Author Archive

Helmdon Parish Council notice boards, new and old

On the face of it, the image (right) looks like the kind of unremarkable scene that can be witnessed in communities up and down the land. However, dig a little deeper and an interesting snippet of history is revealed.

The board on the right is one of 3 boards recently supplied by Greenbarnes Ltd to Helmdon Parish Council, Northamptonshire. In itself there is nothing remarkable in that; Greenbarnes Ltd has been supplying local authorities throughout the UK with similar boards for many years. The board on the left however is the first ever Greenbarnes notice board, made in 1990 as a prototype, subsequently donated to the local Parish Council and still going strong 23 years later!

In fact, it was a chance remark about the poor state of the village notice boards overheard by Mike Barnes whilst attending a local Parish Council meeting all those years ago, that first suggested the idea of turning the humble village notice board, previously made on demand by the local carpenter, into a properly considered and detailed product. The rest, as they say, is history!

Nor is the Helmdon board untypical in its longevity. A recent enquiry received from a church in Surrey for a replacement hinge for one of our boards, lead back to Job no 17. To put this in context current job numbers are in the region of 12500. And yes, we still had the details on file and were able to supply the necessary hinge!

New signs and notice boards for St James Church, Piccadilly. Top: Bespoke oak-framed aluminium sign. Bottom: Railing-mounted A-Max notice boards.

Of the thousands of pedestrians who use London’s Piccadilly daily, a fair proportion are no doubt aware of the existence of St James Church, one of over 50 churches rebuilt by Christopher Wren following the Great Fire. However, ask how many are aware of the busy parish life which goes on within the church confines and the proportion shrinks.

In many respects St James, with its churchyard markets, coffee shop and garden is far more obviously active than the majority of city churches, but it was in order to assist in the constant challenge of “getting the message across” that the church turned to Greenbarnes Ltd

Extensive boundaries on both Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, together with high levels of passing traffic, (both pedestrian and vehicular), presented no shortage of opportunity. However, the existing signs and notice boards were reaching the end of their economic life and were deemed too inflexible in layout for current purposes.

Following discussions with Greenbarnes, the solution chosen by Site Manager Finna Ayres was a mixture of glazed display cases from the A-Max range to accommodate the information which changes frequently and bespoke oak-framed sign panels for permanent signage.

The 8 large A-Max boards are railing-mounted along both frontages and provide secure and flexible display space for posters and notices advertising the wealth of activities to be found within. These boards are all ventilated to counter the possibility of condensation, have doors which rise and are supported on gas stays to facilitate the updating of content, and feature concealed locks.

Permanent signs are of bespoke design to echo that of their predecessors, but have oak-framed aluminium panels with computer-cut vinyl lettering ensuring that the inevitable minor alterations, such as the change of an email address, which invariably prove necessary over time, can be accommodated without major effort or expense.

If you feel that Greenbarnes might be able to assist in “getting your message across”, please call us on 01280 701093, or email our Sales team sales@greenbarnes.co.uk . We will be pleased to discuss your requirements and, where appropriate, to provide a no-obligation quotation.

Forest School notice board in Heavy-duty Man-made Timber for Northwood Park Community Group

Continuing the school theme of our last news item, this posting focuses on the subject of our heavy-duty recycled plastic notice boards, an example of which was recently supplied to Northwood Park Community Group (NPCG) for use in a “Forest School” project in Lee, South London.

NPGC grew out of a campaign started by 8 year old Ryan Wells to persuade his local council to clean up and make safe his local park which had become run-down and uninviting. The Forest School area is one small part of what has been achieved in a concerted effort by local residents with assistance from a number of sources including lottery funding. Greenbarnes are pleased to have assist by providing a notice board for the project which is designed to display both permanent and changing information.

Posts and the main frame of the board are manufactured from the company’s Heavy-duty Man-made Timber material, a tough recycled plastic which will not warp, rot, or split and will require no maintenance beyond the occasional scrub down with warm water.

The display area is divided into a glazed lockable section with a steel back panel to accept notices secured by magnets and a digitally printed panel displaying a map and information about the activities in the Forest School area.

For more information on our man-made Timber boards click here, call us on 01280 701093, or email our Sales team sales@greenbarnes.co.uk

School Fun notice boards by Greenbarnes

To the teaching fraternity, the annual proliferation of “back to school” banners currently appearing in shop windows heralds the end of the long summer holiday and, in some cases no doubt, a feeling of deflation.

However, intent on keeping spirits high, Greenbarnes Ltd have introduced a new range of “School Fun” notice boards to bring a splash of colour to primary school and nursery environments.

These come in the form of a 30 mm deep notice board mounted on a decorative 2 mm steel sheet backplate in a choice of 6 animal shapes and 5 colours, Saffron Yellow (RAL1017), Pure Orange (RAL2004), Light Pink (RAL3015), Pastel Turquoise (RAL6034), and Yellow Green (RAL6018).

These wall-mounted notice boards are available in 3 sizes to take 2, 4 or 6 sheets of A4 and are supplied with 4 mm vandal resistant plexichoc glazing and two keys. Being waterproof they may be used indoors or outdoors.

For more information please call us on 01280 701093, or email our Sales Department

Vitrum Poster Case. Available in wall-mounted, post-mounted and monolith versions Vitrum incorporates a toughened glass front with printed ceramic borders and low energy LED illumination.

If, like me, you tend to view the “News” page of a website as a mechanism for gauging if the company concerned has any discernable pulse, you might be forgiven for assuming from the evidence of our own site that all at Greenbarnes expired sometime around February.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that we have been busy. So busy in fact that some of the routine tasks like updating the website have had to take a back seat for a while. So what has been keeping us so occupied?

Well, to start with, in February we said goodbye to Chay Leach, our Technical Sales Assistant, who after four years sterling work left to pursue a career in a totally different direction. As many of you who had come to know Chay will appreciate, he is hard act to follow.

The diverse nature of what we do, together with the fact that much of it has a bespoke element, ensures a steep learning curve for anyone joining us. This was certainly the conclusion reached by Chay’s replacement, Andy Brewer, not least because he joined us at precisely the moment when we experienced an explosion in requests for quotations! Five months on, we’re delighted to report that Andy has survived his “baptism of fire” and is busily engaged in answering your sales enquiries and generating quotations.

If February and March were about sending quotations out, the months which have followed have been all about work coming in. Contrary to what might be expected if you’ve been listening to Robert Peston and his fellow pedlars of gloom, we have enjoyed the busiest start to a financial year in our 25 year history. Starting with our biggest single job to date, for a leading charity, we have seen a steady influx of work from a variety of sectors, including some prestigious individual projects, of which we will write more in future postings.

Against this hectic background the ongoing process of product development has also continued apace, with several new items scheduled for launch later in the year including additions to the Vitrum ranges of poster cases, notice boards and monoliths one of which is illustrated above.

So, as you can see, despite the prolong news page silence, we are most definitely alive and kicking!

Your opportunity to join Greenbarnes Ltd

Please note that the above post has now been filled.

Greenbarnes Ltd are looking for a Technical Sales Assistant to work in a small company specialising in the manufacture and supply of notice boards, signage, street furniture and high quality cabinet-making for a wide variety of clients.

The job is full-time (40hrs/wk), permanent, and is based in Brackley.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the production of quotes and estimates, order processing, sales progress and providing telephone support and assistance to the broad spectrum of our customers and potential customers.

Essential skills include an aptitude for technical details, high standards of literacy and numeracy, good IT skills and a pleasant telephone manner. Experience in preparing tenders and basic CAD skills would be advantageous but are not a prerequisite.

In the first instance please write including c.v. to Mike Barnes at Greenbarnes Ltd, Unit 7, Barrington Court, Ward Road, Brackley, Northamptonshire, NN13 7LE or email mike@greenbarnes.co.uk

One way to provide a new community facility and celebrate the Jubilee at the same time - a 3-bay oak notice board with central commemorative panel.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee isn’t just a national holiday. Such events have always been a time for people to come together and celebrate.

This tradition presents local communities with an excellent opportunity to create local commemorative projects and strengthen their sense of time and place. At one level this can take the form of something ephemeral such as a street party or carnival parade, and in today’s climate of seemingly unremitting gloom, who can deny that there is something to be said for capitalising on the opportunity for a little fun?

On the other hand, such events have also historically given rise to a host of more permanent projects to establish community assets of lasting use, ranging from the planting of a single commemorative tree or something as far-reaching as the 471 King George’s Playing Fields that were established across the UK following the death of George V in 1936.

In 2002 Greenbarnes was proud to be part of this tradition, celebrating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and helping local organisations mark the event for posterity and in 2012 we are poised to mark the Diamond Jubilee similarly. With the attention of towns and parishes across the UK turning to the question of how best to mark the event, now is the time to give serious consideration to those more tangible projects which will offer lasting benefit.

Given the current mantra of austerity it also makes to use funds dedicated to the event for end which have a permanent benefit. Whether you are looking for a new notice board complete with commemorative panel, interpretation signage for a new open space, a display cabinet for precious artefacts or a simple plaque, 25 years of craftsmanship, innovation and dedication to high standards means that we deliver the quality that your community deserves.

Ring our sales team now on 01280 701093 to discuss your Jubilee project, or email our Sales Department for sound advice and no-obligation quotations.

Solid surfacing plaques supplied by Greenbarnes are helping combat the rising tide of metal thefts across the UK.

Nothing, it seems, is sacrosanct. Signal cabling, manhole covers, road signs and, shamefully, even war memorials are amongst the growing list of items which are targeted with increasing frequency for their scrap metal value.

The consequences of these misdeeds manifest themselves in a variety of unpleasant ways, whether in the inconvenience and irritation of delayed and cancelled trains, the potential danger resulting from missing signs and manholes, or the shear grief of discovering that a memorial to a loved one has been melted down for its scrap value.

Two of the key reasons often cited for the current upsurge of such offences are an increase in commodity prices and the simultaneous downturn in the economy. Given that neither of these conditions look likely to change significantly in the foreseeable future, is there anything that can be done to counter the problem?

At Greenbarnes we believe that there is. Indeed, there are things that can be done, and in fact, things that we have already been doing for a considerable time to ensure that a wide variety of products intended for use in the public domain, perform their intended function without attracting the wrong form of attention. It all starts at the design stage, with the intelligent choice of materials.

“It all starts at the design stage, with the intelligent choice of materials”.

A prime example of this is memorial plaques, whether in large schemes as installed at a crematorium or, as in a recent example that came to our attention, a single war memorial built into the church gate post.

As long ago as 1997, in response to the removal by thieves of approximately 300 individual metal plaques in one night, Greenbarnes embarked on designing a better way forward. Subsequently adopted by a number of crematoria throughout the UK, this scheme uses solid surfacing materials (of the type frequently used to create high quality kitchen worktops and retail counters), in place of traditional bronze or brass plaques. The virtue of this material lies in its unlikely combination of a top quality appearance with a zero scrap value.

In addition to addressing the problem of theft, careful design consideration at the outset also ensured that the perennial problems of fixing and removing from walls and the consequent difficulties of acurate alignment were addressed. Moreover, for applications such as churches needing a way to commemorate cremated remains, a scheme can be economically tailored to fit individual requirements.

So, whether you are considering a memorial scheme or a single commemorative plaque, your starting point should be to ring our sales team on 01280 701093 or email our Sales Department for sound advice and no-obligation quotations.

2-bay oak notice board with rotating Open and Shut slats for Redbournbury Mill & Bakery, Hertfordshire.

When it came to solving the problem of publicising the differing opening times of their watermill and its associated bakery, the volunteers at Redbournbury Mill near St Albans in Hertfordshire can most definitely be said to have used their loaf.

Greenbarnes Ltd was approached by designers Roy Bellamy working on behalf of the Mill, to manufacture a notice board incorporating independently rotating slats which in addition to conveying general information about the Mill and Bakery within a glazed display area also indicate whether the respective parts are open or closed.

“We chose a Greenbarnes notice board because you were able to adapt one of your standard boards to our needs. You supplied extra oak engraved panels which we have fitted to the base of the board, allowing us to rotate them to show the different combinations of opening times for the mill and bakery.”, commented Justin James. “We also liked the fact that the boards are produced from oak which is used extensively in the mill and they look very appropriate in an idyllic rural setting.”

We chose a Greenbarnes notice board because you were able to adapt one of your standard boards to our needs. You supplied extra oak engraved panels which we have fitted to the base of the board, allowing us to rotate them to show the different combinations of opening times for the mill and bakery.

Whilst it is good to know that the end result met expectations, equally gratifying are Justin’s comments on the process of getting there.

“Your staff were always friendly, well informed and efficient when contacted and were particularly helpful last week when we needed to collect the signs at short notice. I am delighted with the quality of the boards and with my whole experience of working with your company.”

If thoughts of fresh baked bread have you salivating already, further details of Redbournbury Mill and Bakery can be found at www.RedbournburyMill.co.uk/. Meanwhile if your appetite is for a similar project, please call us on 01280 701093, email our Sales Department or see more of our hardwood notice boards here.

Maintenance-free Man-made Timber interpretation panels from Greenbarnes Ltd welcome visitors to the RNLI's garden at the National Memorial Arboretum.

Interpretation panels manufactured in our maintenance-free Man-made Timber have been chosen to provide the finishing touch for the RNLI memorial garden at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The garden, created by well-known TV presenter Chris Beardshaw, is a development of the site which was originally created and funded by local RNLI volunteers.

With the help of the Greenbarnes information panels, visitors are guided around a landscape designed to reflect the work of RNLI crews and the relationship between crew members, a rescued person and all the families whose lives become interwoven during a rescue. It is intended not only as a celebration and recognition of the work of the RNLI but also to honour those crew members and people who have lost their lives whilst saving others.

The panels which use grp encapsulated digital prints framed in Man-made Timber for the ultimate in long life and low maintenance, are set on a lectern-style base and are the latest of an increasing portfolio of recent projects undertaken for the charitable sector.

For further details please call us on 01280 701093, email our Sales Department or go to our website, www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards

(Top image reproduced by courtesty of the National Memorial Arboretum)