From the Editor
A happier new year and a bright future ?
January has that special ability to feel like six or more weeks of incredibly fastmoving days . For many , every night we ask ourselves ‘ where has the day gone ?’, yet lament ‘ how is it still only Tuesday ?’ The first month of 2021 has been very colourful indeed - red passports will no longer be issued ( where would we be going anyway ?), Blue Monday came and went , there were some extremely grey every-other-days , and a very orange man waved Good-Biden to the White House .
» BUT , JUST AS WE GOT THROUGH 2020 AND MADE it to a new year , we got through January and we made it to February , as we always do . And judging by many - in fact , the majority - of the articles in this very magazine , people are looking forward to the rest of the year , rather than dwelling on the past .
More than any other sector across any title in our magazine group ; the locksmith community , is just that ; a community . From the one-person installer attending a call in the middle of the night to multi-national corporation working years on a new design , from the ‘ labours of love ’ locksmiths that hand forge missing keys to ancient locks and painstakingly catalogue museum pieces throughout the centuries to those developing touch-free anti-bacterial access control , everyone in our industry has their unique take on what locksmithing means to them , and what they mean to locksmithing .
You ’ ll see all of the above in this edition of our magazine , and more ; but sadly also the consequences when locksmiths - or those that call themselves locksmiths but clearly do not live or work anywhere close to what a real locksmith does or should - go rogue . Something I have always wanted for this magazine is a ‘ Panel on a page ’ type discussion . This issue , in the Auto Locksmithing section , we ’ ve done just that . After being contacted by a reader ; inadvertently offering us a ‘ key topic ’ of mechanical / electrical car entry versus smart apps , we got in touch with several other auto locksmithing experts to get their views on the topic .
I ’ d love to hear your own opinion after you ’ ve seen theirs . Likewise , if you have a key topic you ’ d like to offer up for discussion , across any area of the industry , let me know if we can use it for the next issue .
See you next time , if I don ’ t hear from you first .
ERA DONATES £ 8,000 TO HOPE HOUSE CHILDREN ’ S HOSPICES
» WHEN THE PANDEMIC curtailed most of the fundraising activities ERA annually undertakes , the company ’ s staff came up with a practical solution to the problem . It was agreed that last year , rather than give customer Christmas gifts , they would instead give a donation to Hope House Ty Gobaith Children ’ s Hospices .
Simi Epstein , Director of Fundraising & Marketing at Hope House Ty Gobaith Children ’ s Hospices said : “ We were completely stunned at the staggering donation and I cannot begin to put into words how grateful we are .
“ As for everyone in March , Covid changed everything and we had to adapt our ways of working overnight . We were determined that no child would die without their family around them and thanks to the generosity of our amazing supporters , we were able to continue to provide crisis and end of life care throughout .
“ Our financial losses to date have been unprecedented . With our retail shops having to close we have seen a dip in income of over £ 750k and due to the cancellation of our fundraising events , community and corporate income streams have dropped by over £ 350k . We are realistic and know we cannot make up these losses , but we cannot afford for this to continue and we are therefore working hard to develop alternative fundraising initiatives .
“ The generosity of ERA has reminded me that not everything has changed , we continue to have loyal supporters who provide the financial help we so desperately need . I find this knowledge comforting as I look ahead and I would like to thank everyone involved for restoring my faith that together we will make it out the other side stronger .”
It costs £ 6.5 million every year for the charity to operate , and 86 % of this is spent on care . Approximately one month ’ s income comes from statutory sources and for the other 11 months of the year the charity is dependent on public support . The organisation ’ s ambition is to raise an additional £ 2.5 million each year to make sure it reaches every child and their close relatives who need help in the region .
www . eraeverywhere . com www . hopehouse . org . uk
Gemma , Editor
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JAN / FEB 2021
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