Goodbye 2020, hello 2021
2020: the year of video meetings, working from home, and facemasks. Who, a year ago, would have imagined we would be here? In fact, this time last year, we were stepping into what we thought would be the roaring twenties, excited to see what a new decade would bring. 2020 may have proved challenging, but hopefully you have all found positives and things to celebrate along the way. At Page Kirk, that has certainly been the case.
This year we have had six new members join our team: Jo Poulter as payroll manager; Lucy Parker as my new p.a; James Allsop and Matthew Walton as trainee chartered accountants, James Tarr as a placement student and Liam Hollis as a marketing assistant. We have promoted three team members: Jack Moore became our cloud accounting manager, James Haywood progressed to manager and Nick Giles became tax consultant. Due to his commitment, diligence and hard work I am delighted to say Neil Moon become a partner 1 October.
We were able to support our clients through the pandemic by reacting quickly to changes, including offering help for furlough claims for government support and business plans. All our teams continue to embrace technology and co-operate with one another, allowing us all to work from home and still give the best service to our clients. Thank you to all at Page Kirk and Page Kirk Financial Services - when faced with a challenge, the real measure of the people around you is revealed. Every single member of the team has worked above and beyond the call of duty this year and shown their strong character. I cannot imagine how all of you coped working as well as home schooling your young children so well done to you.
In times such as these, it is more important than ever to give something back so Page Kirk and Page Kirk Financial Services continued their extensive effort to raise money for good causes. This year we supported the charity “When You Wish Upon a Star”. During August the team ran, walked and cycled 2,149 miles in 31 days, the equivalent distance of a journey from Nottingham to Lapland. Throughout the year the team have dressed up, baked cakes and played virtual games each month, and are proud to have raised £2033.
As well as raising money for charity, events like this bring the team together. As we became more isolated to combat coronavirus, the wellbeing of our employees was always at the forefront of our minds, so we decided to bring some competitive fun to lockdown, getting the team out and about and placing emphasis on the importance of regular exercise. In November, 27 members of the team joined the Page Kirk lockdown challenge where the group was split into two teams competing for the highest total mileage covered by running, cycling and walking. As it proved popular, we continued the lockdown challenge throughout December, but this time Page Kirk went head-to-head with our colleagues at Solutions For Accounting and CRM.
Thank you to our clients for supporting us too. We feel very fortunate to be your trusted advisers and hope we have eased your anxieties as you navigated through the year. It has been a difficult period for many, but Page Kirk have been helping our clients for over 100 years and we shall continue to do so.
On behalf of my partners, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and, whatever 2021 brings, we will be here supporting you.
Take care.
John Wallis
Managing Partner