Chance for amateur photographers to snap up £200 with views of Hinckley
BLOOR HOMES AND TRIUMPH BOTH HIT BY PANDEMIC
EAGLED-EYED photographers in Hinckley could win £250 and have their work displayed at a new housing development.
McCarthy Stone, the developer behind the Elizabeth Coxhead Gardens retirement homes complex being built off Coventry Road, is asking for people to send in their pictures of the area, so they can be enjoyed by new homeowners.
The group is running a competition aiming to showcase scenery, wildlife and landscapes, taken by amateur photographers. These might be well-known views from the historic Battle of Bosworth site, eyecatching architecture or a scenic shot of the greenery at Hollycroft Park.
Bosworth MP Dr Luke Evans, will judge the competition.
The best photographs will be displayed on the estate and the winning entrant will receive £250.
Samantha Watkins, deputy divisional sales and marketing director at McCarthy Stone Midlands, said:
“As the people of England continue to face restrictions due to the pandemic, we will all be spending more time getting out and about i for our daily exercise - and a walk is the perfect opportunity to appreciate the landscapes and landmarks on our doorsteps.
“Hinckley and the surrounding areas have so many stunning views and places to visit, and it is important that our new community at Elizabeth Coxhead Gardens gets to discover some of these for themselves.
“In the meantime, we would encourage people to take their cameras or phones when they are on their daily walks and capture photographs of Leicestershire in all its splendour which can be entered into our competition.
“Entrants are also welcome to submit any other images of the area that they have taken over the past three months for consideration.”
Each entrant can submit up to five photos to mccarthyandstone@ mccann.com, with Hinckley Photo
Contest’ in the subject box. You must include your full name and a title for your photograph and where it was taken.
The competition is open to all ages and under 16s must ask an adult’s permission to enter.
Entrants are also asked to request permission from anyone who appears in their photo. The deadline for entries is March 27
For full details of how to enter and terms and conditions, visit the website.
THE family firm behind Triumph Motorcycles and Bloor Homes saw a big drop in turnover and profits last year on the back of “unprecedented levels of business challenge” and a slowdown in house building.
Bloor Investments said turnover in the year to June 30 was down almost £140 million at £1.56 billion. Pre-tax profits were down £70 million at £122 million.
The business gave almost £3.7 million to charity last year, £962,000 to the Conservative Party and £59,000 to the right of centre campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance.
The business said Bloor Homes, based in Measham, saw complethe tions drop slightly from previous year to 3,548.
Margins were stable while the average sales price dropped from £296,000 to £290,000, due to a difference in the kind of homes sold.
In its annual report the business, founded by John Bloor, said the housing market had been strong due to the variety of mortgages available and good loan to value ratios.
The government’s National Planning Policy Framework, it said, was also increasing the supply of land.
It said: “For the foreseeable future the landscape for the UK housing market will remain uncertain, in terms of both demand and values.”
However, ending the stamp duty holiday, coupled with changes to Help to Buy – recently pushed back 3,760 the from March to May – added to the uncertainty.
Triumph Motorcycles, meanwhile, made a loss of £40 million due to a big drop in sales during its peak spring trading period when much of the world went into shutdown.
The bike builder, which has moved mass production to the Far East, said it invested £46 million in research and development last year after making its Hinckley factory its global design base.
The number of bikes sold fell from 60,000 to 54,400 and turnover from £530 million to £480 million. However, Triumph chief commercial officer Paul Stroud said sales got back to pre-Covid levels in the second half of 2020.
He said the business had completed a redundancy programme which had taken the global workforce from around 2,500 to 1,800.
A tie-in with India’s biggest motorbike exporter, Bajaj Group, to create a range of cheaper bikes starting at about £2,000, was still on track.
The annual report said: “Triumph Group has performed strongly over last few years against a backdrop of challenging economic, currency and motorcycle market conditions.
“The Triumph vision is to continue to be an authentic premium brand, focused on excelling in the classic icon, adventure and urban bike segments and selling into the right geography, satisfying our inherent customer loyalty.”
The first bikes to be produced under the Bajaj partnership should arrive in the global marketplace in 2023.