LEAMINGTON MUSIC HOTSPOT LAUNCHES RECORD LABEL

A Leamington café which has become a hotspot for live music in Warwickshire is launching its own record label on the back of its growing success.

Temperance, on Bath Street in the old town, was established by Adrian Gains in 2018 as a café and art gallery by day, and a bar and music venue by night.

It quickly established itself as a hub for creativity and a space to showcase local talent, expanding to National Theatre Live, film, spoken word and comedy nights and serving vegan food and drink sourced from local independent suppliers.

However, after the hospitality industry took a hit during Covid-19, Adrian was offered support through Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s Project Warwickshire – a free recovery and growth business support programme to help companies in the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the county, in the wake of the pandemic.

Adrian was given support and training to help raise the profile of the café and market its events.

He is now taking the next step to launch his own record label “Temperance Live”.

“We have a great technical set-up and superb sound engineer and our reputation is growing fast.

“We can now offer musicians the opportunity to record their amazing live performances and get them heard by a much wider audience.

“We’ll have live sessions released on platforms such as Bandcamp and will be selling CDs.”

Archel Homes, bought the building less than a year ago for around £5 million, according to reports.

The freehold property – a former Victorian country house – sits within 5.5 acres of land in an area which has been allocated for housing within the Warwick District Council local plan.

Parker-Hannifin completes £6.3 billion acquisition of Coventry-based Meggitt

US engineering firm Parker-Hannifin has completed its £6.3 billion takeover of Coventry-based aerospace company Meggitt.

The Ohio-based firm – which makes engineered products for the aerospace, automotive and manufacturing industries says the acquisition will provide complementary technologies and increase the aftermarket mix of its aerospace business.

The closing of the acquisition came following a review of competition and security concerns by the British government.

01 Gloucester-based Prima Dental expands leadership team

Dental bur manufacturer Prima Dental Group has expanded its executive leadership team. David Creed (right) joined Prima Dental Group in 2018. He is now Head of Finance. Paulo Raquel (left) has been hired as Chief Operating Officer. He has an impressive background in engineering in leading multi-national companies.

02 New directors for ALS Mechatronic as growth continues

Cheltenham-based automation engineering company ALS Mechatronic has made two new appointments to its board of directors, promoting Chris Fitzsimmons (left) to services director and Daniel L’estrange (right) to engineering director.

03 YASA appoints Juergen Banken as CEO

YASA, the Oxfordshire-based pioneer in ultra-high performance electric drive technology bought by Mercedes-Benz last year, has appointed Juergen Banken as its new CEO, succeeding Dr Chris Harris. Juergen was recently at Integrated Electric Drives, Mercedes-Benz.

04 Warwick tech company welcomes new chair

Telent Ltd, the Warwick technology and network services company, has appointed Paul Lester CBE as chairman of the company. Paul succeeds David Naylor-Leyland who is stepping down as Chairman after 12 years in the position.

05 Core to Cloud appoints finance director to manage major growth

Cybersecurity specialist, Core to Cloud, has appointed, Matt White as Finance Director. The Cirencester company is forecast to increase turnover by more than 170 per cent by the end of the year.

06 Senior hires at Bidwells boosts Oxford team targeting booming life sciences sector

Two of the region’s leading advisers to the science and technology sector have joined property consultant Bidwells. Emily Slupek (pictured) joins as a Partner from project management firm Buro Four, where she led its Science and Technology division.

Experienced Oxford agent Duncan May also joins as a Partner.

07 BPE’s Commercial Property team continues to grow

The Commercial Property team at BPE Solicitors has welcomed back Paul Engelbrecht as a Partner and Notary Public to provide commercial and practical advice to the firm’s clients. Paul had previously been a partner at Hughes Paddison.

10

Slick promotions for oil recycling company

Slicker Recycling has announced a series of appointments. The Stourporton-Severn company, which specialises in the collection and recycling of lubricating oils previously used in motor vehicles and machinery, has revealed a variety of promotions and appointments within its 18-strong interceptor team. Commercial manager Leanne Tillson (pictured centre),

08 will now lead the team’s sales and administrative functions.

Lennie Hamilton has been appointed as operations manager and Noemi Kedves is promoted to planner, with Nicola Stocks taking up the role of customer adviser. Emily Knight has been recruited into a sales administration role and four drivers have also joined the team.

Chief

Strategy Officer for Bristol-based CFMS

Independent digital engineering consultancy The Centre for Modelling & Simulation has appointed Dr Mark Woods as Chief Strategy Officer. The new role will see Mark work with the organisation’s senior leadership team to oversee the organisation’s direction and support the development of new robotics capabilities.

09 Exscientia creates new chief people officer role

Oxford-based biotech company Exscientia, has appointed Caroline Rowland as its first chief people officer. Caroline, who joins from Arm, will leading the firm’s People (human resources) and Places functions while developing its talent, training and employee experience strategies.

11 Global operations boost for Norbar Torque Tools

Banbury-based Norbar Torque Tools has appointed a new managing director to lead the manufacturers’ global operations.

John Reynertson (left) will replace the outgoing Andrew Lobo (right). John joins from his role as president at Sturtevant Richmont, a US company recently purchased by Norbar’s owner Snap-on, that designs and manufactures torque wrenches and torque control equipment.

12 West Midlands Gigafactory appoints electric vehicle and battery industry expert

West Midlands Gigafactory joint venture has appointed battery industry technology expert Richard Moore to spearhead its strategy and global contact with leading cell manufacturers. This key appointment will support the development of what it is hoped will become the UK’s largest Gigafactory.

Gloucestershire College to launch electric vehicle training centre

Gloucestershire College is investing £500,000 in equipment to kit out the county's first electric and hybrid vehicle training centre.

The centre, which will open in the new year, will offer a range of short courses for automotive technicians, who will be able to gain qualifications up to Level 4 – one step above A level.

It is also investing in training to up-skill its entire team of industryexpert lecturers to deliver faceto-face training in everything from maintenance and diagnostics to testing and repairs.

Currently, most local electric and hybrid electric vehicle training is delivered online, with local garages having to venture out of county for face-to-face delivery.

Gloucestershire College will provide a closer-to-home solution that upskills technicians, taught in person by experienced lecturers in real working garages on their doorstep.

The launch of the centre will support the college's net zero ambitions while filling a skills gap – fewer than five per cent of UK motor technicians are currently qualified to work on electric vehicles, despite their growing popularity.

Principal Matthew Burgess said: “Gloucestershire College is committed to working with our employer partners to meet local skills needs, as well as supporting the wider skills and sustainability agendas.

"We plan to bridge the skills gap in low-carbon vehicle mechanics and future-proof the skills of our own talent-in-training, to make them even more employable when they move into industry."

UNIVERSITIES OF BRISTOL AND WARWICK JOIN £6.75M NATIONAL NETWORK TO ACCELERATE UK INNOVATION

The University of Bristol and University of Warwick are part of a new £6.75 million national network to accelerate UK innovation.

The Innovation Launchpad Network+ brings together leading universities, the Catapult Network and regional innovation ecosystems to enrich the exchange of ideas and knowledge across these organisations.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the network is a national collaboration, led by the University of Sheffield with the Universities of Leeds, Strathclyde, Warwick, Bristol and Exeter, and the Catapult Network.

There are currently nine Catapults, each established by and working in partnership with Innovate UK. They support businesses across healthcare, energy, emerging technologies and manufacturing in transforming great ideas into valuable products and services.

To foster new links between individuals or groups and the Catapult Network, the programme will deliver 100 world-class Researchers in Residence programmes and will focus on the themes of net zero, healthcare and wellbeing, and resilience.

The programme builds on the successful Catapult Fellows and Researcher in Residence programmes and aims to create a truly inclusive and integrated scienceinnovation community.

Increase in number of girls taking GCSE computing exams welcomed by BCS

An increase in the number of girls taking GCSE computing exams in 2022 has been welcomed by Swindon-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

This summer 81,000 students were awarded a certificate in computing.

And record numbers will start a computer science degree this year, with faster growth in women taking computing than for any other university subject group, new figures show.

Computer Science is now the fastestgrowing degree subject, with 24,900 people starting courses in September – up seven per cent.

While fewer girls took a GCSE in computing than boys – a ratio of 3.7 to 1 – females outperformed the male cohort.

Figures show 40.6 per cent of female entrants in England gained a grade 7 or above – the former GCSE Grade A – compared with 32.2 per cent of male entrants.

Julia Adamson, director of education at BCS, said: “It is fantastic news that girls continue to take up the computer science qualifications at similar levels to previous years and achieve good grades.

“However, we cannot be complacent. One thing we all learnt during the pandemic is that digital skills are vital for all, providing the tools to take an active part in society, aid career prospects and improve the UK economy in the long run."