Bell Ingram colleagues stomp over 11 million steps for charity challenge

Thirty-five intrepid walkers of all ages and abilities have been stepping up to raise cash for Bell Ingram’s two chosen charities – Parkinson’s UK and Guide Dogs UK Charity For The Blind.

Clocking up a combined total of 11598589 steps during the month-long April fundraiser, the group of colleagues from across the company’s offices in Scotland and the North of England raised £480 which was split between the two charities.

Supported by their dogs, children and partners, the walkers fitted in their extra miles before, during and after work as well as at weekends, and a WhatsApp group was set up to motivate the group and soon became a great way of sharing routes and posting pictures.

Mark Mitchell, Bell Ingram’s Managing Partner, comments: “Our annual Spring Step Challenge is always popular with colleagues. It was born out of lockdown in an attempt to increase the physical and mental wellbeing of our colleagues. It proved so popular that we have kept it going and with this year’s winner racking up 793,557 alone, colleagues continue to amaze me with their competitiveness and physical ability.

“This year we walked in aid of Parkinson’s UK and Guide Dogs UK Charity For The Blind. We are delighted to be able to give this small gesture to two worthy causes that play a huge role in the lives of some of our colleagues.”

Deirdre McVean, Perth & District Fundraising Group Coordinator for Guide Dogs, said: “We would like to thank everyone involved in this fantastic challenge in aid of Guide Dogs.

“It’s incredible when we receive support from businesses, and we are hugely grateful to Bell Ingram for their support.

“Guide Dogs relies on donations and the funds raised will help us to support more people with sight loss to live actively, independently and well.”

Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world and affects an estimated 12,500 people in Scotland.

Marion Pirrie, Regional Fundraiser for Parkinson’s UK, said: “We are really grateful for the effort the team at Bell Ingram has put in to raise this amount, which will help our work across service improvement, policy, campaigning and providing support for the Parkinson’s community right across Scotland.”

Parkinson’s UK helps people with the condition, and their carers, live better and also funds research into the most promising treatments.

“With the generous support of fundraisers, we are able to continue funding research into better treatments for Parkinson’s and push for the right level of support for people living with the condition,” added Marion.

Bell Ingram recognised as Carer Positive employer

Bell Ingram is delighted to announce it has been recognised as a Carer Positive organisation by Carers Scotland.

The Carer Positive award is presented to employers in Scotland who have a working environment where carers are valued and supported. Carer Positive employers recognise the importance of supporting carers in their workforce through flexible working policies or with simple, practical measures which can make a big difference.  This helps with retaining experienced members of staff, reducing absence, and cutting down on avoidable recruitment costs.

HR Manager, Kirsty Watson said: “People are at the heart of Bell Ingram and as an employer we are committed to supporting our team in all aspects of their lives.  We have several carers already in the organisation who benefit from our supportive working environment. We look forward to working with Carers Scotland on how we can further improve life at Bell Ingram for our employees with caring responsibilities.”

Bell Ingram welcomes nationwide ‘Flock to the Show’ campaign

Rural property and business specialists, Bell Ingram, is taking part in a large public art trail celebrating Scotland’s farming community ahead of the Royal Highland Show this Summer.

Flock to the Show is a nationwide event featuring 39 painted sheep that will tour the country from the Highlands to the Borders to promote the return of the Golden Shears Competition to this year’s Highland Show.

Golden Shears 2023 will see the best shearers and wool handlers from over 30 different countries descend on the Royal Highland Show to compete to be the World Champion. This is one of the biggest events in the shearing calendar and will be a tightly fought spectacular.

As well as promoting the Show, each sheep raises awareness of a particular issue affecting the Scottish farming industry. Bell Ingram is sponsoring Rainbow, a beautifully designed multicoloured blackface sheep by artist Emma McKie. Rainbow’s unique design is made up of painted balls of wool highlighting the hardship faced by sheep farmers selling their wool at plummeting prices.

Bell Ingram, which has headquarters on Isla Road in Perth will be taking part in the event and will be hosting Rainbow during the Tayside section of the trail between April 18^th – 28^th and would encourage members of the public to come and get their picture taken with the beautiful sculpture.

Emma describes the inspiration behind Rainbow: “Historically sheep were always prized for their fleece. Since the Stone Age, wool has been on of the most effective forms of all-weather protection known to mankind. It breathes, isolates, keeps off moisture and is temperature regulating and self-cleaning. Unfortunately, in the last few decades, the mass production of synthetic fibres and fast fashion has caused the demand for natural wool to plummet. Most farmers now face the hardship of paying more to have the fleece sheared than they make selling it. So my design it to celebrate where real wool comes from.” 

Bell Ingram’s Managing Partner, Mark Mitchell says: “We are excited to welcome Emma McKie’s Rainbow to the Bell Ingram office in Perth. Supporting the Scottish farming community is integral to Bell Ingram’s Rural Land Management work and, as avid supporters of the Highland Show we are delighted to get involved in their latest campaign.

“Everyone is welcome to visit Rainbow during her stay here at our office overlooking the Tay. We look forward to throwing open our doors to the public and seeing all the social media activity promoting this great cause.”

Bell Ingram’s office is located at Durn, Isla Road, Perth, PH2 7HF.

Raising awareness of jobs in the rural sector

Like most of the rural sector, rural land management and in particular rural surveying is experiencing a serious skills shortage.

As one of the UK’s leading firms of rural business specialists, Bell Ingram knows the issue all too well and is taking steps to promote the fantastic work on offer within the sector.

With five offices across Scotland the firm employs 30 professional staff involved in rural land management, forestry, renewables, utilities, valuations, and AMC work. For many the hugely varied role of a Land Agent is one of the main attractions to the job as it allows for a real mixture of experiences as well as office and on site working.

To help address the skills shortage Bell Ingram has developed strong connections with SRUC and regularly welcomes students from the Rural Business Management course on site for practical valuation experience.

A key piece of the puzzle, however, is promoting the sector to those who don’t know the work exists. To help, Bell Ingram has partnered with Countryside Learning Scotland, a charitable organisation founded to help promote rural jobs to all young people across the country, not just those from rural communities.

As part of this project a panel of young people from a cross section of the population were tasked with producing a video about rural work, interviewing those in the sector about their career pathway, which premiered at the Highland Show last year.

This year the firm is producing social media campaigns promoting the careers available within the sector and profiling the varied work and backgrounds of those in the business.   

Head of Rural Land Management at Bell Ingram, Rob Whitson, said: “At Bell Ingram we have a robust training programme in place that has successfully guided trainee Land Agents through their APC exams to become Chartered Rural Surveyors.

“But as an industry we must do better at promoting the brilliant work on offer within rural surveying. Whether that is developing stronger relationships with schools and universities or supporting national projects such as Countryside Learning Scotland, it is imperative we have the people with the right skills available to carry out the vital work we do to keep the rural economy thriving.” 

Bell Ingram is recruiting for a variety of positions across Scotland including Senior Chartered Surveyor in Beauly, Land Agent in Perth & Ayr, Forester in Aberdeen & Perth. For more information visit bellingram.co.uk/work-with-us/vacancies

Bell Ingram Support Farming Podcast Showcasing Scotland’s Rural Communities

Rural property and business specialists, Bell Ingram has signed up to support the OnFARM podcast on a one-year sponsorship deal.

Launched in January 2020, OnFARM showcases enterprise, community, creativity, charity and history of rural Scotland.

The podcast gives rural areas a stronger voice and a new platform from which to share their wonderful and inspiring stories. As the weeks, months and years go on, OnFARM will be speaking with individuals, businesses and organisations, telling their story and raising the profile of rural Scotland and the people, ingenuity and businesses which make it so special.

As part of the sponsorship, listeners will have the chance to hear from Bell Ingram’s rural land management experts and the exciting projects they are working on across the country.

Rob Whitson, Head of Rural Land Management at Bell Ingram says: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with OnFARM. With our roots in rural estate management, we mange some of UK’s finest agricultural and sporting estates and currently oversee hundreds of thousands of hectares of private and corporate estates across the UK.

“Supporting the Scottish farming community is integral to Bell Ingram’s Rural Land Management work and, with many of our team members from agricultural backgrounds, our partnership with OnFARM only further cements this close relationship.

“We look forward to hearing the fascinating stories from guests on the podcast throughout the year and getting involved in important discussions on the topics of the day with Monty and the OnFARM team.”

OnFARM Presenter, Ross Montague (Monty) added: “We are delighted, and grateful to welcome Bell Ingram on board as a sponsor of OnFARM. Their sponsorship will give us the resource to support rural charities, events and other rural voices who may otherwise struggle to have their story heard.

“We are also hugely grateful to law firm, Gillespie Macandrew for agreeing a renewal of their sponsorship with OnFARM and auctioneers, Lawrie & Symington, for coming on board too.

“This is an exciting time for OnFARM, our listener numbers continue to grow and we are performing in the top 2% of global podcasts as monitored by the respected benchmarking platform, Listen Notes.”

Recent episodes of the OnFARM podcast have covered subjects as varied as an interview with farmer and best-selling crime fiction author, James Oswald, to a look at the history and excitement of horse racing in the Scottish Borders.

The OnFARM podcast can be found via Google or on most podcast hosting apps.