Tensor in the Community

Tensor hosted table No. 1 at the CBI East of England Annual Dinner last night in the prestigious surroundings of the Great Hall in King’s College, Cambridge. Speakers at the dinner included Graham White, CBI East of England Chairman and Sir John Egan President of the CBI. The evening had a charitable dimension with the proceeds of the night’s dinner going to East Anglia’s Children Hospices in support of their tremendous work with terminally ill children.

Tensor would like to thank all who participated in our Charity Dress down & Raffle, which took place on 18th December 2009. Keech Hospice Care have felt the negative affects of the adverse weather conditions, preventing their Christmas float collections. In addition, consumers have been reluctant to visit the shops, which has further affected donations in the most important money raising period. Tensor is proud to be supporting such a worthwhile cause and are extremely delighted with the £273.61 raised on the 18th December.

A brave Tensor employee has helped to fund-raise more than £500 following a sponsored skydive for BBC Children in Need. Rebecca Wheeldon, an Internal Sales Executive at Tensor’s Birmingham office, had planned to do the jump on Sunday, November 20 on this year’s Children in Need weekend, but due to fog it had to be re-arranged to Sunday, December 4 at Cambridge. Rebecca said: “I did the jump with two of my friends Annie McKay and Maria Green.”

Tensor donated a prize to one of its North West clients Faiveley Transport when the company held a fund raising event, a Christmas Dance, which raised more than £800. The event was held at the Liverpool Racquet's Club. Tensor donated a mobile telephone which was won by Faiveley employee Richard Palin, who is pictured with the prize.

Tensor were contacted by two executives from Luton Borough Council regarding sponsorship desperately needed for a charity event in aid of the Luton based Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice. The two executives, Frank Harrison, 40, and colleague Mike Girle, 52 planned to cycle the 906 miles from Land’s End to John O’ Groats to raise funds for the hospice. They had the backing of the Borough Council who were providing some support but now needed additional sponsorship from business. "We were so pleased when we got our commercial backers" exclaimed Frank to the Tensor reporter, as he described the moment when Tensor plc and EGS Ltd agreed to jointly finance their expenses. "If it wasn’t for Tensor and EGS then it simply would not have happened" he said. The pair set off on their marathon on Saturday June 12, 2004 and took 10 days to complete the tough charity ride. Frank said "it wasn’t plain sailing as we had a couple of punctures and a near collision at the start when Mike nearly ran into the back of me!" Along the way they had to endure the hard Scottish summer "it was cold, rainy and I nearly got hypothermia. I had to stop and rest at one point. We each took turns under the hand drier to warm ourselves up" said Frank. When we spoke Mike Girle, he echoed the same comments as Frank, but added, "you know, quiet often the public are completely unaware of how Business helps their local communities and this is a splendid example of what does actually happen on the ground. Well done, Tensor and EGS!" he concluded. Well done to you, Frank and Mike, the splendid effort was all yours – Ed

We all know that these days, schools often find it hard to finance even some of the most basic requirements for learning such as reading and writing materials; so when Vanessa Parker of Crosshall Nursery School contacted Tensor we were pleased we were able to help with a donation. Vanessa explained The money will be used to buy some of the many books that are required. These will be a mixture of hard backed and soft backed books, some with protective covers. Vanessa and her team are also running fund raising events to boost the school coffers. Donations from other firms and businesses in the area would also be most welcome. Crosshall Nursery School opened 7 years ago and currently has 32 pupils. Concluding Vanessa said to the Tensor reporter The school is very grateful – a big Thank you Tensor from all the children Crosshall Day Nursery, The Infant School, Great North Road, Eaton Ford, St Neots, Cambridgeshire. Crosshall Day Nursery, The Infant School, Great North Road, Eaton Ford, St Neots, Cambridgeshire

Hail Weston playing field is situated in a prime location in the village of Hail Weston and provides the village with an area to exercise and play outdoors. A couple of years ago the Parish Council received a petition from the younger inhabitants asking for more activities for the over 5’s and young teenagers.  Nick Farnden, Chairman of the Hail Weston Parish Council, said “the petition made us aware that there was very little provision for older children in the playing fields and we resolved to do something about it”. After a period of consultation, the Parish Council realised that they had to raise some £40,000 for the playing field redevelopment and that this could be done by a mixture of local, national and lottery (Awards for All) funding. Plans are now well underway with the first phase of redevelopment on schedule to be completed by Easter 2010. This will enable children and adults to enjoy the playing fields throughout the whole of summer. Nick commended “We intend to have a range of activities to ensure that residents of all ages can participate. Amongst the installations will be a zip wire, multi-activity fort, trim trail, willow tunnel, picnic tables and chairs. We look forward to the area being enjoyed by all of the residents of Hail Weston.” Nigel Smith, Chairman of Tensor plc, said “Its important for businesses to support their local communities and Tensor are pleased that on this occasion we were able to help”. In addition to donations, Hail Weston Parish Council is holding a quiz on 6th February at 7:30pm in the Hail Weston Village Hall with proceeds going directly to the playing field redevelopment.

At Christmas, being the season of goodwill, Tensor endeavor to raise monies for a charitable concern. On 18th December 2009, Tensor will be holding a Dress Down and Raffle to raise money for Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice. Keech Cottage gives free, specialist care to children and young people diagnosed with a life-limiting condition. The hospice supports families across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes. The hospice offers medical and social care plus emotional support to the whole family throughout the child’s illness and after their death. The donations Tensor raise for Keech Cottage will assist them in their ongoing work. The Raffle prizes are: Molby’s Beauty Retreat Manicure gift certificate Sunday lunch for 4 at the Snooty Tavern Bottle of Champagne Molby’s Cut & Finish (St Neots or Huntingdon branch) gift certificate £25 gift voucher for Elouise Lingerie Tensor would like to thank Molby’s Beauty Retreat, Molby’s Hairdressers, The Snooty Tavern and Elouise Lingerie for providing brilliant prizes for the raffle and we would also like to thank Lockwood Lithographics for providing the raffle tickets.

Tensor plc has made a donation of £75 to the very worthy national cause of the British Heart Foundation. Tensor as a company has given £50, while some employees raised £25 themselves in a couple of days. Kate Smith, After Sales & Project Manager at Tensor plc, who organised the employee contribution, said: “The British Heart Foundation is such a worthwhile charity and means a lot to us as a caring company, so we wanted to make a donation.” The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a registered charity, and its mission statement reads: “Our vision is of a world in which people do not die prematurely of heart disease. We'll achieve this through pioneering research, vital prevention activity and ensuring quality care and support for everyone living with heart disease.” Via revenue streams such as fundraising, income from public funding, investment income and retail, the organisation on average raises £100 million per year. Despite the difficult economic climate BHF, was still able to invest £85.7m of charitable expenditure last year, the money going into research and prevention and care activity. If you would like to donate money or get involved in fundraising work, log on to the website www.bhf.org.uk/.  

Tensor is helping Priory Parkside Colt’s F.C. under-16’s kick off the new season in style after becoming the proud sponsor of their strips. Priory Parkside Colt’s football club was formed in 1978 and is one of the largest youth football clubs in Cambridgeshire. It is a charter standard community club and provides youth football from the ages of 7 to 17 for boys and girls. The under 7, 8,9,10 and mini 11 age group play in the Huntingdon Mini Soccer league. This league is non competitive and played under the FA guidelines that mini soccer should emphasise fun. The girl’s team play in the S-Tech Cambridge girl’s league. The under 11’s through to the oldest age group Under 17’s play in the Cambridge & District Colts League. All the teams play at Priory Park in St Neots and the club is affiliated to the Huntingdonshire FA. Gary Smith Manager of the U12B Priory Parkside Colts said “We hope to repay Tensors’ sponsorship by winning as many games as possible” Priory U12B was formed from the mini soccer school run on a Saturday morning at Priory Park where the boys enjoyed playing football together. Most of the boys have been together since 2005 with four new lads joining this year. Last season the boys had a very successful time winning 17 league matches drawing 2 and only loosing 3 so the Boys came third in the league. So they have been promoted to A division for this season. During the summer months we have played in tournaments three times going through to the semi finals but at priory parksides own tournament we were the 2009 winners all the way.

The black-tie event for this year’s awards took place on Friday November 7, 2008 at the Burgess Hall in St Ives. The evening was compèred by BBC TV Look East presenter Stewart White. Tensor won the Innovation Award, sponsored by the Greater Cambridge Partnership for their sub dermal fingerprint technology. Tensor PLC has developed a fingerprint-reading system that can detect whorls, arches and loops through the oil, coal dust or other contaminants that defeat conventional fingerprint-recognition technology. The judges said the company had “demonstrated a new and innovative product that is already having a positive impact on the organisation in terms of new business obtained, as well as a reduction in manufacturing costs. Their approach to innovation has been driven throughout the organisation with an ethos of research and development which remains a top priority for the organisation.”

The sponsored quiz took place in Hail Weston Village Hall on 22nd November.  Over 50 local people took part and we raised exactly £600 for the 30th Anniversary Appeal of the National Children’s Orchestra.The NCO runs five separate age banded orchestras for the most musically talented children in the UK. It is run so that the opportunities are open to all children irrespective of their social or financial background.Further details can be found at the NCO website.