Welcome to The Circular magazine. We would like to take this opportunity to wish both our readers and Advertisers a Very Prosperous New Year, from all the team here at The Circular magazine.

This January As ever we have lots of content for you, from Chris Batten CEO of Ipatter giving a few tips on making the most of social media, Work, Rest & Play, Travel advice by Mark Brosche and much more. Don’t forget about our puzzle page too, with the chance to win an engraved diamond paper weight courtesy of MBS Awards & Engraving.

This month our business spotlight is MBS Awards & Engraving who are pleased to announce that they have a new Owner please check out the article.

Not only do we focus on helping local business, as always we are also supporting charities. We like to help and spread the word about those in need, see how you can support. This month we are featuring various important Charities.

As this is our first magazine of the year, we now must look to 2012 with a very positive outlook. We have restructured our magazines and will now be delivering on a Bimonthly basis. If you have products or services that you would like to advertise in 2012, please Contact us here at The Circular magazine to see what we can offer your business.

We want to help push local business into the foreground, as well as provide other services too, give us a call and see how The Circular can make a difference.

Happy NEW Year!!!!

Scott

Prepare, Plan & Prepare

In our partnership we remind our clients of Henry Ford’s statement: “Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success”. If you find yourself with some precious slow time in your business, I recommend you fill it with preparation, planning and preparation. FIrstly prepare to plan, then plan, then prepare to implement the plan.

Prepare to plan – Ask yourself How, Where, Who, What, Why and When questions about your business as it is. These will unlock new ideas for what you would like to do next. Plan – work these new ideas into a plan which matches your personal exit strategy (not got an exit strategy? how do you know what you want your business to provide for you?). Prepare to implement the plan – a SWOT analysis should do here – assess the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, then go back to How, Where, Who, What, Why and When to make the plan work.

Now you know what you want to do when the rest of the world wakes up from their winter slumber.

David Bridge
Mayfair Capital Planning
07515 851573

Time For New Vision
There’s always a time of reflection as we let go of one year and approach another with renewed hope, hopefully some wisdom gained, and a vision for how the next year of our one wild and precious life can be. My lovely friend and spiritual mentor, Gill Edwards, died in 2011, and didn’t know her last Christmas would be her last Christmas. How would you live this coming year if it was your last, and best ever? What would you change?

How was 2011 for you? Many say it’s been a tough year. 2012 stands boldly before us, predicted by some to be the end of civilization as we know it, but others say it is the beginning of the new age of Enlightenment. I prefer to believe that. The Buddha once said ‘You will know Enlightenment when it tastes of freedom’. I like that! So I have a question for you – in order for you to have a lighter and enlightened year ahead, what do you have to do differently? What do you need to start doing to have your best year yet? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to do more of? What do you need to do less of? And what will be the result of doing, or not doing, all of that? Jump forward to New Year’s Eve 2012 and look back on the GREAT year you will have had, and feel really good as you do. Test out your vision ahead of time – see if it’s a vision worth having, a life worth living! Ensure there’s oodles of fun and freedom built in, meaning and purpose, and of course LOVE. Make time for all that’s important to you.

Until next time – here’s to your inspired, healthy and happy year, laden with great dollops of luurve, and a whole lot of fun too!

Kath
International Success Psychologist Kath Temple is an entrepreneur and social entrepreneur. She runs Happiness Events and The Happiness Foundation, and brings the joy back into business, and into people’s lives.

KATH TEMPLE
The Happiness & Success Psychologist
01502 562162
The Lifelong Learning Company
kath@lifelonglearningcompany.com

Start The Year Fresh!
Well here we are in 2012 the year of the Olympics and no doubt some of you will have the desire to win your own Gold medal, and start the month of exercise, and no doubt after a month some of you will give up because you have either over done it, injured yourself or just got bored.

So let’s start with the basics you DONT have to immediately join a Gym and kill yourself trying to look like Arnie or in the case of the ladies some super slim model, start slow, but first put the building blocks in place. Do drink more water, it will hydrate muscles, it will flush out your system of toxins and it will refresh you. Cut out some of the Coffee and replace it with a glass of water.

Think of joints and ligaments as elastic if they dry up, they rip apart a lot easier than if they are lubricated and stretched. PLEASE WARM UP! First stretch the muscles, don’t go from cold to a hundred miles an hour or you will be paying a call in A&E on the way through.

15 minutes of exercise a day will help, you have things around the house you can use. And I know its cold, but a walk is a great exercise, swimming is good if you are just starting up again. If you decide that running is for you don’t hit the pavements first. A jog is ok but start on grass, concrete is unforgiving don’t run a mile in those new trainers get use to them slowly,be kind to your feet, they won’t be any use full of blisters.

Just remember starting slow and building up to something is a lot better than going off from a cannon and landing in a heap on the ground, give it a few months of building up slow and then you can do the Gym and make sure that you take it steady and get help and advice about what you should and should not do.

Steve Kirby
FTST(Dip) ITEC SMA Level 4
Sports and Occupational Injury practitioner
Get Fit Stay Fit 01603 211570

2011 brought many successful sales but I also had plenty of offers on properties where the buyer was in a good position either because they had cash, were in rented or had nothing to sell. You would think, great, a simple straight forward sale. Wrong; sometimes it was impossible to bring these deals together and the ‘hot’ buyers escaped, leaving the seller without a sale. This is not good. Not good for anyone involved including the agent. It is frustrating when a sale won’t knit together because inflexibility is shown on both sides and I found this mainly where the seller had hung onto a fixed price and found it hard to move away from even at the expense of losing a buyer.

Here’s the thing, no one knows what is going to happen to the housing market, the most experienced agents, economists and even clairvoyants are not going to be able to predict the foreseeable house prices. Therefore, I say, let’s work with what we have got. Set yourself a goal but be practical. If you come across a buyer with power then turn it into a positive and make it rollover onto your on-going purchase. After all, it’s not like the money was ever banked, it was always speculation on a property value, so it’s got to be easier to give away! It’s like, giving it away to get you into your next property.

This is what I talk to my sellers about, however hard it is, this is the brutal truth of our economy, so make it work by accepting it and getting on with it. We Brits love a queue and a stiff upper lip, now is the time to be a realistic seller, accept the reality, apply some grit and get your property SOLD.
Best wishes
Yvonne Astley

For Sale in January

Little Plumstead – £450000

Dussindale – £285,000

Thorpe St Andrew – £239,950

Little Plumstead  - £184,950

Dussindale – £174,950

Thorpe St Andrew – £335,000

He wasn’t the first person to think about “Model Villages” though, as they had been started by such local people as Walpole at Houghton and Coke of Holkham. Many estates had already repositioned their villages away from the big house and, in so doing, had built more picturesque and better houses for their workers. Houghton estate was re-modeled from the 1720’s and this involved the demolition of the village and new cottages being built on the approach road from Harpley. Holkham was similarly landscaped and new cottages for the estate workers, built out of sight of the Hall.Thorpe End was developed in the 1930s as a “Garden Village”, based on the idea pioneered by Ebenezer Howard during the early years of the C20th, with “Garden Cities” in the area around London.

Towards the end of the C19th, several entrepreneurs had built villages for their workers with Port Sunlight and Bournville being well known examples. The new slant with this twentieth century, local “garden village”, was that the houses were to be built by separate people, not one major landowner or developer. With these new settlements, each person could buy a plot and develop it how he wished, with some stipulations. These new communities were often given the name of “Garden Cities” and Thorpe End was often called Thorpe End Garden Village.

Percy and Leonard Howes knew a good little earner when they saw one and bought a site of 90 acres straddling the Plumstead Road. The density was to be no more than three to the acre and, to allow the development to appear less planned, the design of houses were not stipulated, (they were kept under strict supervision). “Mellow” bricks and thatched roofs were encouraged and there were very wide verges, lots of trees and plenty of open spaces.

In 1937, we see the inhabitants mentioned in the Directory entry for Great & Little Plumstead, I wonder how many of these houses are still there and still known by their original names and are any of the houses still in the ownership of the original purchasers?

• John Archer, Thorpe Lodge
• Ernest Frederick Bacon, St Margarets
• James Thomas Burrows, Virginia
• Harold Lindsey Buzzard, West-wending
• Ralph Clements, Woodford
• Sydney George Collett, Sunnydale
• Albert Edward Sidney Cowell, Mousehold Farmhouse
• Sidney Thomas Cowell, The Oaks
• Ralph Daykin, The Boulevard
• Charles Francis Driver, Marley House
• Eric William Fakes, Tudor House
• Leonard Arthur Howes, Dial House
• Frederick William Ireland, St Patricks
• Arthur George Kirby, Midway
• John William Larke, Bramcote,
• Thomas B Ling, La Danseuse
• Thomas Alexander McDowall, Swainsthorpe
• John James Palfrey, Oakhurst
• Wilfred James Paull, Braybrook
• Stuart Saunders, Dinard
• Wilfred George Scales, Bradda
• Mrs M A Sutton, Norton House
• George Wilde, Charnwood

There were also some trades in Thorpe End in 1937;

• Mrs Gertrude Clarke was a fruiterer
• Sidney Thomas Cowell was a farmer at Heath Farm
• Charles C Daniels was a newsagent
• Walter R Helps was a grocer and on the telephone on Thorpe 353
• Thorpe End Service Station, motor engineers, was run by W & G Pointer and their telephone number was Thorpe 369
• Worts Plumstead, builders were at The Shrubberies and telephone number Thorpe 51

www.norfolk-tours.co.uk
Contact me on 01362 860096 or at glynn@norfolk-tours.co.uk

New Owner at MBS Awards & Engraving

An established and successful business of 31 years, MBS Awards and Engraving, produces high quality goods and awards especially for your needs. From corporate & sporting awards, to personalised gifts and glassware and quality promotional gifts, MBS has everything you or your business could need, From a vast range of awards available, to unique personal gift ideas and the chance to establish your corporate identity via the promotional gift services.

Founded in 1980 by Mike Bence, the company has been moulded into what it is today, with his professional manner, high standards and ethics and a great reputation in business. Here at the Circular we are pleased to announce that, as from 1st January 2012, Mike has handed over the “engraving diamond” to a new owner and semi-retire, running the promotional gift division of the business.

The new owner of MBS Awards & Engraving is Scott Aldridge, a man of great principal and determination. With a working relationship, Mike has known Scott as a customer for 14 years and had the pleasure of working with each other for a little over one year. These are exciting times for MBS, with a younger and fresh approach, along with ambitious plans, to steer MBS Awards & Engraving into a new market, whilst continuing to uphold the great reputation MBS has earned over the years, with quality and service being of utmost importance. MBS hopes to broaden their horizon, aiming to take on the digital age and utilise the internet to open the door to a range of new possibilities for MBS and its clientele, whilst still upholding the level of service and quality their existing customers already benefit from.

While these big changes are taking place, lots of things are staying the same, with all of the same staff retained and trading under the same name and roof. Mike shall continue to own and run MBS Promotional Gifts from Unit 1 Kingsway, whilst MBS Awards & Engraving is under new management. Forwards and upwards is where MBS is heading, so make sure you come on down and have a look at the glorious showroom and see what MBS has to offer you.

“Business as usual.”

T: 01603 616090

E: info@mbsdirect.co.uk
W: www.mbsdirect.co.uk

Email – csbnash@gmail.com

Web – www.yourjewellereyparty.com

A chance meeting is pretty much how this all began. It was a wet and windy Saturday in September, I was selling my wares at an outdoor fair, when Caroline came to have a look, and liking what she saw ask for some of my work for her shop in Blofield. A conversation started and after explaining that I had just graduated with a textile degree and wanted to run workshops, a seed was sown. Fast forward a month and Caroline calls to say she was taking over a shop in Aylsham that had room for

workshops. Phone calls and emails then ensued to find others, who are passionate about arts and craft and would like to run and attend workshops. Both Caroline and I are dedicated to keeping the tradition of handmade alive, and both keen to recycle rather than rush to buy new.

I specialise in patchwork and quilting, using fabric that in a former existence had belonged to a family member or friend. The tradition of patchwork fascinates me. A family with nothing needing warm covers to sleep under; fabric was cut and reuses to create a functional item, but done so in such a way it became a thing of beauty. This is a concept that we want to share with all who attend our classes. It need not cost the earth (literally) to create wonderful handmade treasures.

We are very excited by the classes we have for January and February, and are now in the process of booking tutors for the spring. We will also be running a monthly Come and Yarn day. A day for knitters, crocheters, and all yarn related crafters to meet for a ‘yarn’ and lunch at The Old Tea Rooms, who have kindly agreed a discount for the ladies attending our workshops.

Due to its relatively small size (around 122 sq miles), you are always close to the sea in Malta .The north of the island offers a few stretches of wide golden sandy beaches. Mellieha Bay is a popular family favourite with its numerous cafes and snack bars. Why not hire a pedalo or try a spot of parasailing while you are there. Golden Bay and the adjacent Ghajn Tuffieha with its fantastic hilltop views are also popular beaches to visit.

A holiday to Malta wouldn’t be complete without visiting the famous Blue Grotto. This series of caverns on the rocky southwest coastline are entered by boat through an immense cave in the rock face. Best visited in the morning before the crowds arrive, the beautiful cobalt waters sparkle in the reflecting sunlight and should not be missed.

Always of strategic importance, Malta has been settled by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Knights of St John and the British at various points throughout its history. The Island boasts 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Places to visit include the Megalithic Temples of Malta, some of the oldest in the world! Or Fort Rinella, where you can join daily tours by volunteers dressed in 19th Century British Uniform. Wander the streets of ancient Mdina, a medieval walled town in the centre of Malta, or visit the island’s capital Valletta. Why not hire a car or take a short ferry ride to the nearby Island of Gozo.

The crystal clear blue waters around Malta offer plenty of diving opportunities and an amazing choice of wrecks and caves to suit all levels. Golfers should try out the Royal Malta Golf Club, established in 1888 it is one of the oldest outside the UK.

Malta has a large selection of hotels, apartments and villas to suit all budgets and needs. Some hotels also offer a dine around option which allows you to sample a different local restaurant each evening. An ideal way to try the varied cuisine available in Malta.

With so much on offer, Malta could be your ideal destination for a holiday in 2012!

If you have any questions, please contact Mark on the following:

Tel: 0845 680 5096
Email: mark@travelwide.co.uk
Website: www.travelwide.co.uk

Chris Batten CEO of marketing platform ipatter talks about the importance of publishing the right content.
You may, as I do, have many different customer personas to work with. The beauty of looking at your buyers in this way is you increase the value of your marketing by taking into account those personas and constructing a series of messages suitable for each one and driving them all into the buying process using messages which work for them on an individual basis. Within this is the need to understand people, make decisions in different ways and your messages should take this into account wherever possible. This level of care and attention to different personality types is not possible using standard interruption techniques.

Tip 1 – Know, I mean really know, your buyers
If you’re going to use social media as part of your marketing strategy then it’s really important to know who is reading your material and who is visiting your website. When you really know the buyers who are most interested in your offerings, you can start to design a set of typical customer profiles. These will help you to understand what it is your buyers are really interested in, what is going to motivate them and the kind of things to grab their attention and motivate the right kind of action from them. It will help you to design your content to match their expectations.

I work to and along with, the general differences of my client’s identified personas I also take account of other differences such as ensuring the landing pages have the big picture view for one personality type but with a very obvious link which navigates to a much more detailed view for those who are motivated by detail and the small print.

Tip 2 – Be your own publisher, think content strategy
Buyers today don’t want product hype and spin, they need quality information and good quality content delivered to them in the right place at the right time using the right language for them. The quality of the content is all important as it helps in the development of your brand as a leader in the market in which you operate. Your content should inform and at the same time create an environment to promote sales through its validity and quality.
Think like a professional sales person, in other words think about dealing with the buyers problems and the possible solutions rather than the obvious pitch for your product or services. Think about who your readers are and what it is they will want to be reading and then simply deliver it to them.

Tip 3 – Thinking about content, think goals
It is so important when you’re planning your content strategy or indeed writing the content, that you think about your goal. What is it you want to achieve with this content? What actions do you want people to take as a result of reading the content? Use the same principles you would for presenting directly to an audience, in other words, make sure your content gives a clear message they are going to understand and also leaves them knowing the action you want them to take as a result of the encounter.

Tip 4 – Demonstrate your leadership through your content
Don’t just sell something. Use your content to demonstrate you’re a leader in your field, not just with your Web content but through all of your online marketing content. Show the outside world you are worth listening to and you know what you’re talking about when it comes to your market place. Seek to become a bit of a celebrity in your arena, or if you can’t do that, at least be seen to have an association with others who are already seen that way.

Tip 5 – Be the one they trust the most
If you’re online because you want to sell something; a product, a service or you want to generate leads or maybe get some kind of contribution. What all these objectives have in common is the need for buy-in from the prospect you are communicating to. When looking at online marketing the best way to achieve these goals is to have a good content strategy to get the message, to the right people at the right time, in the right way. You should be using a combination of activities and experiment with more than one thing at a time, keep those activities which work and drop those that don’t.

A word of warning about dropping those activities that don’t work. Remember you need to give them the right amount of time to work so, be patient. Understand the flash to bang time! Also consider, in some cases, timing might have an impact on success. So, perhaps, in some cases you might want to just cease the activity for a while and bring it back into play when the time is right.

All the best
CB

This December we are helping local company Photostatic celebrate 30yrs of providing excellent products and services to its loyal customer base. As ever we have lots of content for you, from Thinking outside the box, Norwich Laptop repairs, Work, Rest & Play, Gardening advice by Darren Mellor and much more. Don’t forget about our puzzle page too, with the chance for a meal for two at our pub spotlight, The Kings Head…

Each month we sponsor a pub to encourage our readership to maybe pay them a visit. Our Pub spotlight for December is The Kings Head in the village of Bawburgh. This Pub is about 5 miles west of Norwich city centre.

This month our business spotlight is Norfolk Will Writing Services Ltd

Not only do we focus on helping local business, as always we are also supporting charities. We like to help and spread the word about those in need, see how you can support. This month we are featuring Trek for Big C – Stevie Spencer is Walking the Great wall of China over 5 Days, for Big C.

As this is our last magazine of the year, we now must turn our attention to 2012, if you have products or services that you would like to advertise in New Year, please Contact us here at The Circular magazine to see what we can offer your business.

We want to help push local business into the foreground, as well as provide other services too, give us a call and see how The Circular can make a difference.

Scott

Anyway, did you sell your house this year? Was it painful or painless? What about next year, any plans to go on the market?

I often overhear conversations about when the market will pick up? And I wonder what people really mean by this. Is it automatic that after a bust there is a boom? Because in this current trend I can’t see any booming or any more busting just stagnating. This can be painful to some because I see a lot of ‘deliberating’ as sellers wonder what to do.

Here’s the thing…No one individual or group, or estate agent or economist or anyone in particular can judge just what is going to happen to the housing market, for anything longer than a year or two. It is a mystery, because did anyone really foretell the world wide predicament we find ourselves in today? If so, security procedures would have been put in place to prevent the catastrophe it caused.

So what to do? My advice is put your house on the market at a realistic price. Don’t wait, why wait? If you feel you would like to move then I say just do it! If everyone ignores the negative press and aims to sell at a sensible level then it will work both ways, up and down the chain. It gives our youngsters a chance to get on the housing ladder which can only be a good thing. Its momentum the housing market needs because waiting brings stagnation. For every house that is sold in the country, it creates 3 to 4 jobs, now that can’t be bad.

So if you feel you want to move house, down size or upsize, there is never a good or bad time. I reckon don’t let the world economies hold us back in Norfolk! Get Yourself Moving Home in 2012.

Happy New Year to you all.

Best wishes
Yvonne Astley

For Sale in December

Little Plumstead – £450000

Dussindale – £285000

Old Catton – £189950

Laundry Close – £335000

Dussindale -£179950