News blogNews bloghttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011-11-04T12:21:37ZSquarespaceIs Richard retiring?http://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/11/2/is-richard-retiring.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-11-02T18:00:00Z2011-11-02T18:00:00Z
Well after 23 years of hard work, Richard (aka George Peppard) Senior Engineer, finally hung up his tool box on Friday 28th October 2011.

We had an informal get together to say goodbye and thanked him for all his hard work and dedication to Southern Care Maintenance over this time. A good time was had by all and food and drink were soon 
consumed, which quickly lead to the highlight of the day the cutting of the “Fire Extinguisher” cake! 
 
Richard is looking forward to putting his feet up and having a lie-in, until it’s time to start on the list of jobs around the house, that his wife Sue has drawn up!

We wish them both well and hope Richard enjoys his retirement; for a while anyway until December, when he comes back to work part time with us!

You just can’t keep a good man down!!

 

]]>Onwards & Upwardshttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/9/29/onwards-upwards.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-09-29T15:54:00Z2011-09-29T15:54:00Z

It has been a very busy month this September and a sad day for us all today as we said goodbye to Laura, who is off back to Bristol after working with us now for over 12 months during her gap year from university.

David Knight, Commerical Director seen here making the presentation to her said, "Laura has been a great help in the office and will be very much missed both by all her colleagues and our customers and we all wish her every success as she continues her studies for her final exams to become a vet".

]]>An Electric car arrives!http://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/9/14/an-electric-car-arrives.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-09-14T13:55:00Z2011-09-14T13:55:00ZWe took delivery of our first Electric Vehicle, EV this month on September the 13th!

Commercial Director, David Knight said, "we are doing all we can to extend our Enviromental Policy of being Lean and Green, and when the requirement arose for a run-a-round vehicle, we decided that a Nissan Leaf would fit the bill".  

David is seen here taking delivery of the Nissan Leaf from Luke Irvine, Motorline Nissan, Tunbrige Wells.

The car has Zero emissions and is completely Electric running only on batteries. It has a range between charges of approximately 80-90 miles subject to driving and conditions. This means it costs approximately 2p a mile to run and is also zero rated for the annual road fund tax and London Congestion charge.

After deciding on the Leaf however, trying to order it was far from straight forward, as although we have had many leased vehicles in our fleet over the last 20 years, and despite all the publicity about how we should all look at reducing our carbon footprint, most leasing companies had never heard of the Leaf and were unable to quote for it. In the end we had to contact Barry Beeson, Head of Nissan UK fleet sales to help smooth the wheels.

]]>Customer Feedbackhttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/8/15/customer-feedback.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-08-15T22:15:00Z2011-08-15T22:15:00ZIt's very good for us all to see when we get great customer feedback, confirming that the team are working well and providing an excellent service.

As many of our customers are now starting their own websites and blogs, this certainly keeps us all on our toes!

See the full details and pictures at - Valerie Manor News.

]]>What no Skoda's!http://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/7/26/what-no-skodas.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-07-26T09:32:36Z2011-07-26T09:32:36ZIt seem that at the moment our usual Skoda Octavias are only available on a very long lead time, so as we have a need for some more company vehicles, we are having to order Renaults for the first time in 20+ years.

We will let you know hope we fair with them.

]]>New van arrives for new man at Southern Carehttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/1/27/new-van-arrives-for-new-man-at-southern-care.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-01-27T22:08:46Z2011-01-27T22:08:46Z 

Three months after arriving with us, Phil takes over his brand new Citroen Dispatch van.

Phil says "it's great with built in SATnav, sensors for reversing, & all the room I need".

All our vehicles are being upgraded over the next 18 months with some engineers having vans, and others choosing to have an estate car.

]]>FreeDor now releasedhttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2011/1/25/freedor-now-released.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2011-01-25T10:40:00Z2011-01-25T10:40:00ZNow released is the all new FREEDOR wireless door holder.

 Freedor is a wireless device that is installed at the top of a fire door and will allow the door to swing freely, and be left in any position, but will close the door when the fire alarm sounds. 

 

Please see:-

http://www.southerncare.co.uk/door-holders-closers for more details.

]]>Team updatehttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2010/11/30/team-update.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2010-11-30T10:47:05Z2010-11-30T10:47:05ZWe are very pleased to say that after extensive interviewing we have now found a replacement for Richard Smith and also added an additional member to our team, due to the ever expanding work load in our Alarms Division.

Luke joined us in October and comes from a background of working with fire alarm systems, and Philip joined us in November coming from a background of Call systems and electrically installation works.

We warmly welcome them both to our team and hope they will enjoy their new work and challenges ahead.

]]>Moving on.... up north!http://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2010/7/9/moving-on-up-north.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2010-07-09T14:19:00Z2010-07-09T14:19:00ZAfter four years of working for Southern Care Maintenance, Richard Smith, one of our engineering team, is moving up to Bradford due to matters of the heart! 

At his leaving presentation today at the office, David Knight thanked him for all his work over the last four years he has been with the company. 

Richard was instrumental in successfully introducing the then new, handheld PDA's into our system, which have improved customer service by speeding up communication between our field engineers and the office.

We all wish him and his girlfriend every success and happiness in the future.

]]>Office refurbishmentshttp://www.southerncare.co.uk/newsblog/2010/2/10/office-refurbishments.htmlSouthern Care Maintenance2010-02-10T22:00:58Z2010-02-10T22:00:58ZDuring the winter months and in between the snow, we have been undergoing some changes to our offices and warehouse to accommodate the additional staff and equipment we have taken on for the new Nursing Equipment division.

So apologies for any unusal noises you may have heard on the phone when ringing us!

We are aiming to have most of the work finished by the end of March 2010, which should provide us all with a more comfortable and efficient working environment.

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