wishing you a merry christmas and a happy new …...2019/12/12 · stage 1 – putting the wool in...

Valleys Innovation Centre

Navigation Park

Abercynon, CF45 4SN

Tel: 01443 749 991

Email: [email protected]

www.leabold.co.uk

Leabold Financial Management Limited registered in England and Wales, Company Registration Number 05173817 A wholly owned subsidiary of Leabold Financial Management Holdings Limited, registered in England and Wales, Company Registration Number 8296996

Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

December 2019 Newsletter

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy

New Year, from all at Leabold.

mailto:[email protected]



Page 3

A brief article from Graeme Delf titled ‘Disability Wales Conference’

Page 4

A Poem from Ben Tansley titled ‘oh, lovely Christmas’

Page 5

An article from Leanne Marshall titled ‘In the Spotlight’

Page 6

An article from Pauline Morris titled ‘Campanologist’

Page 7

A Christmas related Word Search from Victoria Thornton

Page 8 & 9

What’s happening in Leabold?

IN THIS ISSUE



Article by Graeme Delf – Director

It was an honour and privilege for Leabold Financial Management to sponsor the Disability Wales Annual Conference and AGM on 5th November 2019. The event was held in the Ricoh Suite at Cardiff City Stadium and was supported by 150 members and delegates. Speakers included Jane Hutt AM, Sophie Howe - the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and Dr Frances Ryan - Guardian Journalist. Jane Hutt, who is Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, addressed the meeting on the Framework for Action on Disability – the right to Independent Living. Sophie Howe was able to use the conference as the ideal location to launch the ‘Journeys to a more Equal Wales’. Dr Ryan, who is the author of the book ‘Crippled – Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People’, had to make her presentation by video, due to ill-health. However, this did not reduce the impact of the talk, as she was able to clearly detail the massive impact of the austerity measures on the disabled population of the UK over the last 10 years or so. Leabold Financial Management have been assisting the employees and the board of Disability Wales for a number of years, and are only too happy to play a very small part in the superb work that the charity undertakes to raise awareness to the issues faced by disabled people throughout Wales.

Please see their website for more info:

http://www.disabilitywales.org/action-on-disability-the-right-to-independent-living/

©Photographs by Natasha Hirst

Disability Wales Conference

http://www.disabilitywales.org/action-on-disability-the-right-to-independent-living/



Poem by Ben Tansley – Paraplanner

Christmas arrives, the mistletoe thrives,

“Ben, would you be of assistance?”,

“You want a poem…” I sigh, “They’re so good!” the reply,

“Alright”, Oh lovely Christmas.

Christmas oh Christmas, a time that’s delicious,

The turkey that soon becomes bone.

But with all the food, and refusal is rude,

By January I weigh twenty stone.

Christmas oh Christmas, a time where I witness,

All the novelty knitwear it brings,

But for every stitch, you’ll be met with an itch,

And what’s worse is that some of them sing.

Christmas oh Christmas, a time without business,

Except those that are selling the presents,

But at three times the price, here comes my advice,

Something from the heart is a better investment.

Christmas oh Christmas, a time when I grimace,

At the delays when I’m trying to travel,

Santa got it right, by travelling at night,

Is Christmas worth all of this hassle?

Oh, lovely Christmas



Article by Leanne Marshall – Administrator

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? A teacher.

What was your first job?

Worked in a pharmacy on a Saturday and solicitors during the week.

How do you like to spend your spare time? With my 3 children, they always keep me busy!

What is your best childhood memory? Tap Dancing for children in need live on the BBC.

What is your favourite Movie?

Pixels – I love Adam Sandler

What do you feel most proud of?

My children – Kaitlyn is 14 and studying for her GCSEs she is such a big help around the house and a lovely person inside and out. Cody is 4 and such a sensitive soul he is so kind and caring and loves football training. Carson turned one on the 7th November and is a bundle of energy and into everything.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why? Canada to see Niagra Falls and then journey around Canada up to Alaska.

What has been your most embarrassing

moment?

Probably putting a film on to watch that I had recorded on Sky and the weather was on giving severe weather warnings for snow the next day so I rang my partner asking if he had seen the weather to which he replied “its July and boiling it’s not going to snow!” at that point it dawned on me that the film was recorded in February during all the heavy snow. Doh!

If you could be any animal what would

you be and why?

I love Giraffes so would love to be one of them to be able to see further than anyone else can.

What are you most afraid of?

Water over my face, I banged my head

when I was young in the swimming pool

and was knocked unconscious and ever

since don’t like my head being under

water.

In the spotlight



Campanologist

Crossword by Pauline Morris – Paraplanner

This will be my last article for the newsletter as I will be leaving Leabold at the end of the year.

I thought I would write more about my hobby as a campanologist. You have all seen cartoons

where someone is dangling on the end of a rope holding the coloured part (known as the

Sally) and I wanted to find out how this was incorporated into a piece of rope to become a

bell rope.

Therefore, to help in my quest I went to Chatham dockyard in the summer to see the rope

walk where ropes are still made but, unfortunately, they don’t make bell ropes, so I was still

none the wiser. (Chatham dockyard being the home of Call the Midwife, where some of the

settings are easily recognisable).

However, after doing some research I found a small bell rope maker just outside Taunton and

they were happy to accommodate visitors, and provide a demonstration. Apparently, there

are now only two places where you can obtain bell ropes this small place in Taunton and at

the bell foundry in Loughborough.

To this end an appointment was made and a trip to Taunton undertaken which was well worth

the time & effort. The company is owned and run by a young lady, Becky who is a bell ringer

and saw a gap in the market. She set up the business from scratch being self-taught and with

equipment made for the job which is mostly manually operated so if there were a power cut

ropes could still be made but not finished.

The company had enough experience and orders to become a Ltd company in 2012 so still

relatively young, and the first commission as a Ltd company was an export set of ropes to St

Leonards in Sydney, Australia.



Becky our host and owner of the factory explained that the merino wool is cut into lengths of

about 4 inches from a skein and there are 13 of these with usually three colours so 39 in total

to make a ‘sally’ these are set between the twists in the rope which is then twisted the

opposite way to the rope so that it is held in place to keep it permanently in place, this is the

easy and quickest part of the process.

The painstaking bit then begins, which consists of a three-part process

• Checking the wool and freeing it from the twists of rope (completed by hand three

times)

• Shearing the ‘sally’ by electric shears similar to that which a sheep shearer uses

• The last shear to make the finished product is done with hand shears, this gives the

‘sally’ a smooth finish which is easy to hold.

Even to a non-ringer someone who enjoys finding out how things are made had an enjoyable

time and was fascinated by the whole process.

Stage 1 – putting the wool in the rope Stage 2 – twisting the wool & rope together

Stage 3 – before any picking or shearing

Stage 4 – Hand picking and separating the

colours to make a clear definition of colour

(done 3 times)

Stage 5 – shearing as you can see it is now becoming smooth and tidy this was a 2nd shear with electric cutters, where the

‘sally’ and rope end this tapered to make a neat finish.

The finished rope is similar to the last picture but tidier & neater. Then it is ready to be packed and

sent to whoever has commissioned it.



Christmas related Word Search

Word search by Victoria Thornton – Administrator

1. BOW

2. CANDY CANE

3. ELF

4. FAMILY

5. FIRE

6. HAPPY

7. NATIVITY

8. PIE

9. PINE CONE

10. PRESENTS

11. RUDOLPH

12. SANTA CLAUS

13. SCROOGE

14. TREE

15. WISE MEN

16. YULE LOG

S F R U D O L P H Z

C A N D Y C A N E W

R M N X P I M E I P

O I E T P K R D G R

O L R B A T Z J O E

G Y I O H C O B L S

E L F W V R L T E E

W I S E M E N A L N

N A T I V I T Y U T

P I N E C O N E Y S



What’s been happening at Leabold?

Customer Feedback Forms

We have received 16 completed forms back during the July to September Quarter.

This meant that we were able to send a donation of £75 to LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer

Charity, which they will be able to put to very good use supporting Children with Cancer and

their families at the Children’s Hospital for Wales. The services and support they provide are

amazing, if you are interested in learning more about our chosen charity please visit their

website: www.latchwales.org

Quarterly Prize Draw

On receipt of the completed Feedback Forms, clients are entered into our quarterly Prize

Draw and the winner of the April to June quarter was drawn at random on 3rd October.

Congratulations to Mr Perry!!

We hope you enjoy spending your £30 Love2Shop vouchers and thank you for your continued

support.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete and return their form, and if you haven’t yet

received a feedback form, we will be issuing upon completion of any new transaction.

RCT Santa Appeal

This year we decided that instead of doing Secret Santa we would take part in the RCT Santa

Appeal. Where we were all allocated a child, who may not have received any gifts on

Christmas and we bought them presents and dropped them off at our nearest drop-in centre.

For more information please visit the following website:

https://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/Newsroom/PressReleases/2019/October/PleaseSupportOurSantaAp

peal2019.aspx

http://www.latchwales.org/

http://www.latchwales.org/

https://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/Newsroom/PressReleases/2019/October/PleaseSupportOurSantaAppeal2019.aspx

https://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/Newsroom/PressReleases/2019/October/PleaseSupportOurSantaAppeal2019.aspx



Kids Cancer Charity

The charity provides a range of services all aimed to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and their families including Compassionate Care Breaks UK, Play Therapy, family bereavement support and the American and French ‘Dream Experience’. If you would like more information on this charity please visit their website – www.kidscancercharity.org

This year a Kids Cancer Charity Teddy Bear was purchased by Mr Derek Lavington for a total of £50 for

the charity.

Christmas Festivities

This year’s office Christmas lunch took place at the Railway Inn on Monday 16th December, where

we also wore our Christmas Jumpers. The meal was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Welcome

We would also like to welcome Thomas Owen and Tesni Sprackling-Jones to the team. They both

joined us at the end of November 2019 as Administrator’s for the company.

Please join us in wishing them both the best of luck in their new roles.

We hope you found this newsletter of interest, however should you wish to be removed from our

mailing list please email [email protected].

Kind Regards

Victoria Thornton

wishing you a merry christmas and a happy new …...2019/12/12 · stage 1 – putting the wool in...

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