Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Absolute Comment On Opening Of New Community Training Hub
Absolute, a Chelmsford-based sales and marketing
company were interested to hear recently of the opening of one of the first
facilities in Essex to give access to free services and training opportunities.
Simon Burns, Minister of State for Health and MP for Chelmsford, officially
opened the Parkside Community Hub in Melbourne Avenue, Chelmsford. The facility
is a former NHS clinic which has been refurbished by Chelmsford-based housing
association CHP to provide residents with an IT training suite, a kitchen,
creche and a communal garden. The community hub is also accessible for people
with a disability.
Our source at Absolute said, “We're really excited
to see this facility opening. It's a really great resource which will help a
lot of people to get access to training that they might otherwise not have had.
It will be really well received in the community.”
Working with organisations including JobCentre
Plus, the Citizens Advice Bureau, Adult Community Learning, Voluntary Sector
Training, Women’s Aid, Chelmsford City Council and Essex Police, the hub aims
to improve the lives of residents.
Debbie Willson, the hub’s manager, said: “We’re
delighted to have officially launched Parkside Community Hub, which offers a
different approach to tackling social and financial problems. The Hub provides
free services and is primarily aimed at getting people involved in training so
they have the confidence and skills to make long-term changes to their
lifestyle.”
“It's so important for people in the community to
have a place like this,” said our source at Absolute, “It can really boost the
morale of young people and the unemployed to be able to increase their
opportunities by using services like these.”
It is hoped the facility will help people increase
skills and qualifications. During school holidays, it will also offer
activities and events for young people. Part of CHP’s £10million project, which
also saw the regeneration of Parkside Court, the Parkside Community Hub was
part-funded by the Government’s Investing in Communities programme.
Absolute Comment On Plaque Unveiled For Victorian Architect
Absolute, a Chelmsford-based sales and
marketing company, were interested to hear recently that a permanent reminder
of an accomplished architect who helped build part of Chelmsford has been put
up. James Fenton was responsible for laying out nine buildings in New London
Road. Mr Fenton, who died in 1875, was also responsible for the road’s cemetery
and he implemented the town’s infrastructure of mains water and sewerage. Many
of his remaining buildings are protected as listed buildings or through
inclusion within designated conservation areas.
Our source at Absolute said, “James Fenton
is definitely deserving of the honour. So much of the city’s infrastructure is
down to his work, and he’s a really important figure in the history of
Chelmsford.”
Chelmsford Council has unveiled its first
commemorative blue plaque for five years. Mayor Bob Shepherd unveiled the 15th
plaque in the series at the Chelmsford social club, in New London Road, which
Mr Fenton designed and lived in between 1846 and 1857. The blue plaque honour,
run by the council, began in 1986 to commemorate people of significance to the
city.
Mr
Shepherd said: “I am immensely proud to unveil this plaque in memory of someone
who helped create the Victorian framework of modern Chelmsford and who I hope
would be very proud himself of our new city status.”
Christopher Kingsley, councillor
responsible for parks and heritage, said: “I was very pleased the council’s
cabinet agreed to continue the blue plaque scheme, with one for James Fenton. He
certainly fulfils our strict criteria and is an illustrious figure in the
history of Chelmsford.”
“We’re really pleased at the mark of
respect received by Mr Fenton,” said our source at Absolute, “It will hopefully
inspire some people to look into the contributions he made to the city, and
learn a bit more about their local history.”
Mr Fenton was born in Reading in 1805, and
set up an architect’s practice in Chelmsford in 1830.
He specialised in workhouses and, later,
non-conformist chapels, and was part of a consortium of five businessmen who
laid out and developed New London Road. In 1850 he was appointed surveyor to
the newly-formed Chelmsford Local Board of Health, planning and executing a
major water supply and sewage system for the town – greatly improving health
and sanitation.
Mr Fenton is buried in the non-conformist
cemetery in New London Road.
Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted Absolute Client Services comments
Two British men who have been totally blind for many years
have had part of their vision restored after surgery to fit pioneering eye
implants. When asked to comment a source close to the team at Absolute Client Services said “This is amazing words fail to express how absolutely amazing the
electronic retina is. To have vision restored after being blind for so long
brings a lot of hope to blind people throughout the world.” The surgery involves
placing the square microelectronic chip behind the retina from where a fine cable runs to a control unit under
the skin behind the ear. They are able to perceive light and even some shapes
from the devices which were fitted behind the retina. The two patients, Chris James and
Robin Millar, lost their vision due to a condition known as retinitis
pigmentosa, where the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually
cease to function.
Professor
MacLaren, who fitted the first implant in the UK at the Oxford Eye Hospital,
said “It's the first time that British patients who were completely blind have
been able to see something. In previous studies of restorative vision involving
stem cells and other treatments, patients always had some residual sight.” When
light enters the eye and reaches the chip it stimulates the pixels which send
electronic signals to the optic nerve and from there to the brain. The chip can
have its sensitivity altered via an external power unit which connects to the
chip via a magnetic disc on the scalp. “Great discoveries like this happen but only
once or twice in a year one that truly leave the general public speechless. This
is one of those moments. It is overwhelming to think that this small microchip
can bring so much happiness to blind sufferers.” said the managing director of Absolute
Client Services.
Prof MacLaren said the results might not seem extraordinary
to the sighted, but for a totally blind person to be able to orientate
themselves in a room, and perhaps know where the doors and windows are, would
be "extremely useful" and of practical help. “We
at Absolute Client Services are at a loss for words great enough to express how
appreciated this discovery will be. With 20/20 vision I have never really
thought of the prospect of ever being blind. To be giving the hope to see some
of the beauty that graces our world to those living for so long in the dark is
just simply amazing.”
Monday, 28 May 2012
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Friday, 25 May 2012
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