Business Diary: March 23

BREAKING arrows and bending steel bars with their throats were some of the unusual motivational exercises that Yorkshire lawyers took part in to prepare for a firewalk over hot coals.

The 26 employees at the Leeds and Bradford law firm Gordons undertook the challenges as part of an event to raise more than 3,000 for Little Heroes, a Yorkshire charity for children with life-threatening cancer-related illnesses.

Held at Bradford's Cedar Court Hotel, the five-hour event saw the Gordons team prepare for the life affirming test through a series of motivational exercises led by local life coach and firewalking instructor Lisa Clifford.

Little Heroes' Colin Nesbitt said: "It was a fantastic evening and it was great to see people confront their fears to create such a positive feeling of achievement that will stay with them forever."

City's cutting edge

Welcome to Yorkshire, the official tourism body for the county, prides itself on being able to attract a wide range of visitors to the Broad Acres.

Last week, Gary Verity, the chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, revealed that Hull had played host to the Association of Surgeons in Training, complete with an order for 35 fresh pigs' trotters so the association's members could hone their surgery skills.

The three-day event at Hull City Hall proved to be a hit, attracting 300 attendees.

The association, which is based in Lincoln's Inn Fields, chose Hull as a venue over Newcastle and Bath. According to Welcome to Yorkshire, the organisation was won over by the quality of Hull's conference venues. What they made of the pigs' trotters is not recorded.

Better off at home

Who needs Cannes when you've got Leeds?

While the property industry's annual gathering, MIPIM 2010, was in full swing in the south of France, Yorkshire property professionals were busy raising 2,000 for charity with an Alternative 2 MIPIM party.

More than 300 property and related professionals from across the region – a record number for the event's fourth year – attended last week's bash at La Grillade in Leeds.

The money will be presented to Leeds charity PhysCap by the Leeds office of property consultants, King Sturge, on behalf of co-sponsors national law firm, Hammonds, commercial bank Santander and Elland-based Marshall CDP.

PhysCap, which was established in 1972, works to improve the quality of life for children suffering from severe physical disabilities, by buying therapeutic equipment.

"We aim to actively work with charities on a national and local level as part of our corporate social responsibility and are thrilled that so much has been raised for PhysCap which works to help children with physical disabilities get a better start in life than would otherwise be the case," said King Sturge partner Colin Fell. "Raising money in this way also adds a further important dimension to the annual Alternative 2 MIPIM event."

Keeping track of plants

How do you undertake the biggest plant recording project ever attempted in the UK?

With specialist mapping equipment from Yorkshire, according to the National Trust.

The organisation is using equipment from Beverley-based Ormston Technology, which distributes GPS devices, to carry out the immense three-year survey covering more than 80 National Trust gardens.

Now 60 per cent of the way through this project, the Trust has been able to record details of more than 120,000 plants covering some 13,000 different species.

Franklyn Tancock, the Trust's plants collection curator, said: "The National Trust has the largest collection of garden plants in single ownership in Europe, if not worldwide. GPS based plant surveys are an important first step in creating a record of the plants in our gardens.

"Information from the surveys is downloaded into our plant database along with a photograph of each plant recorded. This information is helping us manage the collections, interpret them for our visitors and monitor how they evolve over time, with climate change."

Tim Pybus, managing director of Ormston Technology, added: "The National Trust has been using our GPS equipment for plant surveys for over two years.

"Being really pleased with the systems and our service, they have recently purchased additional units and will continue to use them for surveys in the future, which is excellent news for our business, paving the way for an ongoing partnership."