Education award

It was one of 2,400 Young Enterprise companies established this year, each supported by a local business volunteer. Mr Varney said: “The team made my job easy really, because they were fantastic. All I did was help them with aspects such as time management, helping them to spot market opportunities and encourage them to think anything is possible. Their commitment, creativity and teamwork was amazing. I am proud to have been their business advisor."

OXFORD: Jim Johnston, UK managing director of global property group Goodman, who lives in Oxford, has completed the challenge of a lifetime, cycling the length of the country from John O’Groats to Lands End, raising over £20,000 for two children’s charities, including Helen and Douglas House in Oxford, which help children, young adults and their families come to terms with life-shortening conditions, physical disabilities and associated learning difficulties.

OXFORD: Richard Rouse, graduate trainee financial planner at Mazars Financial Planning in Oxford, was among the 50 per cent of candidates to pass his Diploma in Financial Planning, as well as achieving a distinction in his trust exams.

He said of the eight exams: “They are tricky, but they should be challenging because you are helping people plan to ensure financial security, one of the most important aspects of their life. It is satisfying to pass these exams so early in my career, particularly as they will shortly become essential to those in our profession.

Since graduating in economics, from Birmingham University, and joining Mazars in 2008, he had to be accompanied to client meetings as he was not qualified to advise himself. He plays for Hanborough Football Club, which took fifth place in the Oxford District League, and intends to complete his advanced diploma exams over the next 18 months.

MILTON PARK: Regional managing director of express courier TNT Tom Bell has inspired company employees to more than £2.5m to support the children’s charity Wooden Spoon. His charity work was recognised with the award of an OBE from the Queen in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mr Bell, who has responsibility for the TNT depot at Milton Park, Didcot, has been the catalyst behind fundraising for Spoon since TNT made its first donation of £10,000 in 1997. Since then donations have risen to more than £300,000 a year.

Employees at the Milton Park depot, who have undertaken sponsored aeroplane pulls, international bike rides and mountain climbs, can take time off work to visit projects supported by Wooden Spoon.

He said: “I am incredibly proud and, in many ways humbled to accept the award. I feel it is a reflection on the magnificent and unstinting efforts of everybody at TNT Milton..”

EYNSHAM: Chloë Joint, formerly a senior account manager at Porter Novelli, has joined Bottle PR in Acre End Street as a senior PR consultant and will begin by working across a variety of accounts including Oxford University Press and Rentokil. She will also be supporting the company’s new business development programme.

She previously worked with brands such as Warburtons and Carlsberg UK as well as Southern Cross Healthcare, NHS Camden and ADT Fire and Security.

Bottle PR founder Claire Cairns said: “We have grown significantly in the past 12 months so to ensure we continue to do so it’s important we recruit the best people out there. Chloë’s experience and background at Porter Novelli makes her a natural extension to our team.”

GROVE: Training and development company Pearcemayfield, of Grove Technology Park, is to help Roots, a charity working with people in Southern Sudan. John Edmonds, head of training and innovation at the company visited Yei in June, on a trip organised by Medic Assist International, to develop plans to build, equip and staff a library at a school. He said: "The Project Brief has been agreed with the decision makers in Sudan, and we are now awaiting cost indications before we begin to seek funding.”

The specific aim of Roots is to work with the business community and with children and young people in Southern Sudan, a country which is trying to recover from 40 years of war. Pearcemayfield had already funded a fact-finding visit in 2008, during which Sudanese business people were taught risk management, product-based planning and project management governance.

For more information about the work of Roots, visit website: www.rootssudan.org WITNEY: Sarah Pharis has been appointed lettings negotiator at Springfield Property Rentals as part of their expansion plans. Sarah, who is a qualified fitness instructor, was so impressed by the service she received as a Springfield tenant that she approached Springfield for a job.

She said: “I was looking for a change of career that would be challenging and also make the most of my organisational and people skills. My experiences as a tenant gave me a good insight into the property rental market.”

David Dixon, managing director of Springfield, said: “Sarah is a bright professional young lady with all the qualities that we look for in a lettings negotiator. She has already successfully let many of our properties in what is a very busy time for us.”

THAME: Chartered surveyors Fisher German, based at the Thame Farmers Market has recruited chartered surveyor Duncan Lang and Amy Hutsby, both graduates of the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, as part of its expansion plans.

Mr Lang, has moved from Kent, where he specialised in rural planning, compensation work, single payment, rural land and property sales, landlord and tenant’s issues and valuations. He will help grow and develop the client base at the Thame office.

He said “I hope to build on what has already been started here, increasing the number of properties that we bring onto the market and expanding our range of services”.

The Thame office specialises in advising on farming and the sale of agricultural and rural property. Services provided include property valuations and auctions, farm consultancy, estate management, AMC loans and renewable energy as well as supporting the needs of the Thame Farmers Market and its shareholders.

Ms Hutsby will divide her time between the firm’s Banbury and Thame offices, working with surveyor Stephen Rutledge.

She said: “I have had significant experience of dealing with a wide variety of farming and general rural related issues, providing farmers and land owners with agricultural advice and I would like to continue this with Fisher German”.

BICESTER: Hardide Coatings has appointed Robin Gillham as business development manager for its global valve, pump and automotive business. Hardide develops and provides ultra-hard, tough and flexible tungsten carbide-based metal coatings that increase the life of critical parts operating in abrasive, erosive, corrosive and chemically aggressive environments.

Mr Gillham joins ex-Praxair UK sales manager Nick King in Hardide’s business development team, helping to expand the company’s oil and gas, and aerospace sales. He spent almost ten years as a design engineer with Rover and Land Rover before moving into technical sales with Tomita UK to supply and support Japanese machine components. He returns to Hardide having previously worked for the company between 2004 and 2008 as sales manager.

Chief executive Graham Hine said: “Robin’s technical sales skills together with his understanding of our coatings and applications will be extremely valuable as we focus on growing sales in key markets which include the valve and pump sectors.

“We are already supplying coatings to some of the largest and most progressive valve and pump manufacturers in the UK and US, and are making encouraging progress in trials with a number of others. Robin will help us unlock the potential that exists in these markets as well as look at applications in less developed sectors such as automotive.”

WITNEY: Phil Donigan, sales director of telecom company STL, has completed the National Three Peaks Challenge, which involves climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours, with a group from Carterton for the “Stop the drips at St Brits” appeal which is raising money for a new roof for St Britius Church, Brize Norton. The team raised over £1500.

He said, ”This was one of the most difficult tests of my life to battle fatigue, the inclement weather and amazingly steep climbs in such a short period of time. To have been to the summit of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in one weekend is a real achievement.”

BOTLEY: World record-breaking hang glider Nick Chitty has joined the team at Oxford Hearing Centre, run by senior partner Richard Moss. Mr Chitty, whose hang gliding exploits have landed him in the Guinness Book of Records, originally trained as an audiologist in 1986, and has worked in both the NHS and private medical practice for the last 25 years.

Besides breaking the world record for distance hang gliding from Oxford to Weymouth, he has also been on the technical development team of some of the world’s largest hearing aid manufacturers.

Mr Moss said: “In 2009 Nick was only one of twelve hearing aid audiologists throughout the country to reach the finals of the ‘Audiologist of the Year Awards’, and received a special commendation for his commitment to patient care.”

Mr Chitty is also looking forward to representing the UK in the Model Gliding Championships next year in Sweden with his wife Valerie as his coach and scorer.

Oxford: Construction company Beard has appointed seven new staff to handle current workload and expand its services. The appointments include John Juggins, 53, an experienced site manager who will take on initial responsibility for the company’s £1.7m project at St Philomena’s School in Carshalton, Surrey, for the newly established Guildford office, and Jonathan Brock, 24, who is working on the external and internal renovations project for Christ Church in Oxford.

Stuart Junor joins as a quantity surveyor and Stacy Taylor will assist with admin and the smooth management of the drawings process. Colin Latimer has just started as property services project manager; Jason Fenlon, special works contracts manager; Robert Leeming is on a year's work experience from Oxford Brookes University.

Construction director John Youle said: “Market conditions are still fragile and the full impact of Government cuts is yet to bite, nevertheless our underlying customer base is strong and we are seeing a growing trend in the number of clients now turning to refurbishment and alteration projects to maximise their existing properties, as opposed to more expensive new build options.”

He added: “These are well considered appointments, which help to position the business for the current conditions and broaden our range of work. It’s important to continue to invest in the business by taking on people to deliver for our customers now and in the future.”