wellbeing.

Setting Controls Although not 100% effective, parental controls and privacy settings can provide conﬁdence that you’re giving your child the best chance to be protected from harm. Reviewing the settings on the app or games console, as well as wi-ﬁ settings should provide a good digital boundary and the main things to consider are:

Tania Young leads on BT’s Digital Skills programme for older and vulnerable customers. *Source: www.superawesome. com/resources/reports/

Harpenden Spotlight on Africa are going abseiling – join us!! Are you are looking for: • the opportunity to develop yourself or people in your organisation? • support a charity doing great work in one of the poorest areas in Africa? • a fun day out doing something you have never tried before.

• challenge yourselves individually or in a team environment. • foster team spirit in your organisation • work towards conquering fears – provides a great conﬁdence boost. A little more about SOA and our current challenging plans. We work in the poorest part of Eastern Uganda, providing schooling (1000 primary pupils), clean water (we have dug 30 boreholes), healthcare (a clinic and 210 local health volunteers), and skills training in ﬁsh farming, carpentry, and tailoring. The UK team are all volunteers and over 97% of all the funds given go direct to Uganda.

Harpenden Spotlight on Africa are organising a fundraising Abseil in Harpenden in October (date TBC) and we would really like you to join us in this experience, which we hope will give you the opportunity to:

The people are mainly refugees from conﬂict in South Sudan and North Uganda and many of them are destitute. We aim to give each of them dignity in their lives.

We truly hope that this article has provided you with a brief insight into the work we do and how we give hope and a future to some of the poorest communities in Africa.

We are at present raising money for a maternity centre linked to the recently built clinic. Mothers are 36x more likely to die during childbirth in our area of Uganda than in the UK. The maternity centre will give many 100s of local mothers the opportunity for a safe birth with skilled midwives looking after them. We hope that you will join us on our journey and support us. If you would like to receive further information on the Abseil or any other aspect of the work, we undertake please contact us: -

Neil Margereson – neilmargereson@hsoa.org.uk The build and ﬁt out of the centre will cost an estimated £185,000, and we are making good progress with raising funds but there is more to be done. The great news is that building work for this clinic has just started last month so is becoming a reality.

Andrew Horne – andrewhorne@hsoa.org.uk www.hsoa.org.uk Tel: 01582 461792

Nikki Vallance, Local Author on Life After Publication In late 2019, I realised a long term dream of becoming a published author. It took me 9 years to write and three more to get published! (Pivotal went on to reach the 2020 ﬁnals of The People’s Book Prize and The Page Turner Awards). I was getting ready to attend book festivals and bookshop author events and reopen my creative writers coached membership group. Everything was looking great for 2020.

got to read my book, which was dedicated to her and my dad. I’m also grateful that we didn’t face any of the awful experiences of those who have lost loved ones during covid restrictions, to be able to visit hospital, hold her hand and tell her how much we loved her and were going to miss her. Essentially to say goodbye, even if she probably couldn’t hear us. I’m grateful for the chance to support my dad and be supported by the rest of my family through the funeral and those early days and weeks of our grief. For all the months since then, going in and out of lockdown, with Dad isolated and grieving alone, shielding due to his age and health conditions, with my son not returning to university after struggling with his studies, my daughter missing her GCSE’s and all the rites of passage that go with completing year 11, there’s been a lot to deal with.

Then, just 6 weeks after the launch and just before Christmas I lost my mum, suddenly and unexpectedly. I am grateful Mum

But being a glass is half full kind of gal, I knew we’d be Ok. We’d come through it. That there would be a time when I could focus on my books, my coaching business, my motivational speaking career.

Except I started to notice I wasn’t feeling my positive, optimistic self. That my joints were aching, that my brain felt fuzzy, that nothing seemed to be working, both physically and mentally, the way it should. It was the menopause. For the ﬁrst three years I’d had virtually no symptoms. But then those other symptoms. The silent ones, the less obvious ones, the ones no-one had ever told me could happen, they kicked in BIG TIME, in 2020, when almost everything else was pretty rubbish too.

clubs in the autumn. I’ve started my second novel and entered it into a competition, with a chance of winning agent representation. I will be launching a new coaching program or group or retreat in the autumn. (I’m taking my time to get it right and provide support in the best way for writers - to suit them!) Having been there myself, I am on a mission to give a voice to midlifers who may be feeling stuck. Through both my novels, featuring women in their forties, and my coaching I hope to inspire the closet novelists amongst them to not settle for their lot, give themselves permission to follow a different path and write the stories they have always dreamt of writing. And if you haven’t quite found your way through this murky bit in the middle, I hope my story resonates and helps you believe there is a life out there to be lived to the full and it’s never too late!

Thankfully I found the right support and things are much better. I am sleeping like a baby and the old (but feeling much younger) driven, positive, believeI-can-take-on-the-world me is back.

For information about my work helping closet novelists realise their dreams of writing a book please visit my website www.nikkivallance.com and for copies of Pivotal order through all the usual channels here.

I’m speaking at two book events in the near future and have been invited to speak at two book

Sustainability Tip We are looking for easy to change, easy to implement top tips that we can all do to become that bit more sustainable - both at work and at home

This months tip is from Rothamsted Enterprises Go plastic free.

Find out more about Rothamsted’s passion for sustainability here www.rothamstedenterprises.com/ our-passion-for-sustainability-atrothamsted-restaurant/

If you have a sustainable tip to share with thousands of people across St Albans - please email stalbans@ thebusinessescommunity.com to share in the magazine

There are so many ways in which you can reduce or remove your plastic use. And if you can’t go plastic free, try hard to reduce your plastic consumption or to recycle your plastics as much as possible – including your soft plastics. Take a reusable coffee cup to your local café or use a reﬁllable water bottle throughout the day. Avoid plastic and paper straws – instead go for reusable straws. At Rothamsted, our straws are made of 100% sugar cane which means they are zero plastic, biodegradable, compostable and 100% plant based. This reduces environmental impact and prevents unnecessary landﬁll waste. 13

LOCAL PRODUCTS Check out these gorgeous products available from local businesses VEJA Campo Nubuck Leather Trainers - Babe White - £125 available from The Dressing Room and online here

Soft cotton jersey top with a slim ﬁt, classic crew neckline and 3/4 length sleeves ideal for any season. Price £73 (on sale from £105) from Ferarri Monti here Classic Toy Soldier Ornamental Figure

Steps Out Of Time is the second Mystic Bunny Boy book, and the story centres around transition to a new school / new class and managing any feelings of nervousness and anxiety that children might feel surrounding this. £7.99 available on Amazon

Fabulous and quirky take on the classic toy soldier ornament in four vibrant colours. £16 from Cositas on Holywell Hill or online here

B Young Sanla New York T-Shirt

Arbonne’s AgeWell Silky Cleanser with Vegan Surfactants

£34.99 available at Chloe James on the High Street, or online here

This luxurious, pearlescent creamy face cleanser effectively removes makeup, dirt and impurities without over drying skin.

Bang Bang Skewers from Plantopia Soy-Glazed Tofu, Sweet Chilli, Peanut Butter, Crispy Onion, Sesame, Bell Peppers £6.95 Available from Plantopia, order online and collect from Avenue Road or get a delivery

£38 - available from Shaifta Sackett here Spiced Rum & Whisky Spirit Gift Pack A neat and fantastic little gift box including our new Farr Brew spirits (350ml bottles) with shredded gift packing. £35 from Farr Brew

Local Products and Services #ShopLocal Accountants the barefoot accountant ltd Accountancy services for creative businesses www.thebarefoot.accountant

Advertising My Mustard Looking for targeted, cost effective, measurable results? Look no further. My Mustard & Google AdWords, a winning combination. www.mymustard.co.uk

Arts & Culture Trestle Theatre Company Trestle Theatre Company are a mask and physical theatre company running Trestle Arts Base where they offer creative workshops and opportunities, space hire, performances and training. Trestle provides high quality, creative opportunities to everyone. Find out what their current offer is at www.trestle.org.uk/whats-on

Business Coaching Talia Zamora I help determined achievers (specialising in those with Neurodiverse families) to become the go-to business in your ﬁeld and attain the income you desire! I help to form transformational strategies which enables you to live your dream lifestyle. www.taliazamora.com

Business Consultancy Good Beyond We work with forward thinking organisations that want to lead with vision and create healthy happy workplaces that change the world. www.goodbeyond.com/talk St Albans Enterprise Agency (STANTA) Free business advice and training for Hertsbased micro businesses under 3 years old, but we specialise in helping businesses in postcode areas AL1-10 www.stanta.co.uk

Business Support Grow With Vision We help businesses do business better. From streamlining processes, to Software implementation and training, we show you ways of working faster and smarter. www.growithvision.com The St Albans Business Community Effective marketing for your business from a community you can trust www.stalbans.thebusinessescommunity.com/ work-with-us Mums UnLtd Mums UnLtd offers business support for Mums running or starting a business www.mumsunltd.co.uk Jaxstar Solutions Jaxstar Solutions is a Business Support service focused on assisting you to grow your business no matter the size. We offer several different services from a GDPR audit to a Xero Review and Fix package. For more information, get in touch today. www.jaxstarsolutions.co.uk/jaxstar-solutionsservices/ Accord HR Consulting Ltd Accord HR Consulting will help businesses to resolve their tricky people management situations. www.accordHRconsulting.co.uk Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Is legal, H&S, GDPR, HR, and pensions auto enrolment an expensive chore for you? Get it sorted in a day at no extra cost. Tap into the bargaining power of 165,000 members for key business services. We are not-for-proﬁt, all fees go to making business services accessible to all. Call Loreta on 07464 892 681 to discuss your application. Rocket Girl Coaching My life and work is dedicated to personal and organisational development to improve inclusion and understanding in society through Executive Coaching, Consultancy and Disability Equality Training. www.rocketgirlcoaching.com

Coaching Peer2Peer Peer2Peer is all about helping business leaders build the best businesses possible, but to also, making sure they enjoy the ride. We’re an inclusive group, everybody is welcome as long as you’re serious about being the best you can be and building a great business. Simply ping me an email johnacton@dpi-europe.com

Commercial Photogrpahy Striking Places Photography Professional photography for all your business photography needs. www.strikingplaces.com

Dance School Rinceoiri le Cheile Irish Dance Academy Irish dancing classes for boys & girls from 3yrs+ www.instagram.com/rcirishdance

Digital Marketing Wagada Wagada is an award-winning, results-driven digital marketing agency, working with ambitious companies to help them to reach their goals and acquire new customers through engaging and strategic marketing campaigns. www.wagada.co.uk Darcy Salinger SEO & Analytics Service to help improve visibility within search engines jon.salinger@darcysalinger.com and www.darcysalinger.com

Family Louise’s Antenatal Classes Hi I’m Lou the Midwife. I deliver antenatal and hypnobirthing classes and offer antenatal and postnatal care. www.louantenatal.com

Family & Portrait Photography Annie Griggs Photography Capturing a wide range of photography genres, including families and children, business headshots, events and product photography. All at a high professional standard. www.anniegriggs-photography.co.uk

Finance Visionary Accountants Providing professional services including Tax Returns, Tax Advice & Planning, Management Accounts, R&D, Bookkeeping, Payroll & Workplace Pensions www.visionaryaccountants.co.uk/contactus

Flooring Carpet store Quality ﬂooring at affordable rates Tothecarpetstore@aol.com

Food Dizzy Bee Kitchen Food Gorgeous Granolas www.dizzybeekitchen.co.uk Rothamsted Manor Rothamsted Manor is a Grade 1 listed manor house in the heart of Harpenden, offering afternoon tea, music concerts, weddings, parties, wakes and much more. www.rothamstedenterprises.com/events

Graphic Design The Brandit Super simple, super effective, super amazing logos, branding and communications for your business www.thebrandit.co.uk

Hair/Barbering Headcase Barbers proper haircuts in an unpretentious environment www.instagram.com/headcasestalbans

Health and Beauty Karen’s Temple Spa Spa Experiences in your own home www.templespa.com/karenfrancis Caroline k facial treatments I offer luxury skincare treatments, procedures and products. For information or to book call 07949138145

Health and Wellbeing Victoria Bell Nutrition Nutritional therapy programmes supporting women with digestive health and the perimenopause www.victoriabellnutrition.co.uk Forever Living (the Aloe Vera Co) by Nicky Packman I can advise on and supply a wide range of Aloe Vera & Beehive based products to help support skin, digestion, gut health, immunity, mobility and general wellbeing for all ages. www.thealoeveraco.shop/GkHcYFOe Moveology A wide range of treatments to help with injury recovery and fitness improvements. www.moveology.co.uk Popdance Learn fun dance routines to pop music from the 80s, 90s, 00 and current pop track - for all ages and abilities www.popdance.co.uk Positive Reflex Therapy I offer deeply relaxing, rejuvenating and destressing Reflexology and Reiki treatments in the comfort of your own home or workplace. www.positivereflextherapy.co.uk

Home and Decor Verulam Tile Warehouse Ceramic, porcelian, natural stone wall and ﬂoor tiles for inside and outside. www.verulamtilewarehouse.co.uk

Blissfully Organised Professional Organising www.blissfullyorganised.co.uk

Illustrator Hannah Sessions Design I offer bespoke illustrations of your house/ school/ favourite place. Makes a great gift and now have some packages to choose from. Get in touch. www.facebook.com/hannahsessionsdesign

Insurance Broker EIC Insurance Services Limited We help business owners sleep at night by protecting the things they care about www.eicinsurance.co.uk

Language Services Atlas Translations We offer personal, certiﬁed and professional language services. A world-class, ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certiﬁed translations agency. www.atlas-translations.co.uk

Marketing Amber Mountain Marketing Cost Effective Marketing Communications Book a free power hour too boost your marketing here; www.ambermountainmarketing.co.uk/ contact Joolz Joseph Email Marketing Services & Training. Marketing Motivation and Mentoring for small businesses. Find out more at JoolzJoseph.com www.joolzjoseph.com

Music Kick Pistol Show your support for local indie band, Kick Pistol, by following them on Instagram www.instagram.com/kickpistol

Networking The Business Network South Herts Visit us to enjoy networking with like-minded people and an educational seminar www.business-network-south-herts.co.uk/ events-seminars The Athena Network Bedfordshire & St Albans Business Networking and Development Club for Women in Business www.theathenanetwork.com/katecherry or email me at kate.cherry@theathenanetwork.com Women In Business Network Connections, Support, Business Potential for Women In Business through networking www.wibn.co.uk

Network and Internet Countriﬁ Networks We provide advice, guidance and solutions for improving your internet and wireless coverage around your home or business. We also offer a range of CCTV and Alarm solutions. www.Facebook.com/CountriﬁNetworks

Optometrist EYES on St Albans We ROCK your new eyewear..! www.eyesonstalbans.com

Painters and Decorators St Albans Decor Kitchen Cabinet Painters + Renovations Painting and Decorating www.stalbansdecor.co.uk

Performing Arts School Brilliant Theatre Arts We are youth theatre and drama school combined offering training through performance. Aimed at young performers aged 7 - 21 who have a serious interest in performing www.brillianttheatrearts.co.uk

Print Macpro Design & Print Ltd. Providing professional artwork, design and print to local SME’s. Visit our website for more information www.macprodp.com

Photography Stephanie Belton Photography Portrait photography for families and businesses www.stephaniebelton.com Immersive Walkthroughs We create unique 3D virtual tours to help you promote your business www.immersivewalkthroughs.com/tourexamples

Retail Atelier Ferrari Monti ladies made to measure www.ferrarimonti.com Christopher Place Shopping Centre Shopping centre with new retailers and restaurants www.christopher-place.co.uk Dress Up & Dance Dancewear, dance shoes, gymnastics clothing, fancy dress costumes for sale and hire, accessories and costume make up www.dressupanddance.com Floral City Goodbye Flowers, Floral Gifts and Flower Subscriptions www.ﬂoralcity.co.uk Lou Murphy Styles Styling and shopping with French fashions from Captain Tortue www.facebook.com/ groups/1620092258294835

Senior Care & Dementia Care Tea & Memories Reminiscence Vintage Tea Party Activity for Seniors. Suitable for groups in care homes, community care venues, or private homes. Ideal for celebrations. Email terri@teaandmemories.co.uk Tel: 07505 141707

Telecommunications Trio Telecom Trio Telecom are rate 5* on Google and provide local businesses with Voice over IP phone systems, broadband and ethernet connectivity, and call answering and virtual numbers. www.triotelecom.co.uk/contact-us VOIspeed Ltd VOIspeed offers a fantastic business phone system with collaborative tools ideal for hybrid working that can be used anywhere on any device. www.voispeed.co.uk

Video Production Yellow Lizard Media Professional video production for a range of industries, services and events www.yellowlizardmedia.co.uk

Web Design Gold Nugget Designs Bespoke WordPress websites that get your business seen! www.goldnuggetdesigns.co.uk/websiteworksheet

What’s “On Trend” in St Albans We want to know about all the latest trends - from the cocktail that everyone’s drinking, to the favourite holiday destination.

lashes stand out, and, then the application of a specialist solution to tame brows & lift lashes Lasts up to 6 weeks and eliminates the need for mascara. For further details www.eveand-adam.com/lashes-browspiercing

This month, Sally at Eve and Adam in Catherine Street, St Albans, tells about the latest “Trend” in brows and eyelashes: “It’s all about enhancing the eyes at Eve & Adam Brow Bar, with Lash Lifts and Brow Lamination being the hottest trend this Summer. These treatments involve tinting with a deeper colour to make the brows and 22

If you have an “On Trend” tip for us, please get in touch at stalbans@ thebusinessescommunity.com

News Round Up Business Services Summer is just around the corner so now is the time to outsource your business tasks that are time consuming and can be done by a hired professional. Jaxstar Solutions can help! www.jaxstarsolutions.co.uk STANTA continue to offer free business advice throughout August (online or in person, you choose). Need a 2-6 person office? We have one vacant: www.stanta.co.uk Trio Telecom are proud to have received over thirty 5* Google reviews. We would like to thank our business customers for all their positive feedback on our service. the barefoot accountant team were over the moon to be named St Albans Business Champions in the Town and County awards on 13th July Hair & Beauty Introducing our new barber Jake - enjoy 25% off at the till when you mention this. Health & Wellness The Wagada team are taking on the challenge of walking, running or cycling the distance between their St Albans and Cheltenham offices for Hope for Tomorrow, a mobile cancer charity who deliver care to those who need it most. Find out more here: www.wagada.co.uk/ blog/race-to-cheltenham-for-hope-for-tomorrow Home & Garden FREE guide to why people find it difficult to let things go. Retail NEW fashion collection arrives early August. Book your small group or personal shopping appointment and get your EARLY BIRD OFFER with 10% off until 31/8/21

5 Questions We Asked A St Albans Business We love ﬁnding out more about the people behind the businesses in this amazing city. This month, we asked Kelly of GHPS our “famous ﬁve” questions:

What made you start your own business?

What does your business offer its customers?

We started GHPS because it gave us the freedom of running things how you see best, and for a better work / life balance – although, since being a business owner I’ve realised it’s much harder than you think to establish a proper work/life balance!

Our team offer a wide range of services for the following sectors: Gas, heating, plumbing, drainage as well as other trades! But separate from our services, we offer a high quality, fast service from our trained and qualiﬁed engineers, at competitive prices!

What kind of customers are you What piece of advice would looking for? Are there any types you give to another business of businesses you would like to owner? collaborate with? Do it!! While it obviously comes We cater to both the residential with it’s hard times, I wouldn’t of and commercial sector! So, changed my decision to become whether you’re a local business a business owner for the world! looking for a fellow small business to support you, or So, if you need support with if you’re experiencing issues anything around your home, around the house and need an or business premises, then be expert to have a look around, sure to get in touch today for we’ve got you covered! support! Give us a call on 0800 043 0458 or email us at info@ Right now, our ideal customer ghps.uk would have to be High street shops – especially those with www.ghps.uk more than one outlet. Sushimania is a great contact that we recently started supporting. We’re proud to add them to our growing business portfolio which already includes some well-known businesses such as: Watford FC, KFC, Pret a Manger, Costa Coffee and more! What’s the toughest part of running your business?

If you are a business in St Albans, get in touch to answer our famous 5 questions and feature your business in Inform Magazine - send your answers to the above questions, along with images to accompany the article and how people can get in contact with you and we will do the rest - email stalbans@ thebusinessescommunitycom

Switching off! As I mentioned earlier, it’s only once you become a business owner that you realise the sacriﬁces (mostly for time) that come with running a business!

Simpliﬁed Meal Planning Delicious and Real, takes the decisions out of dinner times. By creating a weekly meal-plan you will be reducing the amount of time you spend in the kitchen and supermarket as well as the amount of money you spend on your shopping. Through Delicious and Real, Claire’s subscribers are discovering that cooking from scratch doesn’t have to be difﬁcult or time consuming. Her recipe library is bursting with simple ideas for delicious meals: there are over 200 of them! In this issue, Claire shares her Cajun Beans With Homemade Chips recipe with us - why not give it a go and let us know how you get on:

Cajun beans with homemade chips • • • • • • • • • • • • •

4 medium potatoes (cut into chips) Oil Salt Pepper 1 onion (diced) 1 red pepper (diced) 1 carrot (diced) courgette (diced) 1 tbsp Cajun spice seasoning (see below) 1 tin chopped tomatoes 1 tin cannelini beans (drained) 2 tsp marmite 100g cheddar cheese (grated)

For the Cajun seasoning (will make enough for future meals) • • • • • •

1 tbsp ﬁne sea salt 1 tsp caster sugar 2 tbsp smoked paprika 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 tbsp dried oregano 1 tsp turmeric

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and arrange the chips in a single layer on a baking tray (you may need to use 2) - pop them in the oven for 40 minutes turning half way through 2. Heat some oil in a large, lidded pan. Cook the onion, pepper, carrot and courgette for 5 minutes 3. Add a splash of water and give everything a stir. Turn down the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes with the lid on

Add 1tbsp of the Cajun seasoning and cook out for a minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, beans and marmite Simmer for 20 minutes

Serve and enjoy Claire Gillies runs a local, mealplanning subscription service with hundreds of her own delicious recipes for people to choose from. Find out more and order here www.deliciousandreal.com Do you run a restaurant, café, bar, hotel, take-away or pub? Got a recipe you’d like to share with thousands of local people? Get in touch at stalbans@ thebusinessescommunity.com

4. Add 1tbsp of the Cajun seasoning and cook out for a minute until fragrant. 5. Add the tomatoes, beans and marmite and simmer for 20 minutes 6. Serve the beans ontop of the chips – ﬁnish off with a sprinkling of grated cheese Sweat the onion and pepper in oil for 5 minutes Add a splash of water, turn down the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes.

EVENTS Check the TBC Calendar HERE for all events 2nd - 6th August - Build A Bee Hotel at Rothamsted 4th August - The Business Network South Herts Networking and Educational Seminar 11th August - Mums UnLtd Online Networking Meeting 11th August - August Chamber Lunch 12th August - The Businesses Community Online Meet Up aka Jelly 15th August - Rothamsted Manor Afternoon Tea 18th August - Meet The Neighbours - Virtual Networking Opportunity 20th August - Cappuccino Connections 20th August - Documentary Letters of Credit - A Practical Guide 20th August - Film Night at Rothamsted Woman In Gold (12) 20th August - Mums UnLtd Online Networking Meeting

The Alternative Prom This last 18 months have been difficult for everybody, the COVID 19 pandemic has taken away so much from so many, but in challenging times people have come together and shown a resilience, to work together and try to make things better for everyone. I am a year 11 student at The Marlborough Science Academy in St. Albans. The past 18 months have been difficult for all students, we have been forced to complete our secondary education remotely, removed physically from our friends and teachers and faced uncertainties around the completion of our GCSE’s and subsequent gradings. When government policy changed and we were allowed to return to school we were hopeful that we would be able to experience the traditional school leavers things such as prom. Plans were made amongst my peers and I, dresses and suits were purchased, arrangements for transport and after parties were put in place. Unfortunately yet again COVID 19 had other plans, and lockdown was extended further. Despite the best efforts of the staff at the school, the decision was made to postpone prom, this was hugely disappointing for us all. Once it was confirmed that lockdown would be lifted on Monday 19th July, a small group of parents decided that they would try to pull together an event. The group led by Emma Gallagher, Gill Hudnott and Lucy Pedder, carried out research on potential venues as the original venue remained a designated quarantine hotel. The Mercure Hotel in Watford were offering a VIP Prom package and had the 19th July available. After discussing with other parents in a closed Facebook group, it was agreed to proceed. Initially word was spread via social media, with parents sharing in the facebook

group and the children sharing on snapchat and Instagram. Very quickly there was enough interest to proceed and the school kindly sent out a notiﬁcation to ensure that all families of year 11 students had the opportunity to join the event. In total 98 students attended and were greeted on arrival by a red carpet and ﬂower wall, the photographer took the opportunity to capture images of everyone, the students had all made a fantastic effort to dress up and all looked fantastic on a blisteringly hot evening. The venue looked amazing with fantastic balloons from Altered Images, the buffet was incredible, the cakes were delicious. The DJ had everyone dancing all night and at the end of the evening no one wanted to leave. It really was a fantastic night and experience that we will all remember, it was lovely to be able to celebrate with my friends and see off our time at school in style.

We students would all like to thank everyone who was involved and made it possible, particularly Emma, Gill, Lucy, Tina, Rob, Ken, Sarah, Debbie and Hannah. Another huge thank you must go to Morgan Sindall for the signiﬁcant ﬁnancial sponsorship that made the event so special. We really did feel like VIP’s.

Written by Bethany Parry