World Mental Health Day

Today is World Mental Health Day and this year’s topic is suicide prevention. Prevention is something we can all help with by being aware and supportive to those around us. A short conversation with someone can really make a difference to how they are feeling.

Being aware of changes in behaviour, such as social withdrawal and excessive quietness/loudness, can highlight how an individual may be feeling and being aware of their coping mechanisms can help you to help them. This may be simple things such as making them a cup of tea, giving them space or simply distracting them with a brief conversation.

At MID Communications we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our employees. We have monthly 121 conversations between employees and their line manager, which are an opportunity for employees to highlight how they are feeling both at work and personally. From these conversations, line managers can support them appropriately and it helps to build a strong employee-manager relationship so employees can feel comfortable approaching their line manager with any issues, no matter how big or small.

A team of Wellbeing Champions were introduced in February to provide another form of support for our employees with their mental health and wellbeing. Our Wellbeing Champions are there for when employees feel they want to discuss any problems and our champions are there to signpost them to relevant services, should the employees feel that would be beneficial. These conversations will remain private and confidential, unless the champion considers the issues discussed to be particularly concerning, then they must contact the HR department who will support the individual appropriately. Since being in role, the champions have been approached on numerous occasions and feedback from our employees has been extremely positive.

Mental Health and Wellbeing is important to us at MID Communications and we are always looking for ways in which we can further support our employees to try and break the stigma within our workplace.

The CEO Files: Forever Manchester Ambassador

Successful 2018 for our HR Director

Earlier this year I wrote a blog on talent spotting and the importance of surrounding yourself with good people, with the focus being on the wonderful Jenn Hulme becoming our first non-executive board member. I’ve now got an exciting update on her involvement with Forever Manchester.

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We’re now ten months down the line and Jenn is doing a magnificent job in her role as HR Director, looking after the development and wellbeing of our MID Commers as well as taking the Finance and stores performance arms of the business under her stewardship. It’s been a fantastic year for Jenn, also achieving Chartered Fellow status from the CIPD. She just doesn’t stop!

Forever Manchester Ambassador

At the start of this year, MID Communications became an official business partner for Forever Manchester, a fantastic charity that supports the community of Greater Manchester that we live and work in. We have enjoyed working with the guys over at Forever Manchester, supporting them at the fantastic events they put on such as their annual birthday party, where we’ll be sponsoring the photo booth in 2019.

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I’m now proud to say that Jenn Hulme has become an official Forever Manchester Ambassador. When MID Comms became a partner in January I asked Jenn to be the one who manages our relationship with the charity, bringing her care for people to the table. Having been born, raised and educated in Greater Manchester as well as working in this great region, she’s the perfect woman for the job.

Jenn said: “I love Manchester having made my life and brought my family up here. I think that being in the position I am in it’s so important to take the opportunity to give something back to the community. At MID Comms we always aim to work closely with local charities and initiatives. Manchester is a special city and I’m extremely proud to be an ambassador for Forever Manchester”

We look forward now to working even more with Forever Manchester in 2019 to support our local community. As Jenn mentioned, Manchester is a special place and I think that it’s our job to continue that legacy.

Thank you for reading this edition of The CEO Files, until next time…

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Giving the gift of Christmas in 2017

Making a difference with Manchester

I hate knowing that children will not have a Christmas! At MID Communications and alongside Cash For Kids, work tirelessly to improve Christmas every year, with an amazing bunch of people to help reduce poverty right across Greater Manchester and the North West.

We have built this over the years to be the biggest toy appeal in the UK!

Why do we support Mission Christmas with Cash for Kids?

Because we always want to help more children every single year, as 1 in 4 children live in poverty.

Christmas is all about spending time with friends and families and sharing experiences full of laughs, smiles and enjoyment. A quarter of our children across Greater Manchester and throughout the North West do not get to enjoy the festive period like the majority. At MID Communications, we love to put smiles on the faces of these children and will continue to support this fast growing cause that is doing everything to try and remove poverty from our communities.

The Mission Christmas VR Experience

As part of Cash for Kids Mission Christmas, we visited the children’s hospice Francis House in Didsbury, Manchester along with Key 103 to surprise kids under their care and their siblings in the run up to Christmas. Francis House helps families of children with life limited conditions. Christmas is a special time for all the families to create amazing memories together however it can sometimes be interrupted by unexpected visits to the hospital. Key 103 Cash for Kids Mission Christmas asks you to buy one extra present this Christmas for a disadvantaged child living in Greater Manchester and help put a smiles on their face this Christmas.

A quick message from Key 103:

Huge THANK YOU to O2 Franshise, MID Communications for help making this possible by providing all the latest virtual reality technology. More information about Mission Christmas can be found at key103.co.uk/mission.

How do we contribute to helping this fantastic cause?

Helping to raise money and donate by hosting events across all of our communities, fundraising and working tirelessly with our partners.
We also encourage shoppers buy an extra gift and drop it off at any of any one our stores or any other drop off point.
Volunteer your time, become a drop-off point.

Make it simple and inspiring others to help. An easier way is sending a text to donate.

I tried to inspire people on the night by saying ” Helping this cause doesn’t have to cost anything, but YOUR TIME. We know time is the most expensive currency, that’s why we value you and yours…”

Please help myself and our teamsat MID Communications give a little more this Christmas and help make a difference with us and the rest of Manchester.

Silkmen Denied Victory From Club Sponsors

Silkmen Denied Victory In Controversial Style

Macclesfield Town was denied victory in controversial style this afternoon at the annual cricket match against the club sponsors, due to a strong performance from MID Communications key man Martyn Barrow

The Silkmen took to the field during the first innings and took the initiative as early as the first over when the first wicket fell.

After three overs, the sponsors were struggling to deal with the strong bowling attack and were 1-1 in a baking hot afternoon at Victoria Road.

After some “unique” bowling from Scott Wilson, Martyn Barrow from O2 Franchise MID Communications salvaged some pride for the sponsors by smashing countless balls over the boundary for six.

Keith Lowe made some fine catches in the deep to dispose of two batsmen in the same over as the total crept over the 100 marks.

Macclesfield Town FC Cricket Team 2017

Barrow finally was forced to retire since he had scored too many runs as the sponsors posted a respectable total of 142.

Sir John put in a solid performance with some great shots before Don McCarthy dismissed him with a slower ball which had the Gaffer caught up in knots. The very next ball Mitch Hancox was dismissed leaving McCarthy on a hat-trick at 32-3.

Danny Simpson CEO of MID Communications Commented on Martyn Barrow’s Performance by saying ” I am not surprised by Martyns recognotion showing his Efforts, he loves sport, and always puts 150% into anything he does. He loves to win and has a desire to be the best both in and out of work, so it’s no surprise to see him stand out, for performance here.”

” Well done Martyn and I am devastated I missed what sounded like a great game, but I got a great picture of how it played out thanks to the Macclesfield Town Unofficial news page, which always puts out great content, so thanks to them for sharing great content for all to read “

A truly great game with lots more exciting moments. To get the full coverage and detail of this story please follow the link to Macc Town Unofficial Website.

Special thanks to them and columnist Rob Trafford who wrote and provided most of our content from the full story above.

MID Communications CEO, Danny Simpson, feeling good about the new Stakehill Head Office

MID Communications CEO, Danny Simpson, feeling good about the new Head Office.

We made a brilliant leap forward with our new Home and Head Office, Link House.

We are nearly ready to move into our new head office, Link House, on Stakehill Industrial Estate. This week in preparation for our completion of the top floor, we held a business event for the local businesses on Stakehill.

We invited all the local businesses from the estate, along with Rochdale council, and Rochdale development agency.

We had some amazing support from Carol Hopkins and her team, so huge thanks to them for their support.

The event was led by Emma Robinson who is a project officer for the Rochdale Development Agency. It was a great breakfast event which had a solid turn out for its first time.

We had a fantastic range of speakers which included Manchester Transport to the towns CCTV management and Northwest Highways, all speaking about the positive changes proposed for Stakehill.

We also spoke about the exciting upcoming Rochdale Business Awards, which are now open for nominations, especially the retailer of the year category.

This is our award category we have constructed this year for Rochdale’s independent retailers to shout about how amazing they really are.

Please look at the categories here and get your application in, a great opportunity for any business to showcase your business and your amazing people.

It was great to host this in our newly constructed Training room when we complete we will be offering out to local businesses on the estate to use for free. This is a great meeting or training facility, to help support local businesses.

Official Opening Coming Soon.

I am excited to host our official opening of the building sometime in August, as we attempt to bring a host of the Boroughs networking groups together to meet each other to make more new connections.

A few to mention who have shown their support early for the event already are, Rochdale football club business club, Oldham Business 100, Rochdale Development Agency, Rochdale Council, The Rochdale Ambassadors, with social media partners #rochdalehour.

I am proud to confirm Newly Elected MP Tony Lloyd attendance, along with the New Mayor of Rochdale.

It is so exciting, and fantastic to have such great support locally, this shows again that Rochdale’s public and private sectors along with local politician are all supporting new growth and businesses in Rochdale.

This is great to see, the town really does start to come alive with a whole host of positive events to come.

For more information please continue to follow our web site, and sign up for our newsletter, or follow us on social media.witter

Twitter: @MIDComms2
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