Tag: Bolton

Westgrove’s mental health first-aider wins award

Paul Ogden, The Westgrove Group’s first site based Mental Health First-Aider, has won a prestigious industry award.

Paul, who is a mental health champion at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton, has won a Revo ACE Award.

The awards programme showcases people and places that achieve excellence customer service.

Paul was presented with his award at an event at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole last night.

Also shortlisted for an award was Handforth Dean Retail Park and St Johns Shopping Centre in Liverpool, both of which Westgrove provides services for.

Westgrove has been working with one of its key partners, Market Place, to champion awareness of mental health.

As part of the service to shoppers the centre was keen to ensure that they identified a mental health first aider, something which is being called for by many companies in the UK to be mandatory as part of the ‘Time to Change’ campaign

Following a very successful mental health awareness week in 2018, Changing Minds, the centre and Westgrove worked together to train over 80 staff in mental health awareness.

Following the training, Paul Ogden, one of the centre’s Guest Service Ambassadors, took on the role as mental health champion.

Paul is now available to offer support and advice to vulnerable customers visiting the centre as well as to the centre’s tenants.

As part of his training, Paul completed a mental health first aid course through St John Ambulance, the nation’s leading first aid charity, and a NCFE CACHE Level 2 certificate qualification in Mental Health Awareness.

Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “As a company, we take mental health extremely seriously so we are delighted that Paul has been recognised for all of his hard work to champion mental health in the workplace. We are so proud of him.

“He is equipped with all the skills required to help someone, be it a colleague or a member of the public suffering mental distress, which is all too common an occurrence today”

“Since starting in the new role, Paul has rolled out his training to the Westgrove team onsite and to the tenants within the centre.

“He has already identified a number of vulnerable customers and offered them advice and support. We will be looking to appoint mental health first aiders at many more centres across our UK portfolio during 2019.”

 

Two Westgrove Group cleaners feature in new Jamie Lawson video

Two Westgrove Group cleaners have a cameo role in singer Jamie Lawson’s new video.

Pat Grogan and Bev Jones were filmed during the making of the video to go with Jamie’s new single, The Answer.

The singer, who is signed to Ed Sheeran’s record label, spent the day with Pat and Bev, as well as shoppers on Space Hoppers, at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton.

The Westgrove Group provides Market Place with cleaning and security services.

The production company, Sitcom Soldiers, who made the video suggested the Market Place as they knew it was a good light space that would look great on camera.

Jamie is best known for his 2015 hit single ‘Wasn’t expecting that’.

The video features Jamie bouncing around the shopping centre on colourful space hoppers with a number of people. It followed an appeal on Jamie’s social media for a wide range of ‘physically fit’ people to get in touch to be cast for the video.

Jamie said: “It was great to film at Market Place with its stunning architecture, ornate Victorian roof and basement vaults which provided a beautiful and interesting backdrop to our quirky space hopping video concept.

“We wanted to show how love gives you this happy, walking on air, bouncing feeling… so we came up with either trampolining or space hopping. My trampolining skills are not all that good, my space hopping skills on the other hand are second to none! So the idea was that I would bounce around a shopping mall spreading love and having couples join me as I go.

“The staff were amazing, all very kind and helpful, the cleaners were ace and did a great cameo in the video, helping to set the story up.

“The strangest thing was how most customers seemed to walk straight by without batting an eyelid whilst I bounced past them on a space hopper, as though a man on a space hopper in the middle of town is an everyday occurrence…which maybe it is in Bolton!”

Jamie’s new single is called ‘The Answer’, from his new album ‘The Years in Between’ and the accompanying video can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Da1vhbrWIA&feature=youtu.be