Highlights of 2009 (with gross pic)

A short update to wrap up the year as I have been a bit short of things to blog lately.

On the whole 2009 has been a very busy year which has really kept us on our toes at work and on a personal side of things I was busy too. I managed to take both of my hobbies a bit more seriously entering a few cycle races towards the end of the season and with my photography being an official photographer at a few events and selling some of my shots also.

The greatest achievement of 2009 was without a doubt Simon's DIY slip at home leading to a hospital visit and a full page report in NUTS magazine making him infamous on a national scale.

Luckily the fame has not gone to his head!

Happy new year everyone! On to a prosperous 2010 from all at C.S. Fire :)

Ever entered a 10 mile Time trial by accident?

A bit of an odd one this....

On Tuesday the 25th I went out for a ride on my bike as the weather was kind and headed over Blythfield reservoir to Abbots Bromley, by the side of the road were a group of cyclist and some signs warning of a cycle race in progress. I pulled over and asked "Whats happening guys?" and the conversation went pretty much like this.

Man: A 10 mile time trial.

Me: Oh right, Nice.

Man: Do you want to enter it?

Me: Erm? Ok!

So with that I'd signed up and had a race number pinned to me ready to go. Now I have done mountain bike races and road sportives but never a Time trial. It turns out you get sent out at 1 minuet intervals and as I was an unknown they put me up 2nd. The 1st guy went off and I moved up to the start point with the timekeeper letting you know how long to go at 15 second intervals counting down from 10 seconds and then you go. That's it time to peddle like stink for the duration of the course to achieve the best time you can (I think paceing yourself could also be a good move but I wasn't exactly prepared for this event). I am pleased with my result which gave me an average speed of 20.6mph over the 10 miles finishing in 9th place in 29:05. This was one of the most enjoyable races I have done and I would like to do more of these events as they are very fast and intense rather than 4 hours of riding around strange towns taking wrong turns when the G.P.S. stops working which seems to be the way sportives always gor for me. Funny how you fall into these things sometimes...

Martin

Sleepless in the saddle 2009 Update

Many of you will have received an email from us a while ago inviting you to support Peter Nadin who was entering the Sleepless in the saddle 24 hour cycle race in aid of a local children’s hospice. On behalf of Peter, we’d like to thank everyone for your generous support.

Peter completed the race, in 24 hours he completed 17 laps of the course, that’s an impressive 136 miles!

The course was extremely muddy as prior to the race we had rainfall for 14 consecutive days. If this didn’t make it difficult enough, during his race Peter had to stop twice – firstly to help a young lady who was having an asthma attack, and then to help a crashed rider out from under his bike in a big clump of nettles who hadn't got the energy to unclip himself from his peddals.

So after riding continually all through the day & night he finished 23rd overall out of 79 solos, and 7th of 29 veteran solos.

When he crossed the finish line Peter vowed ‘never again’ but rumour has it he’s now considering entering again in 2010 ;)

On behalf of all at CS Fire and those who have supported Peter we’d like to say a huge ‘Well Done’ and good luck for the next time.......

If you have not yet donated to Peters fund raising for the Donna Louise Trust and would like to do so http://www.justgiving.com/Peter-Nadin is the link to his just giving page.

Peter Nadin's 24 hour solo race for The Donna Louise Trust

As many of our customers are aware I am very keen on my cycling but what most wont know is that I have from time to time dabbled with a few races & events. I have had what can only be described as mixed results during these events sometimes this was due to bike problems others times due to myself, when things go well I usually end up pleased with my result.

One of the hardest events I ever did was the Sleepless in the Saddle race (S.I.T.S.) back in 2004 which is a 24 hour endurance race held every August. This particular year was at Trentham gardens just before they converted it to the Monkey forest and Italian gardens. Over the 24 hours I managed 5 laps as part of a 4 man team (3 light laps & 2 dark laps using lights) it should of been more but the light recharging station couldn't handle the competitors demands and my lights couldn't keep going all night without a recharge. Each lap took me between 55 - 85 mins to complete to be honest the event was that hard I never entered another race until May 2008 as it put me off completely.

Now to the point, Peter Nadin who is a fellow mountain biker from Stafford is entering the event solo this year! Not only that he is doing it to help raise money for a very good cause - The Donna Louise Trust.

The Donna Louise Trust provides hospice care and other services to "life limited children".

That's terminally ill children to you and me. That means children who won't be going home. They are children that don't get a happy ending.

C.S. Fire is Proud to sponsor Peter on this challenge and wish him the best of luck we hope he far exceeds his fund raising targets for the event as it's such a worthy cause. If you would like to sponsor Peter too please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Peter-Nadin/ and give what you can as every little helps and if you are a U.K. tax payer you can claim gift aid which tops up your donation by 22% courtesy of the taxman.

It is worth noting that Peter is prepared to dedicate laps and even do sponsored laps where he will wear the sponsors name on the T-shirt for the lap if the donation is right ;)

The 1st lap of his race is sponsored by ourselves and I hope to be able to get hold of a picture of Peter in action. The race takes place on the 8th-9th of August at Catton park in Walton-on-Trent

For more information on The Donna Louise Trust please visit http://www.donnalouisetrust.org/ & more information on the S.I.T.S. can be found here http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/mtb/News2009/20090305_sits.asp

Thanks for reading,

Martin

Is Common Farm actually on a farm?

Well as per the post title, we often get asked are we actually on a farm, well the short answer to the question is "yes" but today as I had my camera to hand I took a couple of quick snaps of it before I went home.

The 1st photo is of our office. This building is actually a converted bull pen and still has the ring on the wall where bulls would be chained to.

The 2nd photo is of the field we overlook from the office door as we head outside which has 24 cows in at the moment.

As well as being a farm it is also a motel (commonfarmmotel.co.uk for more details on rooms and rates etc.) and I 1st met our landlord attending an emergency call out one Friday evening and things stemmed from there.

We like the office being on a farm as it's both quiet and scenic, the only downside is a few delivery drivers struggle to find from time to time and they usually end up in Ed Weetman's yard looking for us :)

Until the next update...

Martin

What's this Blog about then?

C.S. Fire has a blog at last! After toying with what to do next on the website we decided that a blog could be good for anyone who wants to know what we get up to when we aren't fixing your alarms in the small hours of the night.

We all have a few hobbies outside of work that may interest or even surprise you & now we have a place to post our miscellaneous shenanigans as they occur.


Until the next update,

Martin

Welcome to C.S. Fire & Security Ltd!

Welcome to the blog of CS Fire & Security. We specialise in the installation, servicing and maintenance of all types of:

Fire alarm systems Emergency lighting Access control systems CCTV systems Fire extinguishers Gaseous fire suppression systems Nursecall systems

We are a small company employing staff with over 50 years of combined experience in the fire and security industries. It is our aim to keep our overheads to an absolute minimum enabling us to offer our clients a first-class service at an unbeatable price.

We are steadily building up our list of clients throughout the UK. We currently have customers as far north as Leeds and Bradford, throughout the Midlands and as far south as London.

We have found that by keeping our labour rates at sensible levels and ensuring that our maintenance and callout charges remain competitive we are typically able to reduce clients’ costs by between 30% and 40% whilst providing a quality service.

We pride ourselves in being flexible with our clients and not becoming over-contractual as seems to be the norm elsewhere in the industry. We have extensive experience of working within a wide range of commercial and industrial sites including hospitals, nursing homes, factories, shopping centres, hotels, offices, garages and shops.

We would be very happy to provide you with a quotation for any requirements you may have relating to the above.

Please visit http://csfiresecurity.com