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Staff Magazine - May 2023 |
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In this edition:
 We are excited to announce the launch of our new bi-monthly staff magazine!
Every other month, we’ll give you an inside look at our diverse and talented Council team, through features including a spotlight on People and Place, Behind the Scenes coverage, Stories from our People, Compliments and Praise, and lifestyle content, ranging from local restaurant recommendations to productivity hacks and amazing recipes. For now it's digital, but that could change if you want.
In our next issue, we'll be featuring pictures of your fabulous Coronation celebrations. So, get your cameras at the ready, and please share your memorable moments with us!
We encourage you to actively participate by submitting your stories, photos and successes. Your involvement will be the key to making our new staff magazine truly engaging and informative. To show our appreciation, contributors will get a chance of receiving exclusive goodies as a thank you for their input!
We look forward to embarking on this exciting journey with you, as we celebrate the incredible team that makes Westmorland and Furness Council a great place to work.
All the best,
Your magazine team,
Dan McAulay and Rachel Garnett
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A message from Sam Plum, Chief Executive
Dear colleagues,
I’m very pleased to introduce our first Westmorland and Furness staff magazine!
It's hard to believe it is May already, and it's been an exciting first four weeks start as we moved from the shadows to centre stage on our historic first day.
We had plenty of ‘firsts’, from town crier and community events to new intranets and websites, email addresses, Council and Cabinet meetings and new teams coming together. It’s been a seamless transition for most of us, with only minor glitches which our fantastic teams have worked together to resolve.
I’ve loved getting out and about with Senior Leadership Team meeting many of you in our first month, building new relationships and strengthening long-standing ones.
I’ve been picking up on the positive energy and enthusiasm from so many of you on what we can achieve together as we build on our solid foundations. Nothing has stopped, we’ve teamed up, supported each other, embraced the change and together we’re really starting to become Westmorland and Furness Council. I’m feeling very lucky, proud and privileged to be your Chief Exec.
For anyone who is feeling unsettled or anxious please reach out to your manager, HR or to me directly through my email or the Ask Sam inbox. We really do want to support all of you as we continue to stabilise our new Council
I’m delighted about the launch of the staff magazine as it will be all about you, our staff. Every edition will shine a spotlight on your successes, offer the opportunity to get to know the people behind the job titles and share knowledge about all the wonderful places Westmorland and Furness has to offer.
The magazine’s success will depend on your input, and I really encourage you to get involved, there's more information about how you can below.
I hope you enjoy reading it!
Take care,
Sam
PS. I'll be hosting an online Q&A session tomorrow (3 May) from 1.30pm to 2.30pm, click here to join the session.
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Our new staff magazine is designed to give us all a sense of belonging as we settle into our roles and get to know our new colleagues.
To help build that feeling of togetherness, we need your ideas to make sure the content reflects the things you would like to see and hear about.
- Firstly, can you help us come up with a name for the new magazine? Suggest the winning title and you could win some exclusive goodies.
- Secondly, what kind of articles would you like to see in future magazines? Is there a particular team or area of council work you’d like us to spotlight? Maybe you’d like to share something light-hearted like a recipe or a quiz? Whatever it is, let us know.
- Lastly, do you have any stories to share with us for the next magazine? It doesn’t have to be the complete, finished article – simply send your ideas, whatever stage they’re at, and we can help with the rest.
You can also contact magazine editors Dan or Rachel direct on email.
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 Say hello to baby Miles Albert Walls!
Baby news from Naomi Walls
Congratulations to Naomi Walls from our website team on the arrival of her beautiful baby boy!
Case Management Officer Naomi and her husband Wayne welcomed Miles Albert Walls on Saturday 8 April at 5.11am.
Miles weighed 6lbs 12oz and both mum and baby are doing well!
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 The Dock Museum in Barrow
Awards delight for Dock Museum
Well done to our team at the Dock Museum in Barrow which has made the shortlist of the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2023.
One of our flagship venues, the museum is suspended over a 19th century dry dock beside Walney Channel and celebrates the people and industries of Furness.
The museum team said it was “amazing” to be shortlisted for Small Visitor Attraction of the Year, adding, “We work ever so hard for the quality of the visitor experience.”
Meanwhile, Westmorland and Furness Council is sponsoring the Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Award.
To see all the finalists, visit: Cumbria Tourism Awards | Cumbria Tourism.
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This month marks the much anticipated reopening of Abbot Hall, an important cultural asset in Kendal that has been closed for over two years for essential renovations.
To mark this special occasion, Abbot Hall has planned live music and family activities from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 20 May 2023. Council staff are invited to go along!
Westmorland and Furness Council owns Abbot Hall and rents out the building to Lakeland Arts. The refurbishment project focused on upgrading the Grade I listed building's electrics and flood resilience, along with a thorough redecoration.
Abbot Hall, one of Britain's preeminent small art galleries, is set in a beautifully restored Grade I-listed Georgian building on the banks of the River Kent in Kendal. Its reopening not only breathes new life into the building, but also revitalises Kendal's cultural scene.
To inaugurate the newly refurbished gallery, Abbot Hall will soon be launching "What is it That Will Last?", an exhibition featuring a decade of British artist Julie Brook's work. The exhibition, running from Saturday 20 May to Saturday 30 December 2023, offers a glimpse into Brook's artistic journey through film, drawing and photography. Her work showcases the invisible forces of nature that govern our lives, such as gravity, time and tide.
The reopening of Abbot Hall also signals a fresh direction for the gallery, as it explores landscape and identity themes through its collection and new collaborations. This renewed focus promises an engaging and thought-provoking program for the community, with new opportunities for local residents to immerse themselves in art and culture.
The refurbished gallery will act as a centre for art, culture and education, offering a welcoming space for locals and visitors to enjoy various creative experiences in a setting that truly feels like a fresh canvas.
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As a caring council that puts our customers at the heart of everything we do, it’s heart-warming when residents say thank you for a job well done!
The magazine team would love to share any messages of praise you receive from customers, so that colleagues across the council can see how much our collective efforts are appreciated by the people we serve.
Here are two received just this week:
To the Elections team and Customer Services
“I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you have done for me. It might just be a little thing for you but for me it is huge. Every dealing I have had with your organisation, the people have been so helpful, polite and very kind to me, it is as if you employ a higher calibre of employee - the cream of the crop so to speak. I assume you take the best candidates at interview and then train them up to such a high standard, and I for one am so very grateful and I only wish I could thank you all individually.”
To Jackie Dickinson, Environmental Protection Specialist:
“Just wanted to give you a call to say thank you so much. And I have been enjoying the absence of the nuisance noise. And it's absolutely wonderful and really, really, really grateful to you. Thanks for getting on to it. And thanks for representing local people and local people's interests and getting stuff done. Brilliant.”
And on social media...
Compliments have also been coming in via social media, such as this message for the Street Care team in Barrow:
“It was nice to see the street care team this morning, going above and beyond their duty. They normally empty the bins and when they went to the bin outside Risedale Road Post Office both operators from the vehicle went to collect broken glass from all over the carriageway and empty bottles left in the doorway across the road.”
Also on Facebook, news of our £3.1 million investment on road surfacing works was greeted with:
“Thank you for this, it’s most useful. Keep it up!”
If you receive any messages that you’d be happy to share in future editions of our staff magazine, please send them to Rachel Garnett in the Comms team by emailing: rachel.garnett@southlakeland.gov.uk.
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Our very own William Laye, Private Water Specialist, running the London Marathon in aid of UK Sepsis Trust.
After his “emotional rollercoaster” London Marathon, Private Water Specialist William Laye is thanking everyone who has supported his endeavours for the UK Sepsis Trust.
Last year Will almost lost his mum to the condition, and this has inspired him to do everything he can to raise awareness among friends and colleagues of the early warning signs of sepsis.
Thanks to the generosity of well-wishers, Will has now exceeded his £500 fundraising goal after completing the London Marathon in 2 hours 56 minutes!
He said: “I’ve created a fundraising link for those who would like to donate: The UK Sepsis Trust: William Laye (enthuse.com)
“But for me it’s more importantly a signpost to helping you get info about sepsis. So don’t feel any pressure to donate; I’d rather you get a nice coffee and cake so long as you read up on sepsis.”
Will described Sunday’s 26-mile race as an “emotional rollercoaster” as he ran the first half “far too fast”.
“Anyone who’s raced a marathon before will know how easy this is to do in the excitement and also how painful this makes the second half of the race. Before things got too disastrous I was able to rein it in and get back to a more reasonable pace.
“Just before the hallway mark you cross Tower Bridge, which was four to five people deep and a wall of noise. Words cannot describe how electric this section of the race is thanks to the raucous support! It’s worth doing the marathon for this reason alone in my opinion.”
Will said he “used every ounce of the support my colleagues, friends and family have given me over the past six months” to get through the last 10 miles, adding: “While it was a painful and slower second half, all’s well that ends well as I came through in 2 hours 56 minutes dead for a personal best. Super happy!
“My third and most exciting London Marathon all being said and done. Pleasingly the personal best was about 1 minute 45 seconds faster than my younger self six years ago – ageing like a fine wine, perhaps?”
To find out more about sepsis and the early warning signs, visit: https://sepsistrust.org
 Kayleigh in the sky over Morecambe Bay
Residents from one of our care homes watched in amazement as support worker Kayleigh Walker did a skydive for their amenity fund.
Kayleigh’s tandem jump at Cark Airfield has raised more than £1,000 for Bridge House at Flookburgh, where she has worked for two years.
“I was excited but I was a bit nervous going up in the plane,” said Kayleigh.
“I kept telling myself I am doing it for them. Their faces and the response from them was incredible. If I could pay money to see them every week I would do it.”
Nikki-Jo Flockhart, Residential Supervisor at Bridge House, said:
“The residents were absolutely amazed. Myself and my manager Julie took some of them down to watch Kayleigh and their faces were absolute pictures. They were mesmerised.
“Afterwards we were invited to watch the footage and their jaws almost hit the floor! They could not stop talking about it. It was just such a magical thing for them to see and watch, knowing she was raising money for them also.”
Staff and residents will be discussing how they are going to spend the money raised by Kayleigh, such as projects in Bridge House’s garden this summer.
Nikki-Jo added: “Kayleigh is very brave and what she has raised is just amazing. We are very grateful for the opportunity she gave the residents to watch her.
“Kayleigh is new to care, previously working in hospitality, and she’s taken to it like a duck to water. She is a kind, outgoing person and a fantastic carer.”
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Our next issue will be packed with exciting content that we're sure you'll love!
Here's a sneak peek at what's coming up:
- Photos from your King’s Coronation celebrations (in the sunny outdoors… hopefully!)
- An introduction to your magazine team: Rachel and Dan
- A behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for this year's Kendal Calling event, including interviews with the team responsible for the Council’s role in the event.
- And much more!
Don't forget to send us your own stories, photos and successes - we'd love to hear from you and showcase your contributions in our magazine. Stay tuned for more information on how to submit your content and be in with a chance of receiving exclusive goodies as a thank you for your input.
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