And here we are in 2024! December has completely flown by here at J&PR with lots of Christmas content and festive graphics and now we are looking ahead to a New Year…so what have we been up to so far?
Gearing up for spring and summer….
Yes, despite it being the first month of the year, team J&PR were planning well ahead with some of our clients.
Rhea’s professional highlight was completing the uploading of classes into the new Showing Scene system for this year’s Shropshire County Show on May 25th - the competition entries for Equestrian, Livestock and the Dog Show are now all online for the first year ever - many hours of preparation were needed but now it is all good to go!
Tony’s work highlight was writing about Caradoc Coaches' exciting summer season itinerary - they have lots of trips coming up, and you never know, maybe some J&PR team members will be on one or two as they now pick up in Telford!
And Simon’s professional highlight was the launch of the Shrewsbury Moves public consultation - a major project for the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan Partnership, which we have been supporting over the past couple of years. The consultation will involve a public exhibition in St Mary's Church, a town trail, an interactive website and plenty of associated press and social media content - you can visit www.shrewsburymoves.com for more details!
For Kirsty the highlight of the month was visiting our client - the lovely Barber’s cheesemakers - yes cheese, glorious cheese! This time it was a visit to the dairy in Dorset rather than Somerset and Kirsty said watching the cheese truckles being waxed was so therapeutic!
Smiles, young people and performances
Tony’s personal highlight was seeing his Grandson's face when he saw Shrewsbury win for the first time on New Year's Day… although he adds that it's all gone a bit pear-shaped since then!
Simon’s personal highlight was watching his son sing his heart out with thousands of other schoolchildren at Young Voices at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham - proper tear-jerking stuff.
While Rhea’s personal highlight was officially taking on the role of Lead Volunteer for the Scouting group her children are part of. She is really looking forward to being part of the fantastic volunteering team that provides so much for young people.
Kirsty says her personal highlight can’t possibly be topped for the rest of the year as she was reunited with a university friend who was visiting from Australia with her partner and one year old daughter. Kirsty said it was wonderful to finally meet little Ivy and the cuddles were amazing - you can’t do that on a video call! They were also joined by another university friend - the trio didn’t stop talking all weekend! What would you expect from three journalism students!?
Inspirational stories
Dani’s professional highlight has been her continued work with the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund - speaking to inspirational people and writing inspiring stories Dani feels privileged to be a very small part of it and hear and share the stories they tell.
Freya has been working closely with Southwater Vets in Telford, following the story of pups Winston and Wally, who were found dumped in a plastic bag before Christmas - their five siblings did not survive, but the Southwater team have looked after the two brothers, and Winston has now been rehomed!
Friends and wellbeing (and pups)
Dani’s personal highlight was some downtime to reflect and chill out with a girl's weekend away in Great Whitley - only an hour away from Wellington and it had a lovely pod to stay in with a hot tub and amazing views. It was also right next to the amazing ruins of Queen Adelade's old house in the village, which Dani says is well worth a visit!
A personal highlight for Sophie was spending time with her mum's new pup, Maple! She is settling in really well and is getting on great with Sophie’s mum's other two dogs, Biggell and Doughnut.
Freya has been trying to get back into art this month; one of her favourite things about art is that you can share it. Using the same watercolours her dad used when he was at school, Freya painted a picture of her friend and her dog and gave it to her to keep. She enjoyed the process…and her friend’s reaction.
And finally… a milestone reached…
Sophie’s professional highlight was when client Jesmonite hit 65k followers on Instagram - everyone in the office knows how much Sophie loves running their Instagram account and growing the community, so to hit such a milestone means a lot to her!
What better news to finish our monthly highlights on!