Company Blog

So we had a staff day out gocarting at the Barnstaple raceway.   A few black flags were dished out to the tech team after they were getting fiesty in the warm up race but in the final our sales manager Lee Bennett took the chequered flag closely followed by stuart, and won a tablet computer!  Well done Lee!

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Motorway Billboard – currently two 20’ x 10’ billboards are live one on the Slough exit on the M4 (London/M25 bound traffic) and another on the M25 (Cuffley/between jct 24 & 25)

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So we have moved offices, it has been a long time coming. We were in a coucil run incubation centre and even though the rent was dead cheap the internet connection was like sucking a pig through a straw!  Now we have warp speed internet and new everything - everyone is very happy!

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Oh my days, possibly the worst case scenario you can possibly face. Forgetting your girlfriend of wife’s birthday is an absolute nightmare situation that you really must try and avoid at all costs.

And in all honesty there really is no excuse as to why you have forgotten it in the first place, as it’s only one date in the year (other than your mums) that you need to remember.

But if you have gone and failed or know you will fail and need to fully prepare in advance, here are some lame excuses that may just win your girlfriend over, but we are guessing that you won’t make it past the first word.

“But you look so young and never seem to age, how am I meant to keep up with your birthday when you always look the same?”

• “I know I haven’t got you a birthday card but I wanted to recite a poem I have thought of myself from the heart. I thought it would be much more personal and you would appreciate it more than a soppy card that someone else has written.” (Be prepared to recite the ‘poem you have made up’ on the spot!)
• “You know what, I was just thinking birthdays are for kids and with you being such a mature and wonderful human being I assumed you wouldn’t want all the fuss and hassle.”
• “I celebrate every day of my life that I am with you and see your birthday as just another happy day in my life.”
• “The reason I didn’t get your a birthday card or present this year is because I am saving for your Christmas present which will be huge! (This won’t work if her birthday is December 26th!)
• “Honey, I haven’t forgotten your birthday. I am in fact using the shire calender from Lord of the Rings which effectively means that your birthday is in five days time.

If all else fails then we seriously consider that you buy the biggest bouquet of flowers, lots of chocolates and sweet treats, little gifts and accessories, as well as one big present, a 25- course meal cooked by you and on top of that a huge sorry you will never forget their birthday again.

It really isn’t worth the hassle is it? In fact why not save yourself the stress and start your day by sending a personalised card via ecards.co.uk, the hassle free and rather cheap way to say Happy Birthday to the person you love.

If you have left the house for work and realised afterwards that you have forgotten your other half’s birthday, jump online to ecards.co.uk, choose a birthday card from the selection available on the site, add your personal message and then send it to their email address for free; a nice surprise for when they open up their emails and a quick solution to the fact that you have actually forgotten to buy them a card or present.

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I have just had a very excited little sister on the phone delighted, as she should be, with her GCSE results; ‘Oh my god Sarah, I can’t believe it; 5 A*’s, 4 A’s, 2 B’s and 1 C. I am so relived…….’ In fact, we have had record results again.  Figures published by examination boards showed that 22.6 per cent of papers were graded A* or A – a rise of one percentage point in the last 12 months.   Almost three times as many pupils now gain the top grades compared with 1988 when the exams were first introduced.  Some 69.1 per cent of entries were awarded at least a C – the 22nd straight increase and up two percentage points on last year. Results for 750,000 schoolchildren in England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed that girls continued to out-perform boys, as the education gender gap widened over the last twelve months. Figures suggest that students are starting to return to tough subjects favored by employers and leading universities - mirroring a trend in last week’s A-level results. Entries in the three sciences all improved by a record margin this year, with 129,464 pupils taking a GCSE in Biology, up by 28.3 per cent.  Chemistry and physics entries both increased by almost a third to 121,988 and 120,455 respectively. But figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications showed that pupils were continuing to desert GCSEs in foreign languages. The number of students studying French in the last two years of secondary school plummeted by almost 6 per cent to 177,618. Dr Jim Sinclair, director of the JCQ, said: “Students and their teachers can be proud of their achievements. The increased entries in biology, chemistry and physics, coupled with improved performance in English and mathematics, is very good news indeed.” But another round of record results will provoke further debate over grade inflation and claims that GCSEs now fail to stretch the brightest pupils. According to the figures 7.5 per cent of entries were graded an A* compared with 7.1 per cent last year. Today, one leading private school headmaster called for set quotas of each grade to be awarded every year to prevent results being “inflated”. Richard Cairns, the head of Brighton College, where 82 per cent of entries were A* or A, said: “I would very much like to see a situation where a certain percentage of grades each year were awarded at each grade; the top 10 per cent could be at A*, the next 20 per cent at A and so on. If you know anyone who has just has their results, why not sent them a free eCard to offer your congratulations.  Visit www.eCards.co.uk 

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A seven-year-old boy from Sheffield tossed a message in a bottle into the North Sea and was amazed to receive 22 replies - on his birthday!

Finley Hibberd from Lowedges, threw the bottle into the sea at Bridlington with the message,  “Hello My Name is Finely. I am from Sheffield, England. Please tell me where you found my bottle.”

Over a month later - and on his birthday - he received 22 letters in the post. Expecting them to be birthday cards, he ripped them open to find that they were replies from children at Staindrop School in County Durham.

Finley said, “It was amazing. I didn’t think I would get anything back but I got all these letters. I am going to stay in touch and write letters back.”

Finley’s mum, Jenny Hyatt, said, “We threw it into the sea but didn’t expect anything back. When he received all the cards on his birthday he thought had had just got loads of birthday cards. It is an exciting thing to do - everyone should have a go.”

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Ten-year-old Stephen Goodman from Arizona, is on a personal mission to make sure that US troops serving overseas know they are appreciated, by sending them all homemade greeting cards.

Goodman, from Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, said that he won’t give up until all 18,000 US servicemen and women overseas receives one of his greeting cards.

“I am just doing it to make them feel good. Because it is not line anyone ever thanks them…maybe a couple do…so I just wanted to change that and make it one person higher,” he said.

Each greeting card is simple but from the heart. Stephen understands their overseas missions and tasks and that all they hope for is freedom and to come back home.

“This one says you’re giving us freedom…other ones say thank you for serving our country because that is their choice and they are not forced to do it,! said Stephen.

Greetings cards of any format always put a smile on a person’s face. Why not take a look at the range of personalised birthday cards on the ecards.co.uk website. At no cost to you, you can send an ecard to your friends or loved ones to say happy birthday, well done, congratulations or good luck!

For more information visit www.ecards.co.uk today.

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No this is not a hi-tech birthday card, but a rather clever Granny who caught her thieving carer pinching her pension; by hiding a mini camera behind a birthday card.Eileen Forte, 87, who suffered from a stroke, got her granddaughter Tina Priestman, 47, to set up the camera.

And the clever move proved to be a massive success after the Grandma caught her carer thieving her pension right on camera.

The footage showed Angela Holman, 33, taking a £20 note from Eileen’s bag and £40 from her purse. Holman had become a close friend of the family and was trusted that she looked after their grandmother properly.

Mrs Priestman said, 47, said, “Nan sent her a card saying ‘To a wonderful carer.’

“As a carer she was very good and Nan thought the world of her.”

Forte began to get suspicious of Holman after money started going missing from her purse. Mrs Forte didn’t want to believe her friend would do such a thing but knew that the money was going missing and Mrs Priestman needed proof to convince others of what she was doing.

So Mrs Priestman set up a covert operation to catch the thief. By making a small hole in the birthday card, she hid a camera behind it which was focused on the exact spot where Mrs Forte kept her handbag.

Banknotes that were in Mrs Forte’s bag were marked up and the camera was set to record everything that went on in the living room.

Mrs Priestman said, “We knew that she had taken £40 but when we watched the footage we could still hardly believe it.

“We watched in disbelief.“

The police were called and Holman was arrested on suspicion of theft. The 33-year-old denied taking the money but after the police found the £40 marked notes in her car she pleaded guilty to two counts of theft at a virtual court at Bromley Police Station when she learnt that she had been caught red handed.

Mrs Forte said, “When she was arrested I could not believe it was her.

“She was a good friend, a good friend.

“It upset me a great deal.

“She used to say you are like my Nan and I looked at her like sort of a granddaughter.

“I can still hardly believe it and I feel sickened.

“Now I have two trustworthy good carers.”

Her granddaughter added, “It needed for her not to be able to tod that to anybody else and this is why we did what we did. “She needed to be caught so no one else would have to go through what we have been through.”

She has also been suspended by her employer Care UK when the allegations were made and has now been dismissed.

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Fox attacks on humans are not common but have been reported.

In July 2002, a fourteen week old baby was attacked in a house in Dartford, Kent. In November 2008 an incident in the USA was reported, in which a jogger was attacked and bitten by a crazed fox.  In June 2010, Nine month old twin girls were bitten on the arms and face when a fox entered their upstairs room in east London.

Yesterday, a girl of 13 told how she was attacked by a snarling fox as she camped in her back garden with a group of friends.  The animal circled the young girl’s tent for two hours before ripping a foot-long hole in the canvas and sinking its teeth into her left foot.It was reported that the schoolgirl said: “It clamped its jaws down and bit through my sock into my heel and the top of my foot. It was so painful and I was shaking with fear. “There was blood everywhere. We didn’t know what to do.”

The young girl was taken to hospital, bloody and shaken up. The wound was dressed and she was given antibiotics.

If you know someone in hospital why not send an ecard?  It is the perfect way to let them know that you are thinking of them, and is completely FREE! Bonus.  Visit http://www.ecards.co.uk

Are fox attacks becoming more common?  Should there be controls put into place?  Write your comments……..

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A time capsule in celebration of John Lennon’s life will be buried on his 70th birthday.

Three pods will be buried on October 9th and will not be opened until 2040.

Fans of The Beatles star are being called by organisers to come up with ideas for items to fill the capsules and are also planning to include Lennon’s post-Beatles recordings.

Organisers are hoping to preserve the musician’s legacy of peace and love for future generations.

The idea has had the blessing of Yoko Ono, who said, “I am delighted to support this effort to help share John’s music and messages of peace and love with children of today and tomorrow.

“I know John’s work, life and dreams will help inspire them to bring a better world for everyone.”

Ideas can be submitted at www.boxofvision.com/timecapsule.

If you aren’t as creative as this and need someone else to do all the hard work for you, then why not send a personalised birthday card with ecards.co.uk. The team have designed some fantastic birthday cards full of creativity and bound to put a smile on the birthday boy or girls face. For more information about the free ecards service visit ecards.co.uk.

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