Unsworth Sugden Group

David Wilson North Midlands hosted a magical launch event at its Fernwood Village development in Newark this month. Homehunters were treated to a feast of jacket potatoes, popcorn and candy floss and were dazzeled by the fast hands of magician Trickster John.

The magician and two of his captivated audience!

After months of training, I can now say something I would never have expected to pass my lips, I have completed all 13.2 miles of Leicester’s annual half marathon.

Early training sessions consisted of a pathetic lap of my local park, so after spending hours building up my fitness and stamina, I was excited to join almost 3,000 other marathon hopefuls on a brisk October Sunday morning.

All started well and I (slowly) breezed through the first hour or so, but at mile 10, I soon started to feel the pain. My legs ached like never before and as the course started its uphill journey, I could do nothing but up the volume on my iPod and power through.

I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 28 minutes, full of excitement, knowing that I had not only accomplished something I never thought I would do, but also raised over £160 for local charity LOROS.

Will my next challenge be the full marathon? Watch this space!

Marina with medal

A £13m development of 80 new affordable family homes in Birstall was recently opened by the Mayor of Charnwood after work by client Westleigh Developments and de Montfort Housing Society, part of the Waterloo Housing Group.

The joint venture between Westleigh’s Partnership Homes division and the housing association, has seen 77 two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and three one-bedroom apartments built on the Hallam Fields development located just off the junction of the A6 and A46, to the north of Leicester.

Dave Toyn from the Unsworth Sugden PR team attended a launch event held on a cold but sunny morning as Councillor Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood, unveiled a stone plaque to commemorate the opening.

Coverage has subsequently been received in the Leicester Mercury and Leicestershire Builder Magazine.

l-r Ian Jones of Westleigh, Margaret Allen (HCA), Ted Carr (de Montfort) and Cllr Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood

A selection of the new affordable homes at Hallam Fields in Birstall

Last week was Energy Saving Week and the PR team was on hand to ensure it didn’t waste an opportunity to gain some client coverage.

Westleigh Developments had recently announced the results of a company incentive scheme which rewards its most efficient company drivers with a prize. Its annual statistics showed a 12% reduction in the amount of fuel used by its employees in the past 12 months which equated to 8,000 litres of fuel.

Taking a typical Westleigh vehicle from its fleet, the PR team put on their thinking caps and calculated that this equated to 87,987 miles - enough fuel to drive around the world three times - and approximately 24 tonnes of CO2 saved.

This resulted in a press release - featured in last Friday’s Leicester Mercury - and photography of Craig Johnson, Environmental and Quality Manager at Westleigh.

Craig Johnson at client Westleigh Developments Ltd

The driving incentive is just one of a number of measures taken by Westleigh as part of its Greenhouse environmental policy, a commitment launched four years ago to becoming an environmentally responsible organisation, through both its administrative and onsite activities. For more information please visit www.westleigh.co.uk.