As the festive season unfolds and 2024 draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each of you. Your hard work, commitment, resilience, and team spirit have been the cornerstone of our collective success this year.
We understand that the holiday period can be both joyous and challenging. While some are wrapped in the warmth of festive cheer, others may find this time demanding. That's why we're delighted to offer the additional Gratis day off on the 27th December – a small token of our appreciation, giving you an opportunity to rest, recharge, and spend quality time with your loved ones.
From all of us, we wish you and your families a peaceful, restorative Christmas and a promising New Year ahead.
Warmest regards.
Phil, Malcolm, Andy, Kath, Colin and Simon
Dates
23 Dec: Payday
24 Dec: Open as normal
25 Dec: Closed
26 Dec: Closed
27 Dec: Gratis day off
30 Dec: Open as normal
31 Dec: Open as normal
01 Jan: Closed
02 Jan: Open as normal
03 Jan: Open as normal
15 Jan: Expenses cut off
Please note that Christmas Eve and New Years Eve are normal working days with the usual discretionary early leave for drinks.
Christmas arrangements
Our Christmas hours
Our offices will be closed on Wednesday 25 December and remain closed until 8.30am Monday 30th December.
Please accept Friday 27th December as a gratis day holiday, Merry Christmas!
We will also be closed for the New Year bank holiday on Wednesday 1st January.
On both Christmas eve and New Years eve we invite you, at your discretion, to finish a little earlier for a festive drink.
Timing and arrangements are organised by the local office:
We will not be sending Christmas cards this year, we are instead redirecting these resources to make a charitable donation to the Sam Beare charity. This decision is part of our ongoing effort to support local causes and make a positive impact in the community and areas where we operate.
Our Save the Children Christmas Jumper day on Thursday 12th December raised £389. This fundraising effort spanned all our WW offices and our Hillingdon and Uxbridge Christmas Networking event. Thank you for taking part!
Christmas Party
On Friday13th December the Ward Williams team made their way aboard a Thames party boat to celebrate the festive season.
The team viewed the London skyline and beautiful Christmas lights, bopped, cheersed and socialised as team with much merriment along the way.
WW Christmas 2024
Feedback
We hope everyone had a wonderful time! We entire WW team (whether you were able to at participate in a feedback survey designed to gather insights about your experiences and generate ideas for the future. Please submit your responses before 7 January 2024.
Submit your feedback here
Agifttoyou
WAs we approach the end of the year, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your hard work and dedication throughout the year. To show our appreciation, we have organised a couple of bottles of wine for each of you as a special gift from the Board, to you.
These have been delivered to the offices ready for collection, if you haven’t received yours, please contact your line manager.
We understand that not everyone may drink wine, but we hope you can share these with friends or family over the festive period.
Thank you once again for all that you do and being part of the Ward Willams team.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and new year. Phil, Malcolm, Andy, Kath, Colin and Simon
Ben Martin passed his final ICAEW exam (Case Study), and I am sure that everyone will join us in congratulating him.
To all of you who have forthcoming exams or awaiting results, we wish you the very best of luck!
Don’t forget to share your exam success with your line manager, HR and Lisa Bevan so we can celebrate with you and keep your training and development files are up-to-date.
Congratulations to Maddie Heslop
The wedding was at the very cosy Gate Street Barn in Bramley (a village just outside Guildford) on November 23rd.
Storm Bert didn’t dampen the festivities, and we had the most magical time celebrating, after over 18 years together.
At some point I’ll be double barrelling my name, to be Maddie Heslop-Deolia.
Baby News
Congratulations to Tom Kirk
We are delighted to announce that Tom and Leanne have welcomed a new baby to their family.
Stanley was born on Tuesday 26th November weighing 7lbs 7oz.
We presented our long service award winners at a private awards ceremony where stories from the past were exchanged and how much has changed over the years they have been with us, Over the next few editions we will be sharing their stories with you,
Words from Phil and Malcolm
Cathy Dilna - 20 years service
Cathy joined Ward Williams as a PA to a director that had joined us as part of the merger/acquisition of Mantle Evans. Over the years Cathy developed an interest in company secretarial matters and proposed to Richard, Malcolm and I that she re-train and start a up a distinct Company Secretarial ‘department’. The rest is history as they say. Cathy has become an integral member of our Senior Team and provides a service offering that covers basic compliance through to complex corporate structures.
Jamie Roth - 20 years
Jamie and I used to work together as far back a the last century when I first started my ACA studies! We went our separate ways after qualifying but we stayed in touch and when Jamie let me know he was not happy where he worked, I asked him to come and work for us. Jamie is a loyal, knowledgeable, hardworking member of our Tax team and is also a ‘wiz’ on I and software, which has been an immense help to me over the years.
Jacky Staunton - over 20 years
Jacky joined Ward Williams as part of the bookkeeping and accounting team when we acquired Hughes Collett, a small practice based in Epsom. As time progressed, Jacky exchanged her client work to become the Finance Manager for Ward Williams and its then subsidiaries, WW Financial Services, WW HR and WW Creatives. Jacky has seen the business grow from 6 to 60 employees and take on more than ten acquisitions and is a well-respected and trusted member of our management team.
In addition to the above, there are two ladies that have surpassed 30 years in the accountancy profession, Linda Edwards and Caroline Murphy. Both joined us from previous firms as part of a merger and although, they have not spent all 30 years at Ward Williams, we all continue to benefit from their vast experience and knowledge It is with great pleasure that we recognise both for such a tremendous achievement.
Name our newsletter!!
Congratulations to all our entrants into the name our internal newsletter. We had so many excellent entries.
We amalgamated a couple of answers for our winning name and would like to award Nikita and Andy as our winners for their contributions. We will be sending you both a £20 amazon voucher in the New Year! Congratulations!
The name "Ward Williams HIVE" for our internal newsletter symbolises a central hub for sharing information and fostering community engagement. It highlights the importance of amplifying employee voices, harnessing innovative ideas, and recognising contributions within our vibrant workplace ecosystem.
Ultimately, "HIVE" reflects our commitment to collaboration and creating a sense of belonging among all team members. We hope to see you all contributing to future articles so please share your ideas with Marketing via Jo Philp and Hannah Peyton
