Purple Rage Software in Malvern, who are sole UK and Ireland distributors for Germany-based DeskCenter Solutions, has appointed ASM Technologies as its premier partner. ASM Technologies contacted Purple Rage after seeing DeskCenter in action at CeBIT, the world’s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions, in Hanover.

Sales and channels director Jan Gregson said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with ASM to spread the word about DeskCenter, which is aimed at companies in the public, private and financial sectors. Included in the portfolio is Management Suite, which enables administrators to manage and control IT infrastructure centrally from their workspace and is used by many high profile companies and organisations worldwide, including FIFA and Volkswagen.

“Efficient and reliable license management is more important than ever and should not be left to chance. All unused software licenses use important financial resources that could be used elsewhere and incorrect or incomplete licensing constitutes significant legal risk. DeskCenter faces that challenge and offers a powerful SAM DNA module that helps companies keep software licenses under control.

“One of DeskCenter’s other benefits is that it powers down PCs not in use. The PC Energy Report 2009 showed that only 56 per cent of employees in the UK switch off their PCs after work, which results in unnecessary costs and unwanted carbon dioxide emissions.”

Irvin Shillingford, software channel manager of ASM Technologies, said: “We are delighted to be building a relationship with DeskCenter, an emerging vendor.

“We look forward to this partnership with Purple Rage and creating many market opportunities, DeskCenter brings something different to the table by offering a comprehensive and unique solution in helping clients manage their physical and virtual desktops more cost effectively.”

Purple Rage Software is a privately owned company founded by sales director Jan Gregson and technical director Rob Dixon. Other major brands distributed or resold by the company include NovaStor, Peer Software and Likewise. For more details, visit www.purplerage.com or call 01684 576343.

Notes to editors

For more details, call Jan Gregson of Purple Rage Software on 01684 576343 or email Jan.Gregson@purplerage.com

Alternatively, call Teresa Green of Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

The press release has apepared on the Midlands Business News and The Business Daily websites.

The timely advice, from Worcestershire accountants Ormerod Rutter Chartered Accountants, comes as the deadline for disclosing sales information to the taxman looms.

But, as senior tax investigations manager Anthony Middleton points out, online traders could be in for a pleasant surprise. If they have made a profit one year but a loss in a preceding or following year, they could be in line for a tax rebate.

“HMRC is currently running a series of high profile campaigns – electricians and plumbers are among the other sectors recently targeted,” said Mr Middleton.

“It’s important that people who trade online declare that they wish to take part in the disclosure facility by June 14, which is just a few weeks away. Any payment must be made by September 14.”

Mr Middleton, who is based at Ormerod Rutter’s offices in Droitwich Spa, admits that only a small percentage of people will be affected by the clampdown. However, as HMRC is offering favourable terms to those who meet the June deadline, it is worth contacting an accountant or visiting the revenue’s website for peace of mind.

“In difficult economic times, it’s relatively easy for people to make some extra cash by selling the children’s old toys rather than donating them,” he continued.

“This isn’t what this campaign is about – it is focusing on people who are trying to make a profit by selling items such as concert tickets and branded goods or making goods to sell.

“In effect, it’s an amnesty that people should take advantage of or they could face unwanted penalties. Marketplaces including eBay and PayPal are now compelled to hand over names and addresses of sellers, so you can’t hide behind a log in name.

Mr Middleton added: “There is potentially positive news, though. If you’ve made a profit in one year’s trading then lost money the next you may be entitled to something back.”

As well as providing tax advice to individuals and businesses, Ormerod Rutter, which also has offices in Worcester and Bromsgrove, offers a range of services including bookkeeping and independent financial advice.

Notes to editors

For more details, call Anthony Middleton at Ormerod Rutter on 01905 778564 or email anthonymiddleton@ormerodrutter.co.uk

Alternatively, call Teresa Green at Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

The press release has appeared on The Business Daily, Midlands Business News and Droitwich Spa Advertiser websites.

H1 Healthcare chief executive Pamela Easen.

FAMILY-OWNED recruitment, training and healthcare services provider H1 Healthcare has marked its tenth anniversary by expanding into Worcestershire.

The company, founded by chief executive Pamela Easen in February 2002, has moved into offices in County House, St Mary’s Street, Worcester.

H1 Healthcare, which provides a wide range of products and services to clients including private healthcare providers, care homes, prisons, the NHS and voluntary organisations, has 300 staff and is now recruiting in the West Midlands.

A mother of six, Mrs Easen set up the business from her kitchen table while working shifts as a nurse. Her son, Sam, is now the company’s managing director based at its head office in Aberdeen.

Mrs Easen said: “I just spotted a gap in the market. As a self-employed nurse and former care home owner in Droitwich Spa in the 1980s, I had a commercial background and was able to use my contacts and the vast knowledge I’d gained.

“Setting up a business isn’t for the faint-hearted and in the early days I put in many hours to get it off the ground while still working as a nurse to bring in funds.

“When I moved into my first office six months later, I had no computer software and the receptionists typed my letters. I was on call 24/7 – I only had a ‘pay as you go’ mobile phone – but was determined to make it work.”

Several factors prompted Mrs Easen’s return to the Midlands from Scotland including nursing her late father through illness and spotting her dream home in Tenbury Wells.

Mrs Easen, who will work alongside recruitment administrator Sebastian Shelley in Worcester, added: “As a family-run company, we pride ourselves on our ‘open door’ policy and care for our staff as if they were our clients. Every member of our team receives a handwritten Christmas and birthday card.”

H1 Healthcare is planning to support two charities in 2012 through a series of fund-raising events – the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign and The Trussell Trust, whose food banks provide emergency food and support to people in the UK experiencing financial difficulties.

For more information, visit www.h1healthcare.com

Notes to editors

For more details, call Pamela Easen at H1 Healthcare on 07814 011874 or email pam.easen@h1healthcare.com

Alternatively, call Teresa Green at Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

The press release has appeared on The Business Daily websites, Midlands Business News website and The Recruiter Magazine website.

Wonderfully played by Jessica Hynes, Ms Sharpe embodies all the worst elements you associate with public relations.

She knows absolutely nothing about sport – thinking that Sharon Osbourne and Gok Wan have more right to be associated with the 2012 Games than 1992 gold medallist Sally Gunnell – continues to tap out messages on her phone while she is being spoken to and relies on everyone else to produce ideas.

Arguably Siobhan’s worst fault – and that’s saying something! – is she doesn’t listen, muttering “Sure, sure” when you know her client’s message is going in one ear and out the other.

The good news is not all PR firms and creative agencies are like Siobhan Sharpe’s Perfect Curve crew. In fact, Chris Green Media are the complete opposite.

We know lots about sport – and plenty of other topics too! – switch off our phones in business meetings and come up with ideas to get you noticed.

And, as you’d expect, we love to listen and make sure that our valued clients are totally happy with our service.

As the Olympic Deliverance Committee’s beleaguered boss Ian Fletcher would say when another potential disaster has been averted: “Basically, it’s all good.”

Which reminds me, Chris Green Media can help your business or organisation draw up media crisis management plans for when the worst case scenario DOES happen.

To find out more about our full range of services, call us on 01905 453908 or email info@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

Learn how to conduct effective broadcast interviews at our seminar On Air, On Screen, On Message.

Do you want to learn the skills that will enable you to build relationships with the media and make note-free business presentations?

Then book now for Chris Green Media’s three media training seminars in April and May.

All of our courses are staged at Sixways Stadium, Worcester. Seminars will be run in consecutive weeks from 2pm to 6pm on Thursday afternoons.

Your tutor is award-winning multi-media journalist, Chris Green, managing director of Chris Green Media.

The ‘write’ stuff – Thursday, April 26 from 2pm to 6pm

This four-hour course will give you guidance on how to prepare your own press releases with confidence, advising you on what to include that will attract attention from editors and broadcasters.

On air, on screen, on message – Thursday, May 3 from 2pm to 6pm

Get on message and learn how to conduct confident broadcast interviews to promote your abilities and expertise. Coming alive in front of a microphone or lens will ensure that you can become an essential voice and face the media will want to interview over and over again.

Fit for a King’s Speech – Thursday, May 10 from 2pm to 6pm

Develop note-free public speaking skills and exude poise and confidence in presentations, pitches and proposals. If you’re daunted by the prospect of making a speech or business presentation, this course is perfect for you.

The cost of each seminar is £125 plus VAT, which includes refreshments and a take home pack.

For more details or to book a place, call 01905 453908 or email info@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

David Ryan of Sprint tells Pam Caulfield about the company's work for celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Jamie Oliver.

News of Sprint’s recent achievements travelled across the airwaves when BBC Hereford and Worcester’s radio car rolled into Pershore on Tuesday, April 10.

Managing director David Ryan was grilled (pardon the pun!) by broadcast journalist Pam Caulfield in a live interview for Tony Fisher’s mid-morning programme.

The radio station requested an interview just 15 minutes after Chris Green Media issued a press release on Sprint’s recent installation at Brasserie Blanc in Berkhamsted.

Details of Sprint’s work for the Raymond Blanc-founded restaurant group has also appeared on several websites including Catering Insight, Eat Out, Midlands Business News and The Business Daily sites across Worcestershire and the West Midlands.

Articles have appeared in the Worcester News and Evesham Observer newspapers.

The kitchen designed and fitted by Sprint at Brasserie Blanc, Berkhamsted. Photo: Scott Harrison-Jones Photography.

MIDLANDS catering equipment specialists Sprint have completed their 13^th design and fit for restaurant chain Brasserie Blanc, founded by renowned chef Raymond Blanc.

The Pershore-based company managed the two week project in Berkhamsted and is now looking forward to moving on to new branches in St Albans and Bath.

Sprint Refrigeration and Catering Equipment Ltd will also be carrying out the refurbishment of eight Chez Gerard restaurants in London, which will be rebranded as Brasserie Blanc, over the next three months.

Managing director David Ryan, who set up Sprint with £1,500 in 1994, said: “We’ve designed and fitted kitchens for many major chains including Jamie Oliver’s themed restaurants – Jamie’s Italian and Union Jacks – Loch Fyne, Slug and Lettuce and Revolution vodka bars.

“It has taken years of hard work but to see the business take shape and move in the right direction is fantastic.

“I’m incredibly proud when we complete a kitchen or bar project. You will never hear anyone at Sprint say ‘that will do’. It has to be the best,” added Mr Ryan, whose son Ross is personal designer for Raymond Blanc’s projects with Orient-Express Hotels.

Clive Fretwell, Brasserie Blanc’s executive chef who has worked for Raymond Blanc for 18 years, said: “The equipment supplied by Sprint is first class and built to last.

“Our vision of how a kitchen should be organised is turned into a magnificent design. Any chef would be proud to work in it.

“We know that from shaping the design to the installation that everything works and fits. There are no mistakes and this allows us to deliver between 1,000 and 2,000 dishes per week, week in, week out,” he added.

Sprint also supplies refrigeration and catering equipment to schools and hospitals and operates a nationwide 24/7 maintenance service.

Notes to editors

For more details, call David Ryan, Sprint managing director, on 01386 555922/07850 205326 or email davidryan@sprintrefrigeration.co.uk

Alternatively, call Teresa Green at Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

Picture caption: The kitchen designed and fitted by Sprint at Brasserie Blanc, Berkhamsted. Photo: Scott Harrison-Jones Photography.

Additional images are available on request.

Within hours of the press release being circulated, the story and photo  appeared on Catering Insight website and in the magazine’s daily news alert.

The article has also been featured in the Worcester News and Evesham Observer, The Business Daily websites covering Bromsgrove, Droitwich Spa, Redditch, Kidderminster and the Black Country, the Midlands Business News website and Eat Out website.

Victoria Dixon, owner of Worcester Hearing Centre in The Cornmarket, is alarmed by the rise in cases of tinnitus, which is a ringing, buzzing or hissing noise in the ears that can be spasmodic or constant and distressing for the sufferer.

Mrs Dixon, who has travelled throughout Europe and North America during a 20 year career as a hearing aid audiologist, said: “We live in a noisy and stressful world and more people are starting to suffer spasmodic, and aggressive, bouts of tinnitus. It’s becoming a modern phenomenon.

“There is no known cure and it only takes two hours’ exposure to 85 decibels to start to create cochlear hearing loss, which shows just how delicate our ears are.”

A member of the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists, Mrs Dixon is particularly concerned about young people who use headsets to listen to music or play computer games.

“The major problem is that loud noise is now becoming the norm,” she said.

“We all need to minimise decibel levels and learn to manage noise as tinnitus can be distressing and tiring. It can also affect personal and working relationships.

“Worcester Hearing Centre works with people from a wide range of professions such as telecommunications and heavy and civil engineering to help them manage tinnitus sufferers. This includes counselling and advice on how to deal with the situation.”

Mrs Dixon’s top tips for avoiding tinnitus are:

• Take time to relax in a quiet environment;
• Minimise stress levels;
• Avoid prolonged exposure to noise over 85 decibels;
• Careful management of ototoxic medicine, which can result in hearing loss or ringing in the ears.

Launched in November 2011, Worcester Hearing Centre is run by three generations – Victoria, her son Tom and mother Jean Eaves – and offers independent advice on all hearing aid styles and manufacturers.

The centre also supplies musicians’ hearing protection instruments, shooting enthusiasts’ ear defenders, custom fit sleep and swim plugs and personal in ear monitors for MP3 players.

For more details, visit www.worcesterhearingcentre.co.uk

Notes to editors

For more details, call Victoria Dixon on 01905 617803/07825 327656 or email Victoria@worcesterhearingcentre.co.uk

Alternatively, contact Teresa Green at Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

Victoria Dixon was interviewed on this subject on BBC Hereford and Worcester’s mid-morning show, presented by Tony Fisher, on Tuesday, April 3.

From left, Tom Dixon, Victoria Dixon and Jean Eaves. Photo: Scott Harrison-Jones Photography.

WORCESTER Hearing Centre will be the first business in the UK to showcase a ground-breaking customer relationship management system.

The family-run, independent business, which is based in one of the city’s oldest buildings in The Cornmarket, has been selected by US firm Earworks to trial a new product to help hearing aid audiology practices run more effectively.

Over the coming months, the centre’s owner Victoria Dixon will be welcoming fellow experts from across the country to show them how the system operates.

Mrs Dixon, who has travelled widely across Europe and North America during 20 years as a hearing aid audiologist, said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen as a trailblazer and Earworks’ confidence in us reflects our professionalism and the standing of the practice, even though we only opened a few months ago.

“Earworks will give us access to the latest audiological technology from all over the world. It will also help our practice become more efficient as we can spend less time on administration and more time with our patients.”

Launched in November 2011, Worcester Hearing Centre is run by three generations – Victoria, her son Tom and mother Jean Eaves – and offers independent advice on all hearing aid styles and manufacturers.

The building, from which King Charles II fled after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, features a media centre, where customers can chat and watch TV while their hearing needs are evaluated, and a soundproof studio where the quality of people’s hearing is assessed.

Other products available include musicians’ hearing protection instruments, shooting enthusiasts’ ear defenders, custom fit sleep and swim plugs and personal in ear monitors for MP3 players. The centre also offers an all make repair service and the latest technology in ear wax removal.

For more details, visit www.worcesterhearingcentre.co.uk

Notes to editors

For more details, call Victoria Dixon on 01905 617803/07825 327656 or email Victoria@worcesterhearingcentre.co.uk

Alternatively, contact Teresa Green at Chris Green Media on 01905 453908/07985 322142 or email teresa@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk

This story and photo has appeared on the Midlands Business News website and The Business Daily websites.

The makeover, which included innovative learning pods, pictured above, and an E-bar, was featured in the February and April issues of University Business Magazine and the March edition of FX Magazine.

Mission Workplace’s sterling work also appeared in the Express and Star, Halesowen News and on the Midlands Business News and The Business Daily websites.

Elaine Line, Mission Workplace director, said: “From our initial meeting in November 2011 through to the issue of the press release in the first quarter of 2012, Chris Green Media exceeded all our expectations.

“Having a clear understanding of our target media market, we couldn’t have been more pleased with the appearance of the press release and photograph in a variety of local, regional and national media.

“Throughout the press release campaign we found Chris Green Media to be really helpful and communication was always quick and efficient.

“We were especially pleased with the overall success of the campaign and the progress reportage which was always very thorough.

“We received excellent service from Chris Green Media and would have no hesitation in recommending them. I feel sure we will be working together again in the near future.”