DB News – April 2017

Following the busy and eventful 2016, we decided that our staff deserved a quiet beginning to 2017. More than anything just to make up for what we put them through with our successful ’40 events for 40 years’! Even we admit that completing 20,000 press ups, having more bake-offs than Mary Berry and collectively cycling over 600 miles deserved a bit of a breather. Not for long though! We’ve now started a new sport activity to replace our ‘Press Up Challenge’. Now at 3pm daily, the DB Wood team partakes in a ‘Planking Challenge’, starting off at 10 seconds a day in the first week until we hit 4 minutes 47 weeks later. A hefty challenge we admit, but now that our biceps match our brains we hope to bring our abs up to scratch!

January marked our one year anniversary of moving offices to Newark and setting up shop in Potterdyke House. It’s been fantastic to say the least, and while we have already been through a lot in this building, we also like to remember that Potterdyke House has been an icon in Newark for well over a century. We aren’t the only ones to have been blessed to take up residence here. Speaking with Keith Rodgers of Guy Taylor Associates, we were presented with an array of historical documents and photographs relating to Potterdyke House including hand-written letters from 1914, pictures of the building in the 1970s (left) and even all of the deeds leading back to 1838. (We hope to have a wide selection of these put up on display throughout the building. If you’re interested in taking a further look, pop in for a coffee and a peruse.)

This year we are also delighted to be sponsoring Harry Jenkins a local school boy on his World Challenge trip to Morocco in June 2017. While in Morocco Harry will be visiting schools, and helping with the construction of new buildings, supporting children who are just starting their education. Whilst he is there he will also be trekking up the tallest mountain range in Northern Africa; the Atlas Mountains. We are so thrilled that we have helped Harry get to take part in this amazing experience and we can’t wait to see all that he does over there.

Finally, we are at once delighted and disheartened to announce the retirement of a well-loved adviser here at DB Wood. Bernard Gallimore will be departing us at the end of April. Bernard joined the company  in 2012 further to the acquisition of his business Gallimore Associates, and has been flashing us his cheeky grin ever since. You will all no doubt know Bernard from his uplifting and heart-warming blogs, which aptly reflect his personality with frequent bouts of unexpected humour. Great for culture, morale and service, Bernard will surely be missed. Now that he’ll have a lot more time on his hands, we can bet that he’ll have a few more trips booked and who knows, maybe he’ll keep checking in every now and then to keep us on our toes.

Whilst we’ll miss him dearly, we do like to remind him that the trouble with retirement is…you never get a day off!