Our Latest Award Winners - October 2008

We are very pleased to announce our latest winners for the 12th round of the the Customer Excellence Awards. Congratulations to Vanessa McCabe from Children's Services and Learning and Ted Turpin from Neighourhoods. Both winners have been invited to attend a formal awards ceremony on 9 October, during National Customer Service Week, where presentations will be made. They will receive a variety of prizes, including £50 worth of vouchers for each of them to spend in a store of their choice. Scroll down to read more about their nominations.

Internal Award Winner

Vanessa McCabe- Business Support Manager - Children's Service and Learning

Brad Roynon, Chief Executive, presents Vanessa McCabe with her award

Vanessa received five nominations from colleagues, following a challenging office move. They are shown below:

"Vanessa has been involved with the corporate accommodation project - Workplace Fast Forward since October 2007. Supporting the project, Vanessa was nominated to carry out the Move Co-ordinator role for the Children Services & Learning Division. Vanessa consistently gives over and above the amount of effort expected from this role. Vanessa has a very positive approach and has offered solutions to resolve the many issues that have occurred throughout the project. Vanessa has cancelled annual leave to attend meetings and helped IT and removals staff late into the evenings. Vanessa has exceptional organisational skills and has sent many information bulletins to her staff - keeping them updated on details of the moves. Accommodation moves can be very unsettling for staff and Vanessa has made every effort to ensure a smooth transition of service from the Cumberland buildings to Marland House. Many people involved with the project have commented on how brilliant Vanessa is - she is often called a Star! I have asked others involved with the project to give their comments too about Vanessa - who truly does deserve an Excellence Award."

"Vanessa surpassed the requirements of a move co-ordinator, by giving up her holiday to come into the office, in order to meet the urgent business need. She sought best solutions for her teams, but also achieving the business requirement. The information she provided was always timely, if not early and to a high quality."

Vanessa has worked closely with IT staff to ensure that the ICT services delivered to her Division, during the Workplace Fast Forward moves, have been as seamless as possible. She has been available when required, sometimes outside normal business hours, to ensure that any ICT queries are sorted out there and then. Her attention to detail on the Staff Information Database documents and delivery of these has been excellent. Changes have been discussed agreed and communicated to all necessary staff. Vanessa has kept her division informed of all needs and changes, by ensuring information is published and communicated as effectively as possible. Vanessa is one of the few co-ordinators that has managed to ensure as smooth, as can be expected, move between sites (and in her case multiple sites) and communicated to users, management and IT in an effective and clear manner.

"It has been useful to use the same procedures again and again on other moves which have been equally successful."

"As Civic Buildings Operations Manager there is a great deal of disruption, information, clarification with regards to new users in any building concerning Health and Safety, fire, security and access. This is magnified when wholesale multiple office moves take place. Vanessa was always on hand to relay information to her team, giving me constructive feedback, and working with this office to make the transition for her team as smooth as possible. Without a doubt had it not been for Vanessa this office would have encountered many more problems. Lessons learnt and the way she acted as move co-ordinator should be used for future moves and co-ordination."

External Award Winner

Ted Turpin - Neighbourhood Warden - Neighbourhoods

The Chief Executive, Brad Roynon, congratulates Ted Turpin

Ted received a fantastic 43 nominations from residents in Meredith Towers prior to his recent retirement. A selection is shown below:

"I have lived in Meredith Towers for 10 years. Throughout that time, Ted has been the warden. He has always been friendly, approachable, helpful and easy to turn to for advice or assistance. His dedication means we live in the cleanest, well maintained tower block I have ever been in. The main entrance foyer is decorated by plants and animals which Ted constantly maintains. Every Christmas he puts up xmas decorations and it is always bright and cheerful. I don't know of any warden who takes such pride in his place of work, but to Ted, this seems more than somewhere he works. It is his home, his community and I believe strongly that he should receive this award."

"A warm friendly welcome on arriving at the block. You can knock on his door with any teething problems. Clean, tidy and always cheerful. He remembers everyone's first name. Not interferring, just polite and helpful. Anyone who visits Meredith comments on how much cleaner and tidier the block is compared to the rest. You are at home before you get into the lift to your property. Thanks Ted."

"Where do you start? The tower block and surroundings were always spotless, plus he made time to plant flowers in the car park. He has been a God send, just being there as a friend. He has a heart of Gold. He has taken me to see my husband in hospital in the evening, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to. He has taken me to the PDSA when my cat had an accident and needed urgent treatment. He has taken us both to see the xmas lights in Southampton and also taken me to the dentist to get my teeth done and generally helped us both in more ways. He has taken our rubbish down to the bins for us when we both did not have the energy to do so due to ill health. He has cleaned our windows for us as well. This man has a heart of gold and he does everything he can to help all residents in their time of need, above and beyond the call of duty. He is good with the young, old, disabled, the good and the not so good tenants who reside in the block. He has trained Julie, his assistant Warden, in his ways and she will become a great replacement for Ted; she works to his high standard. He will always be our friend and we wish him a fantastic retirement in the knowledge that he is generally our friend and no longer our caring, loveable, greatly missed warden. The block has in the foyer ornaments on the walls which he put there to brighten up the place for everyone. You just can't get any better than this man."

"Many areas of help and assistance. When tenants are sick or hospitalised, he takes time to visit them or act as a taxi service. He does shopping and collects pensions for the elderly. He keeps the block clean and tidy; even after hours any mess is always cleaned up as soon as Ted is aware. We have been here for over 30 years and in our opinion, Ted in his 20 years always put himself out in the interest of his tenants, the block and its environment, when he did not have to, but did. Not one of the best, but the best!"

"I don't know about that extra mile. All I know is that Ted would and has walked around the world for all of the tenants. Our block is so clean you could eat your dinner off of the floors. He is not only a warden, but also a friend to many in the block. If I have had any problems of any sort, I knew that I could always ask Ted. Such a wonderful and caring person."

Congratulations Vanessa and Ted!