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
11 January 2010 : Resolving Redundancy Workshops
This week we have announced details of our Resolving Redundancy Workshops for the first half of 2010 that are available through the ReWork programme. ReWork – From Redundancy to Recruitment – is a range of free services designed to help people who are facing redundancy from retail to get their next job. In January we welcome Audra Lamoon and Sue Gilkes who will be leading the first workshop “Take Action For Positive Impact”. A lively pair, Audra and Sue are sure to get the year’s programme off to a great start.
If you know anyone who is facing redundancy or has been made redundant from retail, get them to call the Helpline on 0808 801 0808 and we will book them onto the workshop, which is being held in Central London.
The programme for the next 5 months is as follows:
25 February - Career Planning For Success - with Andy King
25 March - Making Your CV Work For You - with Sue Graham
29 April - Networking for Career Change - with Andy Lopata (2009 workshop pictured here)
27 May - Excelling at Interviews - with Erica Wilding
24 June - The Hero's Journey - with Paul Miller
07 January 2010 : Snow Doubt That Our Residents Come First
Our wonderful Mill Hill estate looks a picture with the blanket of snow. My PA Barbara has suggested that this picture should be used as the front of this year's Christmas card.
All our estates have been affected by the weather and all our staff are working flat out to ensure all are residents are safe and well.
Mill Hill, Derby, Glasgow, Salford and Liverpool all have similar challenges. I am confident that the teams are doing everything they can.
06 January 2010 : Happy New Year
As we enter a new year and new decade I just wanted to look back to the past 12 months and celebrate some of Retail Trust's achievments and pay tribute to my team who have made it all happen:-
Achieved a surplus in housing for the first time in a generation.
Net fundraising up (again) by over £325K through support of new retailers and new revenue streams.
Financial assistance grants up by 18%
Calls to the Retail Trust Helpline up by a third!
Introduced resolving redundancy workshops to help people move from redundancy back into recruitment.
Completed the brand new facility at Moores House Salford.
Completed phase one of the redevelopment of the Derby estate.
Gained an increased awareness of our work through greater media coverage.
Launched the exciting Retail Trust Search For A Star competition.
Raised over £1M on the night of the London Ball
As the snow falls on a new year here's to 2010 and even greater success.
Thanks guys!
31 December 2009 : Michelle Gets OBE
Many congratulations to Michelle Mone, the creator of the Ultimo bra, on receiving an OBE in today's New Year's honours. Michelle, and her husband Michael, are great supporters of Retail Trust and were both present at our Scottish Ball in Glasgow earlier this month. See the photos here. I am delighted they are both going to be joining us at our London Ball on 25/1/10 too. I text Michelle first thing this morning and she came back with a lovely response. A lovely lady and a well deserved award - Well done Michelle.
29 December 2009 : Help On Hand
As another year draws to a close I think it is very important that we remember those in our industry who need our help.
In my Blog I have tried to describe the work of Retail Trust through our case studies, changing certain details to protect the identity of individuals.
This case is particularly distressing, however we are helping with support through the Retail Trust Helpline 0808 801 0808 including financial assistance and other support.
27 December 2009 : Sale Spree
Retailers are enjoying a good trading period (that's what I hear). If Brent Cross today is anything to go by then the trading statements due out over the next few weeks could make encouraging reading. Brent Cross was mobbed and I have to say well done to Tom Nathan and his hard working team for a great effort. There were staff early on directing traffic and customers in equal measure.
25 December 2009 : Crown Derby
What a fabulous lunch in Derby today.
Ali and Perry together with their staff did a fantastic job and the food was superb.
It was good to spend time with our residents and their families in the brand new restaurant.
Spare a thought for all our staff who were working today across our five estates. Thank you guys and I hope you manage to get some time off over the holiday period.
22 December 2009 : Thou Shalt Shoplift
Father Tim Jones, vicar of the Church of St. Lawrence in York, said in his sermon on Sunday "my advice as a Christian priest is to shoplift" he went on to say that stealing from successful shops was preferable to burglary, robbery or prostitution.
It is ironic that Anne McIntosh the Tory M.P. for Vale of York has been campaigning for stronger sentences for shoplifters.
My view - Shoplifting is a crime. It is not a victimless crime either and it should not be condoned.
There will be many people who will be suffering this Christmas, so it is our responsibility as a community to help those around us who are in need. We should do all we can to support them.
Those in the retail industry who feel that there is nowhere else to turn always have the Retail Trust Helpline 0808 8
01 0808.
A huge thank you to members of the team who this lunchtime built a wonderful snowman at the front of the estate here in Mill Hill.
Pictured are: Top Left Jessica Paton, Top Right Anthony Mills, Bottom Left Sarah Newton, Bottom Right Angela Harvey, Centre Mr. Snowman!
20 December 2009 : Health & Safety Considerations at Christmas
I have always appreciated and understood the importance of H & S. At Christmas it is particularly important and I was passed some information regarding H & S and Christmas songs.
Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
A risk assessment must be submitted before an open sleigh is considered safe for members of the public to travel on. The risk assessment must also consider whether it is appropriate to use only one horse for such a venture, particularly if passengers are of larger proportions. Please note, permission must be gained from landowners before entering their fields. To avoid offending those not participating in celebrations, we would request that laughter is moderate only and not loud enough to be considered a noise nuisance.
While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
All seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around
The union of Shepherd's has complained that it breaches health and safety regulations to insist that shepherds watch their flocks without appropriate seating arrangements being provided, therefore benches, stools and orthopaedic chairs are now available. Shepherds have also requested that due to the inclement weather conditions at this time of year that they should watch their flocks via cctv cameras from centrally heated shepherd observation huts. Please note, the angel of the Lord is reminded that before shining his/her glory all around she/he must ascertain that all shepherds have been issued with glasses capable of filtering out the harmful effects of UVA, UVB and Glory.
18 December 2009 : Salford Photos
I said last week that photos of the Grand Opening of our brand new estate in Salford would be available soon, well you can now view them here http://www.retailtrust.org.uk/photogallery.asp?group=12
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