Connect & Inspire

Caterforce Conference 2022

The Caterforce conference is held every two years at the prestigious hotel, Celtic Manor, in south Wales. The eight members of the buying group come together to connect with a wide range of suppliers from across the country. The conference gives everyone the chance to catch up with friends, new and old, to learn about the future direction of the buying group and its members.

This year’s conference was held on Wednesday 16th November.

There were several themes covered in the conference agenda:

1. Sustainability and regionality

2. Growth, investment and business […]

Taking mental health seriously

We’ve been developing some of people leaders and helping them in their personal and role development. Some of them attended Mental Health Awareness seminars in March and we’re currently running a second cohort.

The sessions are lead by Chris Graham of Carlisle Eden Mind to help start conversations about mental health and how to help those around us. For many years there has been a stigma around mental health issues and the purpose of the seminars are to start open, honest conversations.

An introduction to mental health can help people gain a better insight into a range of common mental health problems. It will also dispel the myths […]

Efficient logistics team serves up superb service

Pictured left to right are: Chris Dicker, Wayne Sutherland, Jonny Forsyth and Sean Harrison.

We recently promoted several of our logistics colleagues to create a new, efficient logistics management team.

Jonny Forsyth, Operations Director, now has a team made up of three supervisors and managers.

Wayne Sutherland has been with us for 17 years and is now a Logistics Supervisor alongside Sean Harrison, our new Transport Supervisor. Sean has worked for us for over 27 years and is extremely experienced in working with our fleet and drivers.

Chris Dicker is now serving as a Fleet Service Manager. […]

We celebrate dedicated service

We recently rewarded all our people who have worked for us for 10 years and over. Many of them were celebrating over 20, 30 and even 40 years of service!

Our new scheme involves a voucher reward and holiday enhancement, dependent upon length of service. Those celebrating working for 10 years and over qualify for the benefits.

Pictured above are just some of our Carlisle colleagues who received the benefit this year. There were many people at both our Gateshead and Harrington depots who were celebrating too.

In fact, a total of 99 of our colleagues received a long-service award this year!

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We’re committed to paying a fair wage for a day’s work

We are proud to announce that we have gained accreditation as a Living Wage Employer. Our commitment to paying a fair wage for a day’s work sees our minimum hourly rate stand at £10. This is above the National Minimum Wage and Real Living Wage rate and significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s which currently stands at £9.50 per hour.

We are based in the north west, a region with nearly a fifth of all jobs (18.4%) paying less than the Real Living Wage – equating to around 534,000 jobs. Despite this, […]

Purchasing team promotions

We’re excited to announce two of our colleagues based within our Purchasing Team have been recently promoted.

Amy Brown was previously a Buying Assistant is now our new Replenishment Planner and Charlotte Walker, formerly Senior Buyer, is now our new Buying Manager. We wish them both a huge congratulations in their new roles, and we’re sure everyone wishes them all the best for the future.

Amy Brown

Amy started work with us at the tender age of 15. She worked in our warehouse for many years as a part-time weekend member of staff, before joining us full-time at the age of 17. Due […]