Our United Day Out

Carrie and myself recently had a great day out at the Carlisle United match versus Stockport County.

Some other guests who all come from farming backgrounds from the Silloth and Wigton area joined us on the day and most of them had not been to a football match for many years.

The day started at 12:30 when Carrie and a few of the guests went on a tour of the ground. As the photo shows, they really enjoyed seeing what goes on behind the scenes and even got to have their pictures taken in the boot room.

Myself and the rest of the guests headed straight for Foxys restaurant where the bar was open to enjoy pre match drinks. This was coke in my case since I was doing most of the chauffeuring.

Once we all regrouped we sat down for a carvery dinner which was great and went down really well with everyone.

After the dinner we got our tickets and went out to the stand to prepare for the match. The first half wasn't very exciting with neither team really having a chance so at half time the score remained 0-0. During half time we went back inside for half time drinks and cheese and biscuits.

Both teams had a few more chances in the second half and provided a bit more entertainment however neither managed to get the break though goal and the score ended up 0-0.

After the match we had another drink or two and the day ended with everyone commenting on how much they had enjoyed it.

Michael Peile

Celebrating Burns Night

On Friday 22 January, a group of us from David Allen & Co had a table and joined The Mayor of Carlisle, Cllr William Graham and other parties at a Charity Burns Night Supper.

The event was held at the Cumbria Park Hotel, Carlisle and profits from the evening were in aid of the Mayor of Carlisle’s Charity Fund whose main beneficiary is the Eden House Children’s Hospice, a very worthwhile cause.

The evening included a five-course meal with traditional haggis which was piped in, in traditional style by Mr Ken MacKay and various guest speakers who gave their own unique renditions of the most popular of Robert Burns' poems including the Tam O'Shanter.

It was a really good night and everyone got into the spirit of things by wearing at least a hint of tartan in their clothing.
Carrie Taylor

Our Vision

It’s often said that business is about finding customers... keeping customers... and making money and as anybody who’s in business will agree, these three principles are essential to our very commercial existence. However, there’s one additional ingredient that’s always been at the heart of David Allen & Co and that’s an unwavering recognition that no matter how good we think we may be, there’s always room to improve.

Those improvements might come in seemingly small aspects of our business, but put a few small things together... and that can make a big difference.

From the early days I’ve always had a vision. It was not to be the biggest accountancy business in Cumbria, but to be the best - the best environment for talented people to work and develop their careers, and the best place for individuals and businesses to receive strategic and financial advice to help them fulfil their potential.

As we enter our 13th year with over 60 people, three offices and a rapidly changing economic landscape, I wanted to re-evaluate where we are and where we’d like to be in the future. To do this I recognise that the business Alison and I created back in 1997 is now very different.

Where once we would discuss our challenges and aspirations within our small team and quickly execute our ideas that same afternoon, I now have a team of partners and managers (each with their own teams) who I need to inspire in order to implement our business plans. Whilst many things have undoubtedly changed over the years, our initial ethos and values haven’t changed.

David Allen and Co has always been about providing the very best service for our customers as a direct result of creating enthusiastic, effective and loyal employees – and I realise that indeed many of our clients and staff had been with us for a significant part of our 13 year journey. I know that the key to developing our business further, lies with our people and our clients. Only by creating an environment where our people are satisfied, loyal and productive can we create value and only by creating that value can our clients feel satisfied and remain loyal to our business.

Unlike many businesses, we’re starting from the inside. Most (if not all) of our people have been involved in strategic or planning workshops, contributing through ideas or sharing their day to day experiences of life within David Allen and Co and providing valuable feedback on our leadership and management style. We have taken our core values of “Inspiration”, “Enthusiasm”, “Commitment” and “Practicality” and fine tuned our “Vision” for the next phase of our development. This vision is a team vision, developed by a group of people from all parts of the business and now shared by all within our firm.

On Thursday 10th of December all of our people came together in our Dalston office and I was really delighted to be able to present to them our vision and direction for the future. We are about to embark on one of the most exciting parts of our journey which involves feedback from our people and our clients will enable us to identify what “really” makes the difference to them and how we can provide our people with the resources to do best what matters most.

So as I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a very prosperous new year, I’d like to share with you OUR pledge and OUR vision.

• David Allen & Co's vision is to help individuals and businesses achieve their goals in the most practical, proactive and dynamic way. We will combine our technical know-how, financial awareness and commercial acumen with a passion and energy rarely seen in our sector.
• We will become a known leading light, recognised for blending the traditional values of accountancy with the enthusiastic and hands-on attitudes of a young, modern team of professionals.
• We will be a breath of fresh air to our clients and our team will be as committed to the clients’ businesses as they are to their own, and our promise will be to go the extra mile in all that we do.

Happy Christmas
David Allen

Rugby Match Sponsorship Day

Saturday 12 December we were back for our annual Christmas sponsors day at Aspatria Rugby Club.

Every year, we like to invite clients and contacts to join us and watch a rugby match at the Aspatria club and we have a complimentary bar open for our guests during the afternoon. This is a great way for us to thank people for their business during the year.

The day, as usual started at around 1pm. Clients came from all over the county but many arrived on the midday train from Carlisle which was jammed full with our invited guests and staff. Partner’s Alison Cartner and Sandra Gowling welcomed all our guests and then, having sampled a drink or two and enjoyed a bite to eat from the fantastic buffet, which was laid on by the club’s ladies committee, the match kicked off.

This year the team was up against Altrincham Kersal who earlier in the season had quite convincingly beaten the Aspatria side. Our very own, Jack Clegg was playing fly half for the home team and although Aspatria kept the score down to a more reasonable level, they were still beaten.

Back in the clubhouse, Sarah Reilly announced the winners of our Guess the Score competition.

We have had compliments from many of our guests saying what a fantastic day it was and many of our staff were also there on the day to meet our clients and enjoy the atmosphere of the day.
Julie Campbell

Santa's Special Visit

Santa came visiting our office today, wearing his special red suit and with his little helper (Melissa) in tow.

He had actually made a surprise visit the day before to give Louise Thomson her ‘Secret Santa’ pressie before she headed off on her holidays and financial training but the main event happened at 10.30 today when our little bearded friend started his tour round the departments.

There was a certain West Cumbrian twang to his “ho ho ho” as he handed out his goodies but everyone was really happy to see him and his sack was brimming full of delights for everyone.

From smellies and slippers to scarves and booze, he certainly handed out a variety of treats. His little helper managed to take a few pictures on the way round and there are some too shy they hid in his beard, or pretended to be busy on the phone, but most just wanted to give him a big hug and get him on their knee.

Santa says he is retiring next year......

but it wouldn’t be the same without our jolly friend.

Merry Christmas to all
Julie Campbell

CYAG Annual Dinner

On Friday 6 November 2009 the CYAG group which I am involved in held its first annual dinner.

CYAG stands for Cumbria Young Accountants Group and Michael Peile and I are both Committee members. The groups aim is to give the younger accountants in the area a chance to socialise and network without the formalities of the more senior accounting societies.

After our first event in July we decided to hold an annual dinner at the Foxys restaurant at Carlisle United.

When we arrived we were met by the Carlisle Living cameras. We tried our best to keep out of the way of them but she managed to catch us, so look out for us in the next addition of the magazine.

Once everyone had arrived we all sat down to a lovely carvery. There was a couple of people from every firm on each table so we all got chance to meet new people and to catch up with old friends from financial training and other accountancy courses.

Once the dinner finished we were able to try our luck at a bit of gambling with the two casino tables.

A few of us were more lucky than others, Ricky and Kevin lost their fake money quite quickly, whilst Graeme had some big wins then lost it all in the end. Somehow though I managed to get a bit of a winning streak and managed to win the most money out of everyone during the night and won some meal vouchers. If only it was real money. The night then finished off with a disco.

All in all a good night was had by all and hopefully we will be able to have another good night with our next event.
Mark James

First Aid at Work

Mark James and I attended a First Aid at Work course from 2 to 4 November.

System Group have only recently began offering the First Aid at Work course's, with our group being the first 'Guinea Pigs', so not only were we being assessed but so was our trainer.

There were 12 trainees in total and we were met on the Monday morning and introduced to our trainer, Jason Pedley. The course was broken down into different sections both written and manual, with a lot of information to take in over the 3 days.

The first day everyone was a bit shy with the practical work we came to do but over the remaining 2 days we all got to know each other better and relaxed. There were definitely plenty of opportunities to laugh with each other, including when learning the recovery position with another team member. Mark playing the unconscious casualty seemed to go very rigid.

The content of the course I found really interesting and with Jason not wishing anyone to fail, we went over the main points everyday with a variety of different activities including good ways of remembering the procedures (A.V.P.U and D.R.S.A.B.C). Our trainer was ex-army which meant he had already dealt with a lot more than basic first aid. He had a very practical approach to the course and because he made it interesting, I think we all learnt more.

By day 2 we had completed all the course content and when on to various different scenarios that we may come across, when in the assessment or in the work place. This gave us all the opportunity to have some fake injuries and be involved in being the casualties and First Aiders in the scenarios. We also had special effects make-up which made it all abit more realistic.

Day 3 was mainly for recapping what we had learnt and what we needed more help with doing together with the assessments which we would need to do. Our assessment was made up of a practical paper and 2 'hands on' assessments which were the CPR & Recovery Position and also a scenario in a workshop which we had to treat.

Overall having done a First Aid course previously with St John's Ambulance, I found this course very enjoyable and I think everyone on the course would say they learnt a lot, and would recommend this to anyone.

Mark and I are now First Aid trained but we really hope we don't have to put anything we learnt into practice at our office!!!
Michelle Aiston