The Dialogue Newsletter DECEMBER 2019

thedialogue
ISSUE 38: December 2019
PRIDE AWARDS
WELL
DONE
TO ALL
AWARD
NOMINEES
Our annual PRIDE award celebration was held
on Thursday 10th October 2019 at Oulton Hall
where employees who had been nominated and
shortlisted to receive an award attended a
dinner to recognise their contributions.
Staff had been nominated by a colleague or manager
and in doing so had to demonstrate ways in which
the employee met the criteria for the award. With a
record number of nomination it was a difficult choice
for the Board of Directors to select the winners and
the highly commended staff all of whom carry out
exceptional work in a variety of situations. The
evening also acknowledged Long Service for
employees who celebrated 10, 20 and 30 years’
service.
The winners and highly commended in their
category are:
Attendance and
Performance:
Working Safely:
Personal
Development:
Exceptional
customer service:
Wider Community:
Innovation:
Long Service:
Winner – Paul Taylor
Highly Commended – John Doherty
Winner – Malcolm MacDonald
Highly Commended – Brian France
Winner – Chris Siddons
Highly Commended – Christos Dangas
and Sharan Rudd
Winner – Team of Marcus McCarthy
and John Ruane
Highly Commended – Brian France
Winner – Lorraine Hall
Highly Commended – Chris O’Hora
Winner – Nicky Davies
Highly Commended – Matthew Marsden
10 Years – Garry Watson & Moya Wilson
20 Years – John Tattersall & Brian France
30 Years – Adrian Carter
INSIDE
THIS
ISSUE
A MYSTERY
FROM
HISTORY
OUR
RUGBY
LION

ISSUE 38: December 2019
thedialogue
EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVE GROUP
Please contact any of the Representatives below with
items you would like to be put forward at the meetings.
Brian France
Chris Dynes
Dan Howe
Verdun Brown
07985 810042 b.france@peterduffyltd.com
07985 810115 squiddykeys@gmail.com
07985 810030 d.howe@peterduffyltd.com
07939 675948 verdun99@hotmail.co.uk
Ben McCluskey 07702 272944 b.mccluskey@peterduffyltd.com
2020 MEETINGS
WEDNESDAY 11TH MARCH
WEDNESDAY 15TH JULY
WEDNESDAY 11TH NOVEMBER
Christmas Jumper Day
We will once again be taking part in this years Christmas Jumper day
event on Friday 13th December, but we have decided that since we
recently had the Children in Need charity day that this year we
would still have all the fun of the Christmas Jumper event but
donate the money raised to Help The Heroes. So, get those jumpers
out and let’s raise as much as we can for this worthy cause
HELLO
We have two
new starters at
Head Office,
please say hello
to :
LAUREN REID
who has joined
the marketing
team within
DrainsAid.
STEVE JONES
joined the
company as
Regional
Manager
DrainsAid

phone 01924 871100 email info@peterduffyltd.com online www.peterduffyltd.com
thedialogue
CHALLENGE AT KIRBY MALZEARD
We are undertaking a repair to an
existing sewer 7.5m deep which has
collapsed, the collapse has caused
subsidence to the main road through
Kirkby Malzeard and due to this, the
road has been closed to traffic. The
original sewer was laid in 1908 and a
newspaper article from that time
(handed to us by a local resident)
indicated that the contractor who first
undertook the works was ruined when
he struck quicksand
We knew this was going to be a
difficult scheme and had to plan our
works accordingly. Due to the depth
of our excavation we proposed a 2
stage shoring system to minimise the
length of sheet piles required so these
could be more easily and safely
handled on site.
Works initially progressed well through
reasonably good ground, but at a depth
of 6m, old timber shoring and poor
ground was encountered. Our site team
of Steve Noonan, Alan Hall, Patrick
Harrington and Norman Duree
(supervised by Rob Hill) have worked
tirelessly to remove the remnants of old
timber shoring by hand to ensure the
temporary works was installed in
accordance with the design and have
had to persevere through the poor
ground to ensure the works to repair
the existing sewer are completed.!
A huge thanks to the site team for
their effort and determination on this
project

ISSUE 38: December 2019
thedialogue
UKSTT AWARDS 2019
The UKSTT annual awards recognise
achievement, excellence or
innovation utilising trenchless
technologies, and Peter Duffy Ltd
through DrainsAid were nominated
for 2 awards, The Young Professional
Award – Greg Thomson and the
Environmental Award for the project
at Scalby Mills Scarborough.
We were represented at the Awards
presentation evening by Ben
McCluskey, Nick Downward, Greg
Thomson, Michael Duffy, Daniel
Ratcliffe and Andy Barker and even
though we did not win the
nomination we were highly
commended.
CELEBRATE
SUCCESS
Congratulations to one of
our Apprentice Site
Engineers Liam Burke who
at the recent Leeds
College of Building ‘Big
Awards’ received the award
for High Achievement as
well as been
highly recommended in the
Governor’ Award. Well done
Liam.

thedialogue
PETER’S
UPDATE
December 2019
RUGBY LEAGUE
INTERNATIONAL
I concluded my column in the last issue with a
cautious note about activity in the coming
months and this cautious tone continues. I did
however mention the success of getting on two
frameworks for Yorkshire Water and I am pleased to
confirm that we can add two more frameworks with
the same client to these all of which are due to
commence in April. In the meantime, we will be
preparing for these including reviewing processes,
recruitment and with investment in new equipment
and IT systems.
We recently distributed the results from the employee
survey carried out in September. There were little
surprises in the results and although the number of
returns received was disappointing, we still value
each one and are working with these results to
improve things and help make it a great workplace for
all. In our efforts to achieve this we have also been
improving the skills and confidence of our managers
and supervisors who have been attending a
programme of line manager training in the past few
months and I am pleased to confirm the completion
of this programme in November.
Once again it has been pleasing to read in this edition
of Dialogue, the good news stories and success of our
employees both in the workplace and away from it
and I send congratulations to all.
As it’s that time of year I wish you and your families
a very happy Christmas and best wishes
for the new year.
Peter Duffy
Managing Director
DrainsAid Engineer Chris Siddons has recently returned
from a tour in New Zealand by the England Community
Lions Rugby League Team. Chris who plays for local team
Castleford Lock Lane was chosen for the England squad via
a most comprehensive, nationwide selection process. The
Lions first ever tour match was a winning match and Chris
went on to score for his country.
CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS