Konnect. The Vella Group Christmas Special

ISSUE THREE

KONNECT

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Celebrating across the group

APPRENTICE UPDATE Updates from the General Managers

PROMOTIONS WITHIN THE SITES

Congratulating Andy, Phil and Graham

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ON THE VELLA GROUPS’S FACEBOOK

NEWSSHORTS

Welcome

TO OUR NEW STARTERS

We are very pleased to announce that Andy Smith will be the Bodyshop Manager of Southport!

Some of you may know Andy has spent a year working at Southport as a VDA and has spent time learning from Karl himself.

Andy began his career straight after school as an apprentice Paint Technician, he then spent 8 years in the part department. When an opportunity arose in the estimating department, he then chose to concentrate his career in becoming a VDA, which is where he has been for the last 20 years!

We wish Andy the best of luck in his new role and look forward to working with him!

Jenny Shergold, HR Admin Alex Henshaw, Accounts Assistant Simon Broomfield, MET, Skelmersdale Andrew Johnson, MET, Skelmersdale Kathy Gough, Assist Sharon Jones, Customer Service, Skelmersdale Natalie Mills, Customer Service, Preston Rickie Moulton, Central VDA John Jones, Paint, Preston Clive Wilcock, Customer Service Driver, Preston David Hannah, MET, Workington Barry Grace, Parts, Skelmersdale Mihai Raican, MET, Skelmersdale

SUGGESTIONS WE WANT THEM! Developing and improving the business is an ongoing process that never ends.

We can always do better. It’s important for us that staff feel they can put forward their ideas on how we can improve how we do things. We can’t promise that we will always be able to implement ideas, but we know we have the right people and its incumbent on the company to make sure everyone feels they have a voice.

We will pick the best ideas and should we implement any suggestions, award a prize to the bright sparks and creative geniuses behind them.

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FROM THE SHOPFLOOR, TO OUR FUTURE LEADERS! We are thrilled to announce two promotions within the Group. Phil Ashbridge will be the Bodyshop Manager of Workington and Graham Lord will be the Production Manager of Skelmersdale.

Phil Ashbridge joined the Group in 2015 as a Senior Panel/MET Technician. Phil began his career training as a Panel Beater in a small garage in Cumbria, he moved to Millican Motors in 2006 where he trained and gained qualifications in Panel and MET. Over the recent months, Phil has supported the site in the day to day running of production and has done a great job!

Graham Lord started his career as an Apprentice Panel Beater back in 1987 and has served 14 years as a Panel/MET technician. He originally joined The Vella Group in 2009 as a MET Technician in Blackburn, he then transferred to the MET team in Skelmersdale in 2012. Recently he has helped during the busy holiday period and been an asset to the team.

Both have a wealth of experience within the industry and have strong skills they can bring to the team.

We are looking forward to working with both Phil and Graham and hope you will join us in congratulating them both on their new positions!

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APPRENTICE UPDATE

The Vella Group would like to thank all those who have trained and engaged with the apprentices, we very much appreciate your efforts and for sharing your knowledge with them all!

Richie Fowler

After initially being sceptical about a new apprenticeship scheme, I have to say I am extremely impressed with not only the hard work our HR team have had to put in and the extra work load taken on but also the well-structured scheme that is now in place. This has enabled the successful candidates to embark on a career path which has been expertly mapped out and heavily supported by B&FC, Autoraise and The Vella Group.

It also pleases me to be able to say bar a few teething problems, Preston’s two apprentices Mason & Josh have applied themselves into the workshop with an attitude beyond their years, which shows how far they have both progressed in a short space of time. Both of them have integrated themselves into the shop floor team and are already seen as an asset by the other Technicians.

Adam Jenkins

We have been pleased to welcome to the Skelmersdale team three bright young individuals, Callum, Harry and Stephen. They have shown over the past 3 months their passion for the industry and their desire to learn as much

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as possible from their mentors. Even after a relatively short period of training we are starting to see which discipline they are naturally suited to, and the massive potential each one of them has.

Trevor Hope

Although it is still early in their training, the apprentices, Li, Rowan and Jakub, are now getting more involved with the technicians and engaging in conversations regarding the repairs. As always, there is still a lot of watching and learning, however, as with the vehicle repair industry, there are always new skills to learn and this is a journey that both the apprentices and the trainers can learn from.

Phil Ashbridge

Really happy with how the apprentices have started their new jobs. Ryan, Cath and Deejay have all fitted into our team at Workington very well, they are very keen to get their hands dirty as much as possible, all three are progressing very well in all departments. I am really excited to see them improve over the next few months.

INTRODUCING BEN Ben is an independent charity and dedicated partner to the automotive industry, providing support for life for its people and their family dependents.

Ben provides free and confidential advice and support focused on the four main areas of peoples’ health and wellbeing: financial, physical, mental and social, supporting people to manage their health proactively and overcome any challenges they face, at whatever stage of life. Everyone who works in the automotive industry can access Ben’s support for themselves and their family dependents.

Ben offers advise across a range of health and wellbeing areas, including stress, anxiety, depression and debt.

In the New Year we will be looking to raffle an adorable bear, to raise awareness of this wonderful charity and the support they offer! More information will be distributed in the New Year.

If you wish to find out more, please head over to their website: https://ben.org.uk

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Unparalleled Dedication. Unmatched Performance.

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Well done to our employees, Andy Walker, Poppy Green, Granville Hermitt, Graham Lord, Michaela Bridges and Phil Hind.

Thank you to all of you who have gone Above and Beyond in your roles, we all appreciate your efforts!

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All eleven of our apprentices attended WorldSkills UK Live with Karl Vella, Marc Holding, Ian Ramsden and the HR team.

TRIP TO WORLD SKILLS UK LIVE As a Company, we believe that World Skills provides a window for our apprentices to see the wider industry, offering them a fantastic opportunity to appreciate that they can aspire to be the best.

Throughout the day, Karl (a World Skills chief expert) spoke to the apprentices about his experiences of judging for World Skills and training competitors. This was followed by a guided tour around the Skill Auto competition area. A huge thank you to Rob Oldale at Blackpool and the Flyde College for making this happen.

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SPOOKTACULAR! Every year, Richie Fowler and his family, always puts on a ‘fangtastic’ display at their home to celebrate Halloween, with each year getting bigger and more spooktacular.

Richie built a coffin for himself this year, which he hid in, and jumped out at trick or treaters!

For Richie and all those involved in the efforts, a donation was made to Alder Hey Children’s hospital.

Going forward, Richie intends to raise money from his house of horrors, as it has proven to be quite the attraction in his home town.

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ADAS

ADVANCED DRIVER ASSIST SYSTEMS Mark Connolly

This is a very complex area and could rightly be considered an absolute minefield for many reasons, not least as new and existing systems continue to be developed at a rapid pace and to provide further assistance or take full control with what were conventionally considered “Driver Only Interactions”.

We are not alone in the seemingly constant struggle to keep abreast of new technologies and to fully understand the complexities of “ADAS”, as a wide variety of repair or replacement scenarios will affect systems differently and by Manufacturer or even Model.

Vehicle Manufacturers use a diverse range of systems often in combination, they will also continue to develop new technologies or adopt existing systems throughout their model ranges. As a result, it is impossible for us the repairer to generalise as to which systems will be used in any one application or in combination with each other or how 12

repairs we carry out would affect them.

Any one of these systems not operating as intended post repair can have serious repercussions, therefore as the “Professionals” we have a duty of care not only to our Customers (Owner and Insurer) but to Ourselves also to thoroughly research and understand on a case by case this complex area, thereby ensuring all repairs we undertake are not only quality repairs but safe repairs.

As a major and forward-thinking independent vehicle repairer we believe we are more diligent than most, if not all, but we need to do

more and stay on top of this complex area, as one vehicle leaving any of our branches post repair without “ADAS” proven to be operating correctly is one too many.

To further improve our understanding in this area we have recently carried out an “ADAS Awareness” Workshop with all VDA’s, General Managers and Production Managers and the feedback has been positive, however this is not the end of the matter as we intend to revisit this subject and carry out further workshops in the hope we can stay as up to speed as possible in this ever changing and safety critical area.

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COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS. Christmas is a busy period for sled repairs and what better way to reward our hardworking employees than with an Advent Calendar raffle!

We managed to pull together some fabulous prizes, with a prize for each day from 1st to 24th of December. Well done to all of those who won, we hope you enjoy your prizes.

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Brian Huxley

Chester

£50 Gift Hamper

Martin Alcock

Skelmersdale

Super Car Day

Simon Broomfield

Skelmersdale

Gift Voucher

Simon Holden

Group

Day’s Annual Leave

Ian Lane

Skelmersdale

£50 Gift Hamper

Ian Bradley

Skelmersdale

Spa Day

Wes Iyanda

Skelmersdale

Gift Voucher

Tom Jones

Chester

Gift Voucher

Valentin Parachiv

Southport

Dine Out Vouchers

Gaz Baker

Group

Chocolate Bouquet

Adam Ball

Preston

£100 Hamper

Ales Danko

Skelmersdale

Super Car Day

Mike Davies

Chester

Cinema Hamper

Hannah Barnes

Group

Experience Day

Mark Golding

Chester

Gift Hamper

John Jones

Preston

Chocolate Bouquet

Harold Newton

Chester

Half Day’s Annual Leave

Glen Miller

Preston

£50 Gift Hamper

Joel Tunstall

Chester

Half Day’s Annual Leave

The festivities officially started at our sites with Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 14th December.

This year, we supported Save the Children and raised an amazing ÂŁ268. Everyone had a great day with lots of laughs and there were some fabulous jumpers on show.

All money raised will help children and bring essential food, healthcare, education and protection to millions of children around the world. ÂŁ2.00 could pay for antibiotics to treat five children suffering from pneumonia.

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CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY

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CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ON THE VELLA GROUPS’S FACEBOOK

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Well done to all the children who entered our Christmas colouring contest.

There were so many wonderfully coloured Vella Group Sleighs that you made selecting tremendously difficult. As a result, we decided that everybody is a winner. All the children that entered the competition will receive a prize.

A special thank you to Daryl Carpenter for providing us with the image.

Check out some of the entries on this page and visit our Facebook page to see them all.

READY! SET! COLOUR!

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CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ON THE VELLA GROUPS’S FACEBOOK

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THE SEASON OF GIVING!

THIS YEAR, WE WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY WITH A REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR.

Across all of our sites, every team bought in one item each day between the 3rd and 14th of December.

All donations were then distributed out to local food banks at each site.

Thank you to everyone for your generosity, great team effort!

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THE VELLA GROUP CHRISTMAS PARTIES

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS! Everyone had a blast at their annual Christmas Party.

Lots of laughter, excellent food and plenty of holiday cheer had by all at The Vella Group.

The team at Skelmersdale celebrated in style at Haydock Races. The Preston Team had a great time at Tino’s Italian Restaurant. HR, Finance and Procurement enjoyed a night at Gusto’s Italian Restaurant in Liverpool. Chester had lots of fun at Panda Mami Restaurant, while Southport spread the holiday cheer in Empire Restaurant.

Last but certainly not least, the team at Workington will celebrate at Caspian Flame and Grill followed by a game of bowling on the 22nd of December!

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THE VELLA GROUP CHRISTMAS PARTIES

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CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ON THE VELLA GROUPS’S FACEBOOK

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KEEPING YOU INFORMED. KEEPING YOU KONNECTED.

We want the newsletter to be the core of our communication with everyone through the business.

It’s important that people know about and understand what’s happening in the company, but also to share good news with each other and develop a better appreciation and understanding of the people we work with.

Every quarter we will aim to send out a newsletter updating you on what’s going on around the company and the industry we work in. We are open to ideas and suggestions; perhaps you want to let people know about a charity event you have planned, or a sporting success? It’s an opportunity for you to get involved.

Design & Creative

by Pure Visual Communication

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