We are delighted to announce the opening of our new Manchester office which will form a hub in the North to continue to provide consultancy, design, engineering, construction and validation services to pharmaceutical, life sciences and advanced technology companies.
This exciting development marks a significant growth in Scitech’s success and demonstrates our commitment to providing the highest quality of service and support to our clients in the North of England and Scotland.
The new office will allow us to expand to support the growing number of companies operating within pharmaceutical, life science, high value manufacturing, research, emerging technologies and highly regulated industries.
The opening of the Manchester office is a major milestone in the growth of the company and an indication of our commitment to providing the best possible service to our customers.
Dave Grant, Managing Director, said: “We are excited to be expanding our business base into the North of England and Scotland. We are confident that our new office in Manchester will allow us to extend the high level of service, reliability and expertise to which our clients are accustomed. It’s great to be investing in new talent, growing our local delivery team.”
See our services section to learn more about the services we offer.
Ray Charlton, a founding member of the Scitech team, recently visited Sri Lanka to volunteer for the charity Child Action Lanka, taking several laptops, headphones and mobile phones donated by Scitech.
Ray, who retired from Scitech in 2020, pledged to volunteer with the charity after hearing how many children across the country are deprived of education and suffer from poverty.
Ray explains: “The poverty experienced in Sri Lanka is a result of many factors; including the recent war and the financial crises which has been exasperated by lack of tourists (due to terrorist bombing in 2019 and Covid). Sri Lanka is a very class-based society and the lowest/ poorest suffer the most. There is no welfare safety net.”
Child Action Lanka (CAL) is focused on ensuring that vulnerable children everywhere have a chance of a better future. They try to ensure their basic nutritional and health needs are met, and that their primary and higher educational requirements are supported. CAL provides support to mothers and families who have suffered domestic violence and abuse, believes in the empowerment of girls and women, and funds the work of its staff supported by volunteers.
Children use the computer equipment donated by Scitech
“All children over 5 years of age attend state schools but teaching stops at 1pm,” explains Ray. “Wealthy families often pay for addition tuition, which poor families are unable to access. CAL supports these poor families by providing a lunch and additional lessons in mother tongue (Sinhalese or Tamil), English, Maths and basic computing.”
Ray, along with five other volunteers, travelled to the capital city Columbo to meet with charity staff and hand over the donated equipment. During his trip, Ray travelled to several of the charity’s education centres across the country to teach computer skills to children.
Ray with some of the children he supported while volunteering
Ray said: “When Scitech heard I was going to work with CAL in Sri Lanka they offered me several laptops, headphones and mobile phones, which have been put into immediate use. The laptops were needed to equip their pupils with IT skills and maximise their chances of employment when they leave at 18 years old.
“Together with a friend, we taught the children how to use MS PowerPoint to create a one-page CV and some children gave a presentation to the class, something they had never done before. We then took this format to the other centres we visited. The children we worked with were so keen and enthusiastic to learn; it was a delight. The experience of the trip has been wonderful; in seeing what can be done with the vision and energy to make a change and a positive difference to the lives of children”
Simon Howard, Business Infrastructure Director, said: “We were delighted to be able to support Ray and the fantastic work that Child Action Lanka is doing to improve the lives of disadvantaged children. We always look for opportunities to recycle any of our computer equipment when it needs to be upgraded and this was certainly a good opportunity to do so while also getting insight into the difference that such a small gesture on our part could make.”
In January, we visited Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospices to make our annual charity donation, this year with a cheque for £3,600. This year’s donation, together with our Christmas raffle cheque takes our cumulative total raised to an impressive £74,000!
We first chose to raise money for the local children’s hospice when a colleague saw the invaluable support it provided to a friend’s child. Each year since, we have been donating a percentage of our profits and taking part in charity events. This year’s fundraising efforts included taking part in the hospice’s annual Sunrise Walk in Guildford, annual Christmas raffle, holding a Christmas Jumper Day, hosting a charity donation tower, and saw staff sell handmade items including freshly pressed apple juice and handmade shopping bags.
For 2023, we already have a team of “Scitech Snowdonia Sunnies” to take on the Snowdonia Sunrise Walk challenge in March, plus a few of us will be booking onto the North Downs Ultra Challenge 50km walk in July. Our efforts are getting more adventurous!
Lewis White, Mechanical Engineering Team Leader and company charity Trustee, said: “We are very proud to be able to continue to support the work of Shooting Star Children’s Hospice. The care and support they provide to families in their greatest time of need is invaluable, and we are delighted to be able to help them in any way we can. We look forward to continuing our support partnership with to Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.”
Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is a leading children’s hospice charity that provides care and support to babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families. It has been providing vital respite, palliative and end-of-life care for families across west London and Surrey since 1994-5.
