Hardwood

A recent church sign project for Great Baddow United Reform Church, Essex. From January 2011 all non-VAT registered customers will inevitably be paying more to get their message across.

If the two great certainties of life are death and taxes, 2011 will start with a third, yet more tax! In order to begin plugging the huge hole in its finances, the UK government recently announced that from 04/01/2011 the standard rate of VAT will rise by 2.5% to 20%.

This may not sound like a lot but if you are currently considering spending money on signage, notice boards or street furniture and, if like many of our customers, you are on a tight budget and unable to reclaim VAT, (churches and village halls in particular come to mind here), in effect this represents 2.5% more that you will have to spend to achieve the same result. The only alternative will be to pare down your wish list to match the funds available.

Given that, by their very nature, these projects tend to take a while in the planning, our advice to anyone in this position would be to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. Time spent now on working out what you need and gathering the necessary information will ensure that, not only do you have the time to make informed choices but also that you will be in a position to place an order in good time ahead of the crowd.

From January 2011 all non-VAT registered customers will inevitably be paying more to get their message across.

So, having convinced you that now is the time to act, the next question is where to start. Perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that, in our opinion, you could do worse than ringing our sales team on 01280 701093 or email our Sales Department for sound advice and no-obligation quotations.

Top: Burgess Square signage in stainless steel. Bottom: Bespoke oak-framed chalk board for The Old Hall Bookshop

A quick glance at our “Recent Projects Map” immediately reveals the nationwide coverage achieved by Greenbarnes products. However, three very different signage jobs, coincidentally all undertaken within the last 3 months in our home town of Brackley, Northants, have combined to provide a useful showcase of the company’s diversity.

First to be completed was a project for developer Swan Hill Homes Ltd in connection with the town’s new Burgess Square development. The signs, in brushed stainless steel with chemically etched graphics, are mounted between bollards at the front edge of the site to identify the newly created space and to delineate it from the existing Market Place.

Immediately opposite the Burgess Square project, but a world away in style, a bespoke oak-framed chalk board for our local independent book shop demonstrates the company’s skills in more traditional areas of sign-making. The Old Hall Bookshop occupies elegant Georgian premises set back from the High Street behind a garden area and was looking for a way to raise its profile by means of getting a variable message to passers-by. The railing-mounted board can be removed for safe storage at night.

Last but not least was a brace of powder-coated aluminium “tray” type signs with computer-cut vinyl graphics for life insurance specialists Pulse Insurance Ltd who have recently opened new premises in the town.

If you are considering any signage projects, why not contact our Sales Department for a no-obligation quotation.

Cows on the mooove!

Created in 1978, the Concrete Cows of Milton Keynes have become the city’s best-loved and most widely known piece of public artwork. To date the cows have lead an adventurous lifestyle which has included being kidnapped and held to ransom, decapitated Damien Hurst style and headlining at the Cambridge Folk Festival.

Now, in order that they may be enjoyed by a wider audience, five of the herd have been loaned to Midsummer Place Shopping Centre by their owners, The Parks Trust. Greenbarnes Ltd are delighted to have been chosen to supply the three bespoke interpretation panels, framed in oak with graphics printed onto Dibond panels, which accompany the three cows and two calves currently corralled under the oak tree in the centre.

One of the more unusual challenges to present itself in 2007 was the construction of a new “watering point” for St Peter’s Church, Iver in Buckinghamshire. The project required that the new unit, which was funded by a family in memory of their parents, be built as closely as possible as a replica of the original, a challenge made no easier by the absence of a number of the original details.

The new unit, which we are delighted to report has been well received by the client is constructed in oak and comprises a pair of 100mm square posts with decorative brackets, a central panel and “tap box” to accommodate the plumbing and a hipped roof structure with oak slats and ridge mouldings.