FGH NEWS

2014: Major Contract Wins, Sporting Success, Multiple Awards & Growth

This year has been a fantastic year for FGH security. Here are some of our highlights:

Spring

March saw us winning the Commitment to Skills Award at the Red Rose Business Awards. The award recognised our ongoing commitment to training our staff to the highest possible standards and encouragement of personal development. It also saw us providing the security for gratis to the Lancaster Round Table for their annual Beer Festival, helping them raise a record breaking £20,000 for good causes. This month ushered in the end of the 2013/14 financial year; we grew by a record 27% thanks to the hard work of everyone throughout the company.

In April we launched our new website as part of an overall strategic marketing development plan and refined our branding further to reflect the quality that we are now renowned for in the industry. Continuing our focus on charity we were the headline sponsor for the CancerCare Diamonds and Pearls Spring Ball held at the Midland Hotel. We also provided corporate security for the Manchester Pride Supersonic Event in the Concorde hanger. This Event raised funds for the Manchester Pride Community fund, supporting LGBT and HIV organisations in the Manchester area.

We increased our SIA Approved Contractor Scheme score even further in May by reaching a new total of 156. To put that in perspective it puts us easily within the top 5% (or 38) of SIA Approved security companies in the UK. Our own research shows we are the highest scoring company in the Northwest.

 

Summer

The World Cup began in June and we worked alongside a range of local Constabularies (Lancashire, Cumbria and Manchester) to reduce alcohol related crime during the tournament. June also saw us renewing our comprehensive security management agreement with the Great North Swim. Our events division continued to expand even further and it was also our first year providing the Event Security to Blackpool Pride at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. We also continued our excellent working partnership with Lancaster University Students Union by providing for their end of year Graduation Ball, again in Blackpool at The Tower.

June was also an excellent month for sporting achievement in FGH; we won the Lancaster Brewery Charity “Roll out the Barrel” competition for the second time, finished second in the Lancaster University touch rugby league and also finished second in a touch rugby tournament organised by Lancaster University.

Revolution Lancaster opened its doors again after a huge refurbishment in July. We were pleased to maintain the security provision for a customer who initially started with FGH twelve years ago. As part of our ongoing work with Kendal Calling we also championed the #Tentwatch initiative to reduce crime and help make the festival one of the safest in the country. The festival saw Suede and Example headline this year, it is also one of our largest annual deployments and prior to it Peter Harrison (Managing Director) put together an essential guide-the security operative’s guide to packing for a festival.

We established some fantastic new working partnerships in August, Southport Flower Show chose to work with us. The Flower Show is one of the largest flower shows in Europe and attracted over 80,000 people this year. All attendees were greeted with a warm FGH welcome and our knowledgeable and friendly staff were on hand to help however they could. We also expanded our security guarding division further by beginning to provide to the Marketgate Shopping Centre in Lancaster.

August also saw us providing to Manchester Pride again. Manchester Pride is one of the highlights of our year and a real opportunity for us to demonstrate the calibre of service we offer. The event also presented some unique challenges this year. We maintained our high service standards and allowed all of the people attending Pride to enjoy themselves in a safe, friendly and welcoming environment. The work we did here went on to play a key part in us winning a particular award later on in the year.

 

Autumn

FGH Door Supervision grew further in September as we started working with Dulcima and Electric in Chorlton. September also saw us agreeing sponsorship deals with both Salford University Rugby Union Team and Lancaster University Rugby Union Team. It also saw members of our staff take part in National Fitness Day with a group training session organised by FGH Security. Our Event Security Team started work at Festival No.6 in Wales and enabled our pit security team to be deployed alongside headliners such as Pet Shop Boys, Beck and London Grammar.

Our NSI Gold certification was reconfirmed in October. FGH continues to provide a recognised, quality service to our clients and is seeking to improve even further. This certification not only acts as an assurance to clients and staff but as a guarantee that FGH has been assessed to a rigorous standard.

We received press recognition following on from our successful introduction of body worn CCTV (an initiative developed alongside Lancashire Constabulary) and for the  record breaking number of nominations that we received at the IFSEC Fire and Security Excellence Awards. A number of our staff also took part in the Royal Marines 1,000 press up challenge to help raise funds for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund.

 

Winter

November began with the team growing their customary moustaches as part of Movember in aid of Men’s Health and raising nearly £1000 in the process. It also saw the universal implementation of the Kerveros system within our security guarding division. The system allows for guards to document their movements in real time and collect information digitally in the event of an incident. Chris Peil (FGH-sponsored athlete and one of our longest serving members of staff) flew out to Germany to represent England at the World Kettlebell Championships and came home with a silver medal.

As luck would have it the two rugby union teams we sponsor actually played each other as part of their university league: Lancaster clinched victory in the final few minutes of the match. We provided the event security and marshalling services free of charge for the CancerCare Santa Dash; our staff once again donated all of their wages to the charity. November was capped off in style by us winning Best Event Security Team at the IFSEC Fire and Security Excellence Awards. The Awards are our industry’s version of the Oscars and to win one is one of the highest achievements a security company can reach in the UK. We’ve now won four awards in 5 years.

Finally, December saw us giving a total of £1,000 to four charitable causes in the run up to Christmas. Staff, clients and members of the community were given the option to nominate worthy charities.

As the year now draws to a close we would like to thank each member of staff who has performed professionally, day in day out this year, our clients for continuing to work with us and members of the community and other stakeholders we work with. It is your effort which makes FGH Security one of the UK’s leading manned security providers.

Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2015 is as successful as 2014 has been.

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The support team is passionate about ensuring our people have all the tools they need to get their jobs done to a high level and keep people safe. Our training never stops, and we all take part in ongoing executive education which is themed around Leadership, Lean, Mindfulness and Teamwork.

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