Monthly Archives: April 2020

Creative News, Healthcare News

Children asked to think big and creatively to solve issues that affect us all – Healthy Young Minds asks for “a dollop of imagination” in nationwide online competition

Launching today is Healthy Young Minds, a national competition where primary school-age children are asked to tackle today’s big issues using their imagination and creativity. Run by creative healthcare agency, Create Health, the idea is to harness the power of children’s uninhibited thinking to come up with never seen before solutions and inspire them to stick with STEM subjects.

“We’re on a mission to brighten up isolation and inspire every child in the nation”, comments Phil Blackmore, creative director at Create Health. “Healthy Young Minds is our initiative to encourage children into STEM subjects by unleashing their creativity and imaginations. Children have creativity by the bucketload, but often aren’t consulted on the big issues that they will likely face in the future. We think they should be.”

Healthy Young Mind challenges are available to download online at https://www.healthy-young-minds.com. Challenges will run throughout lockdown and will be topical, including some inspired by the Coronavirus outbreak, to ecological topics. Entries can be drawn, photographed, scanned, or designed on tablets and computers before being uploaded on to the site.

The first round of judging will take place on 21st May, with the best 20 entries being awarded with a variety of e-prizes that can be enjoyed during lockdown. There will be a second round of judging in June.

Healthy Young Minds debuted at Summerhill Academy in Bristol last year, where 400 children tackled the issues of dementia and air pollution. A judging panel included Dyson and Alzheimer’s Research UK, and four winners were chosen who submitted inventions including a robotic remembering dog and pollution eating clothes. The nationwide roll out follows an enthusiastic response.

Create Health is a Bristol-based strategic and creative marketing agency, which works with healthcare brands such as Thermo Fisher and ConvaTec. Fascinated by the opportunities presented by new healthcare technologies, treatments and methods of care, the agency delivers powerful communications that influence mindsets, increase brand value and progress the world of health.

News

One in eight British drivers can’t identify their vehicle’s fuel warning light

One in eight British drivers can’t identify their vehicle’s fuel warning light

New study shows how much UK drivers know about car warning lights
The electronic throttle control light confused motorists the most, with four fifths (82%) unable to recognise it.

Understanding a car warning light could mean the difference between preventing a problem or breaking down on a journey. However, a new study with British drivers has revealed a surprising number don’t know the meaning of some of the most common warning lights symbols, with more than one in eight (13%) unable to recognise the fuel warning light.

The research, conducted by car parts supplier, Car Parts 4 Less, involved showing UK drivers ten different warning lights, and asking them to determine which were real and which were fake.

The electronic throttle control warning light, which goes off when the connection between the accelerator and the throttle is interrupted, proved to be the most confusing symbol for motorists, with over four in five (82%) failing to recognise that it was in fact a real warning light. The brake pad monitor also confused many drivers with only half (54%) recognising it as a real symbol.

For all of the warning lights, men proved more likely than women to correctly identify if they were real or fake.

Additionally, those aged under 24 and over 65 proved to be the least likely to recognise real from fake symbols.

Here is a selection of the warning lights, as well as how many drivers guessed them correctly:

1. Run out of fuel?

A surprising 13% of drivers failed to recognise the low fuel warning light.

2. Full throttle?

The electronic throttle control light confused the most drivers, with 82% guessing incorrectly that it was fake.

3. Real or fake?

40% of respondents mistakenly identified this as a real symbol.

4. Not falling for it

Only 13% fell for this fake symbol, the fewest of any of the fakes.

If you think you can do better, why not try the full warning lights quiz here: https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/warning-lights-quiz/index.htm

FInance, Manufacturing

Earthworm invests £3.7m into the future of our planet

As part of their mission to prove that smart investment doesn’t mean leaving your ethics at the door, in April Earthworm invested £3.7m across four companies that balance social and environmental responsibility with commercial opportunity: DMP Metals (£691k), LAT Water (£900k), Shepherd (£1.1m) and Vertical Future (£1.1m).

Earthworm is a fast-growing impact investor with a portfolio across food, energy and waste. Encouraging and supporting businesses that have a positive impact on the environment is central to the company’s ethos. Their recent investment furthers Earthworm’s bid to secure a more sustainable future, by investing in businesses with the longevity to redefine current supply chains and methods.

The investment into these four companies comes at a crucial economic time, where disruption in industry is leading to a shift in emphasis on the long-term impact, and flexibility of companies. This will become increasingly important as the wider conversation and focus switches back to protecting our planet and futures.

On the investment, Kerry Hughes, Earthworm’s Head of Portfolio and Investment said: “We are really proud to be supporting these businesses at a time when the UK economy desperately needs its entrepreneurs and the investment community to pull together. Covid-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives and will continue to do so for some time, but the way in which we build back from here is by supporting and investing in the sustainable businesses of tomorrow. We want to put a marker down to say that our aims to drive positive environmental change in the UK burn as bright as ever and we want to show that we can do some really incredible things when we all work together.”

About the companies:

DMP Metals is revolutionising waste management; establishing a facility that can recycle large amounts of previously wasted metal. The company uses a unique and innovative method of extracting non-ferrous metals from everyday items. By effectively isolating the non-ferrous materials through their efficient recycling technique, DMP Metals are able to recycle this higher-value metal from volume levels not currently the focus of mainstream metal processors.

LAT Water has developed an award-winning low-cost, high-efficiency technology for treating wastewater and/or desalination, using renewables or low-grade waste heat. The technology reduces the cost of water treatment, and meets best environmental practice and regulation. The company has won several awards for innovation and aims to expand its portfolio of sites and services in the UK and abroad.

Shepherd are award-winning specialists in property performance management, their advanced data science and real-time analytics transform the way businesses manage and maintain properties and assets by inspiring and empowering their clients to create smarter, more sustainable buildings. Shepherd is working with a wide range of other property companies to decarbonise and reduce risk across their buildings: from commercial office blocks and industrial parks, to helping Zurich UK look after vulnerable residents in their Housing Associations.

Vertical Future is focused on protecting the UK’s food security and improving long-term population health through building a better, smarter, more efficient food system. The company performs activities across growing, technology, and research and development, led by a management team that has experience spanning life sciences, engineering, and plant sciences. Vertical Future’s growing operations, based in Deptford, produce sustainable, pesticide-free produce for the food sector.

Earthworm’s investment will help each of these companies expand and develop their businesses – businesses that each have the potential to be game-changers in their industries.

Coronavirus, Healthcare News

Northampton General Hospital launches rapid Covid-19 Testing

Northampton General has launched rapid testing to identify patients with COVID-19 in under four hours.

This new rapid testing method, which started on 22 April, enables samples from patients to be tested in the hospital laboratory. Traditionally swabs have been sent to external testing centres which took an average 48 hours to receive a result; however the new process can be done in less than four hours.

The changes come thanks to the hard work and dedication of the microbiology team, who have been installing the new Luminex Aries® Molecular Diagnostic Platform to test for the virus. The new equipment enables staff to do very precise testing as it targets a gene unique to the COVID-19 virus, meaning the result is highly accurate.

Dr Davis Thomas, Divisional Director, explained how this new facility will help clinicians and patients:

“By having this rapid testing facility on site, we can make sure our patients are on the correct treatment pathway. With a quicker diagnosis, we know which wards our patients need to go to so we can provide the best care for them in the right place. This rapid diagnosis will help our teams to plan for surgery, make the best use of PPE and in some cases help with more difficult discussions on the next steps of patient care. As well as improving our patient experience by having these results back so quickly, we can also contribute to our research work in the NHS in clinical trials being done for treatments for COVID-19.”

“We are incredibly proud of the teams in the laboratory and those in the hospital who have supported us with getting this testing up and running. We have completed over 170 tests in the first three days and hope to scale up this testing soon.”

The test process involves taking swabs from patients from areas where the virus particles are most likely to be found. These are high up in the nostrils and the back of the throat. The whole process only takes a few minutes to do. The swab is then labelled, packed and sent to the laboratory. Once in the laboratory the team use the rapid testing machine to extract and test for the presence of the virus. The result is then delivered back to the clinical teams usually within four hours.

The hospital can test over 100 patients per day and will gradually increase testing capacity in the coming weeks and months.

Coronavirus, Industry News, Logistics, Retail

How the Delivery and E-Commerce Sectors are Responding to the Global Pandemic

Matthew Robertson, Co-CEO, NetDespatch, discusses the multiple challenges for e-commerce and logistics operators during the global Covid-19 pandemic

As COVID-19 grips the nation and indeed countries around the globe, there is a degree of trepidation in the air with most of us locked down in our homes remote-working, apart from the essential key workers.

This has meant that many stores around the country have been forced to close and have seen their spring sales completely disrupted.  However, where supermarkets and convenience stores are concerned, these have boomed, with Tesco reporting a 30% uplift in sales.  We’ve also seen some real innovation across the industry, for example Morrisons creating pop-ups in hospital car parks to serve our amazing NHS workers.

Similar to what is happening in supermarkets online retail sales have risen dramatically in March, with a 74% growth in average transaction volumes compared with the same period last year, according to data from ACI Worldwide. The analysis, of hundreds of millions of transactions from global online retailers, demonstrates the extent to which people’s shopping habits have changed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

As you can imagine, this rise in eCommerce sales has been particularly profound in products related to staying indoors, such as home products and furnishings, DIY, electronics and garden essentials. Likewise, the food and beverage industry has seen a dramatic increase in online purchases.   I know from my own experience that trying to get a slot for an online delivery with any of the major supermarkets has proved somewhat difficult with slots all taken for the next few weeks.  Categories which witnessed a decline in transaction volume in this same period included ticketing by 60%, travel by 44%, and online dating by 8.9%.  I guess if you are self-isolating you can’t really meet up with anyone new and with travel severely restricted that market was always going to experience a decline.

Having reached the Easter holidays, this quarantine is set to continue for the foreseeable future which will be tough on the retail stores, who might not be able to quickly convert in-store sales to online.  Many have in fact closed their online operations as they simply don’t have the resources and manpower to run these from a logistics perspective.

To compound the above, any organisations that wish to take advantage of growing ecommerce opportunities also need to be mindful of the security landscape that this pandemic presents. In particular, the increase in online sales has led to an increase in fraud activity. According to Forter, the leader in ecommerce fraud prevention, fraudsters are exploiting confusion and uncertainty caused by government and corporate policies.  As people adjust to working from home, Forter sees a marked increase in social engineering fraud, associated with fake emails purporting to be from HR and corporate addresses. Here fraudsters invite people to click for more information, instead taking victims to malicious sites.

Likewise, with a shift to online shopping in apparel and accessories, Forter sees an increase in gift card purchases. While a higher number of legitimate buyers usually means that fraud rates drop, gift card fraud rates have not. Fraudsters have noticed an increased demand for the completely virtual merchandise that is easy to monetise.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also putting pressure on deliveries and local logistics.  I have heard some talk in the industry about the possibility of autonomous vehicles (AVs) helping to alleviate the strain on existing delivery services while reducing the risk of exposure for citizens.  However, there are significant regulatory hurdles to overcome before AVs can be deployed at scale.

The World Economic Forum recently published a report on “The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem,” where it anticipates that demand for e-commerce delivery will result in 36% more delivery vehicles in inner cities by 2030.  Again, COVID-19 has caused a huge increase in demand, as people around the world are self-isolating, quarantining or working from home for extended periods, suddenly increasing the need for food, groceries, household items and even medical supplies to be delivered to the homes of millions of people.  But using AVs for deliveries will require some work on the regulatory front.

Broadly speaking,  in order to trial an automated vehicle designed to operate without an occupant on the public roads, the AV developer must petition the regulator to make an exemption from the existing vehicle safety standards, which require human-operable controls and mirrors, for example.

Although it may be too late to ease the burden attributed to the current pandemic, I would urge regulators to consider the opportunities to streamline these processes for the future while upholding standards for safety and look at a new generation of agile regulation. This will enable trials of these technologies to help maintain the delivery ecosystem in future difficult times.

Out of adversity, comes innovation, and I’ve certainly seen plenty of that in the last few weeks.  Also, communities coming together and supporting each other as well as our NHS workers, who are doing a tremendous job.  Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone knows how long this pandemic will continue but I am sure we will come out of this stronger as a result.

To everyone reading this article – keep safe.

Health, Healthcare News, Physiotherapy

one2one Expands Online Physiotherapy Service to Cover UK and Overseas Patients

Leading South Wales Physiotherapy clinic, one2one Therapy, has expanded their online physiotherapy service to support clients nationwide during lockdown.

The clinic recently celebrated their tenth anniversary and launched their online physio service earlier this year to support clients who needed support but could not make it to a physical clinic due to work, family and sporting commitments. The clinic was such a success that the company are now treating patients across the UK who are in pain during lockdown.

Clinic Director Rhian Davies explains:

“As our clinic has grown, the number of services, technology and therapies we offer has expanded, and the remote physiotherapy service was just one more string to our bow to support our clients wherever we can.

“However, now everyone is self isolating and practising social distancing, our online physiotherapy service is more popular than ever.

“Many people will be suffering in pain and feel helpless because they’re unable to access their healthcare professional. Some people are partway through a course of treatment and be stagnant in their rehabilitation and recovery. Added to that, home working is creating new problems for home workers who don’t have supportive office equipment to help them with posture.

“Our message is, nobody should be in pain, our online physiotherapy service is cheaper than a regular appointment, easy to arrange and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home. Our reviews show we have really been able to make an impact without seeing clients physically, and that’s fantastic!”

For more information, please visit the one2one website: https://www.one2onetherapy.net/online-physiotherapy-appointments/

Digital Transformation, Home Working, Networks, Technology, Thought Leadership

Preparing and supporting your cloud for the COVID-19 remote workforce    

Brian Ussher, President & Co-founder, iland considers how IT infrastructures can cope with a global pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an unprecedented increase in home working, which requires remote access for tools and communications to conduct our daily jobs. This disruption is putting IT infrastructures at risk, while validating much of the industry’s investment in business continuity, resilience, scalability, accessibility, data protection and security.

With a global at-home workforce now entirely in place, what can IT professionals and CIOs do to ensure their private and public clouds can keep up and remain safe? And what steps and tests should they take to support a protracted change in the way we work?  According to a recent Gartner survey, more than 74 percent of CFOs and business finance leaders expect at least five percent of their workforce will never return to their usual office workspace — becoming permanent work-from-home employees after the pandemic ends.

Even in the face of a global pandemic, we continue to promote a culture that requires easy and instant access to our tools, information and each other over cloud collaboration tools like Slack, Google Drive, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, as well as in-house applications.

This demand on IT requires private, public and hybrid clouds to have the agility, scalability and security to support entire workforces no matter where they are. IT leaders who have planned for this worst-case scenario are ready to scale at a moment’s notice.  Likewise, they’ve already considered the impact on licensing, vulnerability and added traffic from employees working at home over personal devices and unsecured networks.

IT professionals who support an at-home workforce need to understand the difference between employees “running” applications and “accessing” applications. When technology is set up and configured correctly, it should be easy to access. That’s the whole idea of SaaS and cloud. The challenge is, how do you administer it? How do you run it?

Organisations that maintain private clouds onsite, which might not be accessible during stay-at-home orders, need a plan to make repairs physically — like swapping hard drives, replacing switches or cables — when their employees are home.

Likewise, whether at home or work, the end-user experience should be the same. If all apps and tools are optimal in an office environment, how do you make those adjustments ahead of time, so remote employees still have the same access and capabilities as if they’re working in the office? And how do you maintain your security and IT compliance obligations?

Where and how to start?

The easiest advice might be to avoid trying to boil the ocean all at once. If your applications and data aren’t on the cloud already, it’s possible to mobilise secure VPNs and encrypt applications for mobile devices. If you’re on the cloud already, you’re several steps ahead of others. But you still need to work with your cloud service provider to review your workloads, applications, and data requirements.

At the same time you’re focusing on accessibility, remember to address your vulnerabilities. Right now, cybercriminals are stepping up their attacks to take advantage of remote employees. Phishing attacks are at an all-time high on small and large businesses, as well as public resources like hospitals and healthcare providers.

Now’s the time to reinforce your organisation’s IT security and compliance guidelines, many of which include the relevance of when employees travel or occasionally work from home. This includes a refresher on password policies and how to identify and report phishing attempts. Help employees with securing their home networks, and all the other policies and guidelines they would typically follow at work to protect your company and customer data. This might also be an excellent time to train employees on document and data retention best practices.

COVID-19 will create additional security threats as attackers attempt to take advantage of employees spending more time online while at home and working in unfamiliar circumstances. Some of the biggest threats associated with the pandemic include phishing emails, spear phishing attachments, cybercriminals masquerading fake VPNs, remote meeting software and mobile apps.

Above all, you must have the same level of resilience and redundancy plans in place for home working as you do for onsite, even if you are 100 percent in the cloud. It is important to recognise that the same problems that happen on a day-to-day basis when you’re in the office can also occur when the office is vacant.

Prepare for the new normal

Going forward, all businesses should plan for an eventuality like COVID-19 happening again. This means understanding data security, business continuity, resilience, scalability, accessibility and so much more. For example, you may not need extra capacity and compute power now; but you need to know that within minutes you can get to that number. And, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of organisations have internal-only networks to manage power supply, fans, cooling and switches. What if you can’t get into the building?

Futureproof and understand the boundaries between personal and company devices and assets. Understand what you need to put into place to protect your business and your employees.

And finally, companies that are leveraging cloud services need to communicate frequently with their providers to address future needs and concerns. Make sure you know what they can do ahead of time to keep your remote workforce operating. Hopefully, these circumstances will be short-term, and life will return to some normality soon, but my advice is to always plan for every eventuality and what may now be the new normal.

Charity & CSR, Creative News, Healthcare News, News

Equator works with Beatson Cancer Charity to bring new digital ‘My Light’ space to life

In memory of Eilidh McHugh, the uniquely tailored digital experience will support patients and families during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond

Beatson Cancer Charity (BCC) has this month announces the launch of its new website and associated innovative new service ‘My Light’, brought to life in partnership with digital transformation agency Equator. Designed to help vulnerable patients and their families by offering personalised and practical information around their cancer journeys easily online, ‘My Light’ is needed more than ever now when, due to social isolation, hospital visits are restricted.

Commissioned to create a lasting legacy for Eilidh McHugh, who died following a short battle with a rare, incurable and untreatable cancer in March 2017 aged 22, Equator were briefed with transforming BCC’s online experience and helping connect the charity’s patient community online.

BCC was looking for greater automation and more integration. Starting work in summer 2019, Equator undertook a digital transformation project which reflected the refreshed branding and served as a powerful digital engagement service.

Measurement was important to BCC. Increasing donation levels and volunteer engagement are key indicators of success alongside being able to track patient satisfaction and the impact of the new digital services.

Equator completely overhauled the user experience, bringing the look and feel in line with the refreshed BCC branding and giving the charity the digital platform and identity that it deserves. The team worked hard to improve the UX for the charity’s donation journey which was key to ongoing success for the charity and also made back-end integrations with their CRM to ease the load for the BCC team.

‘My Light’ is the standout feature. It supports content related to different stages of individual cancer journeys, as everyone’s journey is different, for those directly or indirectly impacted by cancer. The service is best in class in the third sector.

Equator even incorporated ‘ring the bell’ into the experience – a digital version of the physical bell in the Beatson Cancer Centre that patients ring at the end of their treatment. On the new BCC site patients can click to ring it prompting them to share their good news by tweet.

Jamie Jefferson, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Equator said: “It has been an honour to work alongside Beatson Cancer Charity and the McHugh family on this unique project. The team have enjoyed bringing to life a new digital, patient services experience that seamlessly connects and transforms the Beatson Cancer Charity online experience. It is just the beginning of the road for this digital platform which will make a huge difference to cancer patients and their families for years to come.”

Martin Cawley, Beatson Cancer Charity CEO said: “We have relished the advice and guidance since appointment of Equator. Using our initial user research, we identified the need to help patients suffering from cancer to easily find the more relevant content based on their personal experience. Everyone at Beatson Cancer Charity is immensely proud of this new digital experience – it looks great and we have received lots of complimentary feedback already, and more importantly have seen an increase in our donations since it went live. We are delighted that it is now available to help more cancer patients throughout Scotland.”

Construction, News, Property

‘Do I need planning permission for my conservatory?’ – questions answered by home improvement experts

Homeowners thinking about making improvements to their property whilst stuck indoors can consider a range of enhancements to improve and maximise available space, including conservatories, orangeries, and solid roof extensions.

With many factors to take into account, one of the main hurdles to consider is being granted planning permission before starting any home modifications. To help inform this decision, the experts from home improvements company, Stormclad, have compiled this handy guide to planning permission, answering frequently asked questions.

John Evans, managing director at Stormclad explains:

“Being confined to your abode can really make you think about the existing space you have with your property and what you can do to transform it. In most cases you will not need planning permission for a standard single storey extension as it is considered ‘permitted development’, and therefore exempt from planning permission.

“When considering a home improvement, it’s important to know some key planning permission and building regulation guidelines.”

1. What size is it allowed to be?

The most up to date regulations state that a single-story extension generally won’t require planning permission as long as it doesn’t exceed a certain size. The conservatory or extension cannot take up more than half of the area around the ‘original house’ – which is the house as it was first built, or as it stood on the 1st July 1948, if it was built before that date.

The maximum height limit is four metres for a single storey extension, but the length depends on the property:
• If the house is detached, the conservatory is restricted to a four-metre projection
• If the house is semi-detached or terraced, the projection limit is three metres

2. What if my property is in a conservation area?

These conditions vary slightly, if a building is on ‘designated land’ which includes national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, it will most likely need planning permission. Each planning application considers an area’s unique, special character and whether the redevelopment proposals will preserve or enhance the character or appearance of that conservation area.

3. What about building regulations?

Different to planning permission, building regulations ensure that buildings are designed and constructed so that they are safe, energy efficient and accessible. New conservatories must adhere to the below rules.

  • The conservatory must be built at ground level and must be smaller than 30 metres squared

  • It must be separated from the main house by substantial walls, doors and windows, and have its own separate heating system.

  • Building regulation approval is required if fixed electricity points or a toilet or sink are going to be installed.

  • If your new conservatory spans the whole width of the property or home, it must be ensured that it won’t restrict ladder access to any upstairs windows so that a fire escape route is maintained.

Most reliable home improvement companies will have extensive knowledge of building regulations, so will ensure a conservatory is designed to fit the criteria.

4. How do I apply?

The first point of contact is your local council’s planning department, which can be easily accessed online. A pre-submission form will need to be filled out detailing what the project entails. From this, you will then be able to get an idea about what permissions are required. The next step is to complete an application form along with drawings demonstrating exactly what is being built. At this point, you will be required to pay a fee to cover the administrative costs. The size of this fee will depend largely on the scale of the project and where it is being completed.

Charity & CSR, News

Commemorative five tonne bell cast in UK gets Royal escort down under

A huge bell weighing more than five tonnes has been transported nearly 10,000 miles, from the UK to Australia’s capital city Canberra, by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), following its casting and tuning at the Loughborough Bellfoundry in Leicestershire.

The bell, which stands six feet tall and has a diameter of six feet and nine inches, was commissioned by the Australian government to become part of the National Carillon Bell Tower located on Canberra’s Aspen Island.

Dating back to the 16th century, a carillon is a musical instrument that consists of at least 23 bells that are played in sequence to create a melody or played together to sound a chord.

Situated in the heart of Loughborough, the Loughborough Bellfoundry, also known as John Taylor’s Bellfoundry, is the last major bellfoundry in the UK and Commonwealth. More than 25,000 bells have been cast since the present bellfoundry was built in 1859 and its bells can be heard around the UK and across the world, including the United States, South Africa, Malta and Singapore.

Touching down late at night on 31 January at Canberra airport in an RAAF C-17 plane, the bell was then installed in the National Carillon – which boasts 57 bells and was a gift from the UK government to the people of Australia in 1970, to mark the 50th anniversary of the country’s capital city.

Now, the newly-cast bell marks the 50th anniversary of the carillon and, as the bellfounder of the original bells in 1970, the Loughborough Bellfoundry was once again appointed to cast, tune and deliver the latest addition. An ongoing programme of renovation is currently taking place on Aspen Island, including works to the bell tower which will celebrate a grand re-opening later this year.

The bell took around 40 days to create and bears two inscriptions; one which marks the 50th anniversary of the carillon, and another bilingual inscription in English and a local Aboriginal language that reads: “Welcome to Ngunnawal Country. You may leave your footprints on our land”.

This is by no means the largest bell that has been cast at Loughborough Bellfoundry in its 160-year history, however, as the record is still held by ‘Great Paul’ at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, weighing a staggering 17 tonnes. The bellfoundry has also cast more than two hundred bells that weigh in excess of two tonnes.

The bellfoundry already has a presence in Australia, having previously cast a five tonne bell for Sydney General Post Office, a four tonne bell for Sydney University Carillon and the notable peals of bells at St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide, St Saviour’s Cathedral in Goulburn and St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

Andrew Wilby, trustee at the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust – the owner of the bellfoundry, said: “It’s incredible to think that this bell was created in Loughborough and is now in its new home 10,000 miles away in Australia’s National Carillon, 50 years after the instrument’s other bells were first cast at the bellfoundry.

“Loughborough Bellfoundry is the home of bell founding and is the only working vestige in the country of an ancient industry that creates bells for thousands of buildings around the UK and the world.

“We’re honoured to be able to cast this special bell to celebrate Australia’s National Carillon and it’s capital city.”

The National Lottery Heritage Fund recently awarded the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust nearly £300,000 of Development Phase funding to allow it to work up detailed proposals for its two Grade II* listed buildings that are in urgent need of repairs. The project is also being supported by the Architectural Heritage Fund, which has pledged £30,000.

Whilst the business is in good fettle, the Victorian bellfoundry buildings are not. Without urgent repairs and a sustainable plan for the future, the bellfoundry could be lost forever. To avoid the considerable loss of traditional craftmanship and seismic impact on historic buildings around the world, the team behind the restoration project is seeking £1 million from members of the public and any organisation wishing to help secure the bellfoundry’s future for generations to come.

If you would like to donate to help protect Britain’s last major bellfoundry, please visit: www.loughboroughbellfoundry.org.