Nigel's Blog
Hi, I'm Nigel the Chief Executive of Retail Trust.
The coming year will be a time of growth and change for Retail Trust. The charity will be working more closely than ever with organisations in the retail sector as we cement ourselves as the charity committed to the well-being of employees in the retail industry.
Part of working more closely with the industry is communication. Technology allows me to communicate with you through this blog – spelling mistakes and all! So please feel free to email me on the Contact page with feedback, ideas, or just to swap stories about our blogs. Enjoy!
You can read my biography on our Trustees and Chief Executive page.
Nigel J L Rothband
Chief Executive
Read Nigel's Blog
30 October 2009 : Great British Fashion
What a fabulous event last night celebrating all that is exceptional about the UK fashion industry, all aranged by Jessica Brown and her team at Drapers.
It was a who's who of British fashion. Harold Tillman, Belinda Earl, Don McCarthy, John King, Derek Lovelock, Mike Shearwood, Neil Prosser and Nick Hollingworth to name just a few.
A great evening and I look forward to meeting up with the Drapers team again in just a couple of weeks when we present our supporter of the year award at the Drapers Awards at Grosvenor House.
Who will it be this year?
You will have to wait and see.
Off for an early night because the first Retail Trust Search For a Star Roadshow is taking place in Milton Keynes tomorrow.
See you there!
28 October 2009 : It's Not Just The Shop Floor
We talk about supporting the retail staff on the shop floor a lot. However, it is important to stress that Retail Trust, throughout its 177 year history, has always looked after those individuals involved in retail distribution and manufacturing too.
What a pleasure, therefore, to sit down with James Bielby CEO of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors today in Mill Hill.
James and I have met on a number of occasions, most recently as judges for the IAA Awards.
It is very clear that there are opportunities for our two organisations to work together and I look forward to catching up soon to develop our thoughts.
27 October 2009 : The Essence of Retail Trust
Andy Lopata had a fantastic idea during our meeting in Mill Hill today.
Andy, for those who don't know him, has been described by The Sun as "Mr. Network" and in the FT as "the leading networking strategist".
His idea is to use my Blog to tell the stories of people we have helped through the Retail Trust Helpline 0808 801 0808. Up to now it's all been about my diary and who I've been meeting.
I'm sure you will appreciate that I will change some of the details to protect the individual's identity. By telling the stories people will better understand the work we do.
So here goes with a very recent retail employee who rang the Retail Trust Helpline...........................
"L" lived in constant fear of being physically, mentally and verbally abused by her ex-partner for 14 years before finally leaving him 12 months ago. She fled to her brother's house and resided there until August this year, when she was placed in her own council house. She is now living with her three children but struggling to turn the house into a home as she is unable to furnish it with basic household furniture on her current wages as she works part-time. Retail Trust bought household furniture worth around £1,000 and things are looking up.
26 October 2009 : Search For A Star
Most of the day was occulied by the competition that is becoming the "battle of the stores".
We are in the final stages of putting on the audition roadshows starting this weekend at Milton Keynes on Saturday and Brighton on Sunday see details here.
Next weekend sees performances in Castleford and Glasgow. The following week the show will be in London.
Retailers with acts taking part include, Tesco, M & S, New Look, Dreams, Jaeger, Debenhams, Morrisons, Disney Store, Ryman and many more.
We have support from local media with radio stations are planning to broadcast from the venues.
Once the roadshows have taken place, the final 50 acts will be placed on a dedicated website for text voting to start. We hope that each act will gain support from their organisation, family & friends and their local community.
The most popular four acts will then perform live at the OK Christmas party. They will then perform live at the Retail Trust London Ball on January 25th to see who will be crowned Retail trust Search For A Star Champion for 2010.
23 October 2009 : Derby Day
The redevelopment at our Leylands estate in Derby looks superb.
I went today with my Finance Derector, Rob Mansell, to review progress and discuss the residents moves and the second phase of the modernisation.
Irene Thomas, our General Manager, and her team have done a great job and the feedback I received from the residents today was outstanding - They love it!
Nice to have a cuddle with young Joshua Marshall (son of our maintenance manager Paul) who was in having a spot of lunch with his Mum.
22 October 2009 : Try Something Different Today!
What a fabulous meeting with Justin King in his glass and chrome office in Holborn this morning.
It was great to talk in detail about how our EAP could fit in alongside a number of Sainsburys' initiatives already in place for their staff. Justin understood the opportunities a free, independant and confidential helpline like the Retail Trust Helpline 0808 801 0808 could offer his colleagues.
We talked about Retail Trust Search For A Star and our London Ball too.
Thanks for your time Justin and your compliment about my tie - A gift from my wife!
21 October 2009 : Scotland The Brave
What a great pleasure to meet David Kaye from Harper Macleod LLP. Someone who has supported and been involved with Retail Trust over many years.
David worked on our Scottish Ball committee and has been a Trustee. His mother works on the ladies committee, his grandmother had a cottage in Crookfur and his mother in law had her final days at our Scottish estate too.
He has been a regular attendee at all three our our major fundraising events - London Ball, Scottish Ball and Great Northern Party.
It is fantastic to re-engage with David and I very much look forward to working with him on building awareness in Scotland and beyond.
20 October 2009 : Mothercare Cash!
A huge thank you to Claire Nash and James Dickens from Mothercare who came to Mill Hill yesterday to present a cheque for £10,000. Mothercare and ELC are great supporters of Retail Trust and it was great to show them both round the estate here so they could see first hand the work we do.
A day of meetings started with David Sneesby who runs executive search company Snowdon Tate. David and I had a lot in common and there must be ways in which we can work together.
Milton Guffogg was next, someone I have known for many years. His last position was CEO of Celebrations Group and we met up when we were on the panel at the Acumen Retail Conference.
19 October 2009 : Old Friends At Retail Trust
I am writing up the notes and action points from last week's lunch with our Honorary Associate Members. These individuals have played a major part in the Charity's history as either Trustees or major supporters. The group was previously know as our Life Presidents. During the lunch, at the Army and Navy Club, various alternatives were discussed. Our favourite was "Old Friends At Retail Trust"
16 October 2009 : BIG Day
Marks & Spencer's Business Involvement Group invited us to present yesterday at their Paddington Head Office.
What a brilliant session it was, with debate and discussion in full flow with 25 regional representatives from all four corners of the country.
A huge thank you to Kim Whitfield, Head of Retail H.R., Deborah Warman, Head of E.R. & Reward and Malcolm Heaven, Chair of National BIG.
A special thanks to Linda Millard for being such a good sport!
We look forward to M&S staff being more aware of what Retail Trust can offer and look forward to building on our excellent relationship.
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