ISSUE NUMBER 25 — Summer 2011
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PARK GATE— WALKING THE WALK
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21st century “Centurions” Ian Park, Martin Shields, Paul Emmerson , Andy Chambers and Ian Atkinson take a breather on the wall. |
Five people from Park Gate have walked the Hadrian’s Wall footpath, the 84 mile trail from the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend on the East coast, to Bowness on Solway. Ian Atkinson, Andy Chambers, Paul Em-merson, Ian Park and Martin Shields made the trek over the Easter weekend rais-ing around £7,000 in sponsorship money in the process. The team were blessed with beautiful weather but the dreaded blisters and various other foot and leg injuries ensured that it was a real challenge, though everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thanks go to the many people and businesses who sponsored us so generously and also to Princes Soft Drinks who supplied copious amounts of their “Aqua Pura” water, MBLEMwear of Brampton who provided T shirts and the Greyhound Inn at Burgh By Sands who served lunch FOC. Also to Park Gate’s Phil Young and Tony Gillies for logistical support. All of the money raised will go into a fund to help a young boy called George, the son of a Park Gate employee, who has a number of difficult health problems that will require expensive care and equipment as he gets older. The 5 walkers were joined for individual days by Michael Anderson, Robert Park and Jim Macdonald.
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Staff Focus on…..
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David Miller—Breakdown Engineer
David started his apprenticeship at Smith & Co in Carlisle in 1982 as an armature winder. He moved to Park Gate in 1992 and gradually took up the role of site breakdown engineer. Day to day he attends numerous electrical problems mostly related to electric motors and geared motors. Usually he is able to respond to calls without delay and through skill and experi-ence can invariably get to the route of the problem pretty quickly. Old control panels with no drawings are a regular challenge to David who often arrives on site to fix ancient machinery and leaves it with a system running on modern control gear at minimum cost. Electro-mechanical problems and DC or mechanical to AC VSD con-versions are also frequent tasks. Small and medium sized manufacturing and engineering businesses use David to carry out essential and routine maintenance keeping plant running without the expense of a full time electrician. David is married to Marion and lives in the countryside near Thursby in Cumbria. His main hobby is restoring and trial-ling vintage motorcycles, and he keeps a few chickens. If you need the services of an extremely competent electrical breakdown man call David on 07970 264 663. |
David Miller
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| Permanent vibration monitoring |
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In addition to the popular IFM detection ranges Park Gate are selling the innova-tive electronic VK type vibration monitor which monitors online the vibration con-dition of machines. The sensor measures the rms vibration velocity on a non-rotating surface. When an adjustable limit value is exceeded the unit alarms via a switching contact. Also the characteristic value is provided as a 4-20mA signal to input to the process control system. Easy set-up via 2 radial setting rings allows quick setting of the switch point and response delay. A protective cap ensures protection against tampering. For more details contact the Park Gate sales depart-ment manager Sean Thornborrow on 07970 264 661 |
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APPRENTICESHIPS Completed
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Congratulations to George Moscrop and Lee Clark who have both completed their apprenticeships as “electrical winders”. Armature Winders are an increasingly rare breed and Park Gate are very pleased to have produced these two “home grown” exam-ples who have had a long apprenticeship involving specialist training at Loughborough College.
We also welcome back former apprentice Andrew Henderson who is again a Park Gate employee after a couple of years spent travelling and being self-employed. |
Home and Away
Although Park Gate have their roots firmly in Cumbria where the majority of their work is carried out, they have over the past 10 years or so carried out increasing volumes of work in other parts of the UK and abroad.
This year alone has seen Park Gate staff in Nigeria, Pakistan, USA, the Czech Republic and Norway. Park Gate are delighted to have recently won a further order for Nigeria, a large 6-figure contract to build control panels and carry out site installation work at Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC in Lagos.
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Park Gate electrician Andrew Hodgkison
“feeling the heat” on site in Lagos |
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Customer Satisfaction
Thank you to all who responded to our recent survey. We are pleased that the company overall result saw 100% “good” or “excellent” ratings. Each of the 4 departments all gave results that either remained static or improved. Particularly pleasing was the high scores given for “attitude of staff “ which gave between 96% and 100% good or excellent for each department. Company QA advisor Terry Harper was very pleased with the results saying “we know that we are not perfect and we very much welcome the (fortunately) few critical comments that appeared in the survey which helps us to address shortcomings, but overall the results indicate that we getting most things right”. |
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Staff Snippets
Congratulations to 3 Park Gate people on recent births. Jamie Messenger and Aileen had their first child, a daughter Lily Iris in February. In April Shaun Bell and Lyn welcomed into the world their first child, a son Connor Duncan, and Michael Anderson and Jenny welcomed the addition of a daughter Jemima to their family. |
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Issued by Park Gate and Company Ltd, 87 Kingstown Broadway, Kingstown Industrial Estate Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 0HA |
