Business Diary: February 21

We can all think of some terrible names devised by marketing gurus. Remember Consignia?

So hats off to Barnsley-based promotions company Burn Down the Disco which is going from strength to strength as it celebrates its sixth birthday. Now there’s a company with a name you won’t forget in a hurry.

It’s birthday celebrations begin this Friday with a headline gig from the Tiny Giants.

Last year, Burn Down the Disco joined forces with Barnsley Council, and helped to deliver concerts at Elsecar’s Building 21.

A press release which landed in Diary’s inbox proclaimed: “At the same time, Burn Down, ever aware that freshness is imperative in the music business, moved its town centre location to The Cedar Room, which can only be described as Barnsley’s answer to The Boardwalk.”

Well, we’ve heard Barnsley compared to a Tuscan hill village, so it can’t take a vast poetic leap to imagine Bruce Willis strutting through the town.

Airport’s pet subject

Pets in Yorkshire have the travel bug, it seems.

Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield has reported a record number of pets arriving and taking off from its site. In fact, the airport is more than half way to matching 2011’s total figure in just one month. More than 30 cats and dogs were imported and exported last month along with rabbits, budgies, guinea pigs and even goldfish.

Transport and airfreight business Anglo European carries out the import and export of domestic pets in conjunction with the airport under the DEFRA/Animal Health Pets Travel Scheme.

Steve Gill, airport director, said: “Anglo European does a fantastic job bringing everything from horses for the St Leger annual race meeting to Nemo the goldfish from Jersey. January was a great month for the company and they are already creeping up on last year’s figure of 66 pets being imported and 18 furry friends exported from destinations around the world.”

Gary Winterman, managing director of Anglo European, said: “Our pet service in conjunction with Air Bridge International has really taken off this year. We now collect animals from 12 countries across the globe including Cyprus, Jersey, Alicante, Corfu, Gran Canaria, Malaga, Majorca and Tenerife.

“We are already taking bookings for the rest of the year and hope to attract new destinations in the coming months, making 2012 a record breaking year for the company and the airport alike.”

Travels and travails

Keeping with this week’s pet theme, pet drugs company Animalcare’s chief executive Stephen Wildridge has been taking some of his own medicine.

Well, to be more accurate, his former feral cat Tiger has.

Tiger, a much loved feline who returned with the Wildridge family after a trip to France 20 years ago, has been suffering from renal problems.

Tiger was treated at by the local veterinary surgeons and Diary readers will be pleased to hear the treatment went well and he’s soldiering on.

However Mr Wildridge was not doing nearly so well after he was presented with a whopping £140 vet’s bill to treat Tiger’s ailments.

But he soon came round when he saw that the pet medicines used to treat Tiger were in fact York-based Animalcare’s own drugs, including wonderdrug benazecare which is used to treat renal insufficiency.

Apparently Tiger, a well travelled cat who most recently went on a trip to Canada, is now considering where he next wants to go on holiday. However Mr Wildridge has plans to limit Tiger to the UK and Western Europe – Animalcare doesn’t operate outside these markets.

CV printed for free

In these hard times, it’s a smart move to polish up your CV. In an attempt to help local job seekers, the Cartridge World store in Grimsby, is offering to print up to 10 copies of each customer’s CV free of charge until March 31.

With official UK unemployment figures totalling more than 2.6 million and experts predicting this figure will hit almost three million by 2016, Cartridge World has launched the ‘CV Sorted’ campaign to help the nation’s unemployed find work.

Garry Winton, store manager at Cartridge World in Grimsby, told Diary: “We recognise that the job market is tough, with fierce competition for most vacancies and that people looking for work need all the help they can get, which is why we’re offering our customers this free service.

“Local residents have been overwhelmingly receptive to the campaign so far.”