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the gap closes

Posted by Marcus on 29-09-2009

Fresh from winning the first Manager of the Month award and gaining early bragging rights over the rest of Theme Dream, Natalie has been brought down to earth after a disappointing weekend score of just 45 points.

Despite a Premier League result card that boasted an incredible 32 goals, no one in the league really excelled themselves, with the highest score standing at just 79 – that's compared to Natalie's 107 the week before.

But Petr Cech's sending off and a back line that included three Chelsea players meant Natalie's team were hit with several minus points - and the chasing pack have closed in.

Second placed Manchenster United is now just 16 points behind Natalie compared to 46 just over a week ago, while several other league members closed the gap, too.

And with a little under a fortnight to go until the next monthly winner is announced, it really is still all the play for.

So, the top five are:

• Hectors Heroes - 528
• Manchenster - 516
• Wags R Us - 500
• Denwal Dinosaurs - 480
• Down in Albion - 478

Posted by Marcus on 29-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Another press appearance for Theme!

Posted by Jo on 28-09-2009

Theme Group has once again had its name in print - this time in the Reading Chronicle's monthly supplement Business Review.

Our lovely new home had already been the subject of Computer Arts magazine's studio of the month, but this time the focus was on our background before moving to Woodley and our aims for the future.

As well as a full page feature on us, the piece also had half a page of advice from key business figures in the area, covering everything from environmental issues to dilapidation costs.

We would like to thank the Chronicle, and its business reporter Alan Bunce, for coming and meeting us at The Old Chapel, and for choosing us to feature in their publication.

Go to pages 12 and 13 of the online Business Review to read the full article.

Posted by Jo on 28-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Twittering about Facebook

Posted by Amanda on 24-09-2009

Social media has simply exploded in recent years! It's powerful (not to mention addictive) and its unprecedented success has been both unexpected and inspirational.

For business, it expands networks and builds the brand personality – not to mention giving you the ability to experiment with polls, public opinion and showcase current work.

Theme Group has now been 'Tweeting' on Twitter and posting what we are up to on Facebook for many months now, with much success. Our Facebook page is very popular with our current clients and is a fantastic way of keeping everyone up to date with our day-to-day life – we've posted photos, news, blogs and more and hope to keep the fans growing and growing.

Twitter is our channel to network and grow a steady (and relevant) number of followers. We tweet 2-3 times a day, keeping it short and sweet in 140 characters. We'd love you to follow us too on Twitter and read all the Theme Group buzz!

Posted by Amanda on 24-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Everyone's a winner

Posted by Mark on 23-09-2009

The last 2 days have been spent delivering prizes to our competition winners. With a trip up to Manchester to see Jason Abbott at Blue Rainbow Apartments - our Who's the fatty? winner, and then a visit to Natalie Dobson at Royal Holloway University, our Fantasy Football Manager of the Month.

Jason was looking forward to tucking into his giant chocolate cake - it even had a Blue Rainbow on it especially for him.

Natalie was delighted with her bottle of Lanson champagne and has proudly displayed her certificate on the wall already.

Look out for our next eNewsletter for your chance to win cakes for you and your colleagues too.

Posted by Mark on 23-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

The mysterious package

Posted by Big Lou on 22-09-2009

A mysterious package arrived at The Old Chapel this morning. Lil' Lou and myself proceeded to inspect the package curiously trying to work out just who it was for. But, on discovery of the senders address, a scrabble ensued, as we both desperately tried to be the first one into the package. We no longer cared who it was for, it was ours now!

And what did we find... a large box of The Fabulous Bakin' Boys muffins and a message.

"Thanks for helping me get through the start of term with my sanity relatively intact! Neil"

We had just been working with Neil, from Royal Holloway University of London, on getting all the Hall Guides, Campus Food & Drink Leaflets, promotional loyalty cards & menus for the campus catering outlets, designed, printed and delivered ready for the start of the new term. Whilst also finishing off and fitting The Store on Campus point of sale ready for the opening.

Thank you for the muffins Neil, they are really appreciated, fabulous and gone already.

Oh, and just to clarify... we did share them!

Posted by Big Lou on 22-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

More of the same in Theme Dream

Posted by Nick on 22-09-2009

There doesn't seem to be any let up in Natalie Dobson's domination of Theme Dream - having topped the scoring charts for the first month of the league, she has racked up an impressive 107 points in the first weekend of the second month.

Good weekends were also enjoyed by Lil Lou's Lads (102 points), Lee Foreman's Down in Albion (95 points) and Laurence Hall's 12 Disciples (93 points), but my own team suffered a Sunday slump that saw me drop from fourth to 13th.

I had been quite impressed with my haul of 55 points from the Saturday's games, knowing most of players weren't on until Sunday - but they only managed a pathetic eight points between them!

But as we keep saying, it's a marathon not a sprint. There's still time to pull this back! After the weekend, the top five are:

• Hectors Heroes - 483
• Wags R Us - 444
• Manchenster - 437
• Down in Albion - 435
• Denwal Dinosaurs - 427

Posted by Nick on 22-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Enjoying a classic staycation

Posted by Amanda on 21-09-2009

We've just returned from a fantastic 4-night break at Centre Parcs, Elveden! For some, the prospect of sharing an apartment with three two-year-olds, three golf-mad men and three girls sharing a couple of bathrooms sounds quite daunting but I can honestly say that this was one of the best holidays I've had - even having been to the Big Apple and Disneyworld this year!

We all met two years ago at our antenatal classes, and we became firm friends when we all had our boys in the March (Mason), June (Jayden) and July (Samuel) of 2007. We decided to book this break away as we thought it had something for everyone, and it really did! Jayden (my son), Mason and Samuel simply loved the parks, teddy bears' picnic, shows and bikes - and the swimming pool with flumes, waves and sprinkles was a toddler’s paradise!

The girls lived it up in the spa, the boys had a round of golf and we all enjoyed the restaurants, where we were spoilt for choice. Since the 'Staycation' is in, I can only recommend Centre Parcs - and will be back again next year!

Posted by Amanda on 21-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Farewell Keith!

Posted by Laurence on 18-09-2009

Today we all said farewell to Keith, our Systems Administrator, after two-and-a-half years' loyal service. Keith has chosen to take early retirement and call time on his lengthy and distinguished IT career.

To ensure Keith got the send off he deserved, he was asked to choose his favourite meal for us all to enjoy. He opted for Thai - the first time Sarah, Amy, Big Lou and Lil' Lou had really tried it. Consensus was "it was good!".

After the meal, Keith was presented with a caricature of himself as a thank you for everything he has done here at Theme, both for our clients and for us.

We wish Keith all the best in his future endeavours, and hope he enjoys his thoroughly deserved and hard-earned retirement.

Posted by Laurence on 18-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

It's a marathon, not a sprint

Posted by Amy on 16-09-2009

That's the old football cliche (so I've been told by the sport fans in the office), and nothing proved this more than this weekend - when I jumped from second from last to 16th out of 28 in the Theme Dream in one weekend thanks to my team getting 82 points. I knew I chose them for a reason. On the flip side of the cliche, Marcus has dropped from third to third from last since the opening day.

But no late surge could help anyone catch Natalie Dobson from Royal Holloway, who is the first winner the Theme Dream monthly prize. She has dominated from day one and ends the month on an impressive 376 points (to put that in perspective, I'm on 291).

So it's a big congratulations to Natalie from all of us here at Theme! We'll be in touch to deliver your prize soon.

And don't forget, although Natalie is still leading the overall scoreboard, the monthly contest starts again from scratch, so it's anyone's game for the next month. Let's hope it's a bit tighter at the top next time!

As of September 14, the top five teams are:

• Hectors Heroes - 397
• Manchenster - 361
• Wags R Us - 359
• Denwal Dinosaurs - 345
• Mason United - 342

Posted by Amy on 16-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Standing out for the wrong reasons

Posted by Nick on 15-09-2009

Since launching our new website back in May with search engine optimisation in mind, we have all been really pleased with how everything has gone.

We are there (page one in Google) or thereabouts (page two or three) for most of our keywords, and even have a few pole positions, all of which has seen a rise in our online visits.

But search engines are funny things. Sometimes rather than bringing up something relevant, the search engine will dig up some tenuous or even bizarre links.

So as well as people finding our site by typing in web design, graphic design etc, we have also had visitors who were searching for the phrases "cheeky gnomes uk", "military style handbags", "naked lou", "how do i join the daily mail mini league?" and "restaurants in hyderabad".

The first is obviously Norm's fault, while the second and third are solely down to Lil Lou's staff profile and recent blog.

And while the third is in relation to Theme Dream, none of us have any idea why we are appearing for the final phrase. No doubt the searcher was just as confused as we are when they clicked on to our site!

But hey, all publicity is good publicity, right?

Posted by Nick on 15-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Jason's the...winner

Posted by Big Lou on 10-09-2009

Everyone at Theme Group says a big well done to Blue Rainbow's Jason Abbott, who was the first winner of our Who's the Fatty? contest.

Jason was chosen at random after correctly spotting that a beetle amazed Big Lou by travelling at 120mph, as reported in her Bug Jam blog last month.

The cakes will be on their way to Jason shortly.

Posted by Big Lou on 10-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Ghost glides up the stairs

Posted by Nick on 10-09-2009

Just as last week saw the addition (finally) of stairs at the Old Chapel, yesterday saw another first - Ghost's opening attempt at walking up them.

Initial trepidation - and much howling at the fact Mark and I had gone upstairs and he didn't want to follow - was replaced by his first tentative steps. He was fairly nervous the first time he climbed slowly to the top, but once his stairs debut was out the way, there was no stopping him.

That said, three or four runs up and down the stairs and he was shattered - and we had peace and quiet until about 10!

Posted by Nick on 10-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Thumbs up at Royal Holloway launch

Posted by Mark on 09-09-2009

Last night saw the official opening of Royal Holloway's college shop - showing off our recent point of sale and logo design work in the process!

The college was kind enough to invite me to the launch, which was mainly made up of staff. After an introductory speech from Vice Principal Professor Geoff Ward, in which he said the new-look store was "a rival to any high street shop", we all settled down to a few drinks and a chat.

And the reaction to the shop - now named The Store on Campus - was just as positive from the students. Although it wasn't yet open to them, the few that accidentally walked by during the opening were most impressed.

Posted by Mark on 09-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Not Mark's cup of tea!

Posted by Big Lou on 04-09-2009

Just what has that cheeky gnome been up to this week, you may ask?

After Mark found him hiding out in his cleaning cupboard earlier in the week, Norm was MIA for a few days.

Seeing as though Mark had finally got his hand on him, we were beginning to fear the worst may have happened until Jo got a bit of a scare when reaching for the spare loo rolls in the ladies.

Norm is continuing to antagonise Mark around the Chapel - he's even been caught on camera being very, very naughty indeed!

Posted by Big Lou on 04-09-2009 | 1 Comment | Leave a Comment…

Finally! The stairs arrive!

Posted by Mark on 02-09-2009

There were shocked faces and gasps of amazement yesterday when, after several long months of having to use a ladder to get into my office, the stairs finally arrived.

I don't think anyone believed they were ever coming - or thought there was more chance of seeing Elvis working at their local fish and chip shop - but the missing piece of the Old Chapel is now in place.

To celebrate the stairs' arrival, everyone gathered in the reception area for a ribbon cutting and some cake, before everyone savoured the chance to get into my office and have a nose around.

In fact, the only downer on having stairs is that everyone - and Ghost - can now easily get up to see me. Is there nowhere I can go for some peace anymore?

Posted by Mark on 02-09-2009 | 1 Comment | Leave a Comment…

It's tight going into the break

Posted by Lil Lou on 02-09-2009

The battle for the best positions in the Theme Dream has really started to hot up going into the Premiership's international break, with just 20 points separating the top five sides.

It's also getting tight in the middle of the pack, too, with sixth down to 18th being split by 70 points - a gap that's not as big as it may seem.

The speed at which Theme Dream can change became all too apparent over the weekend as mammoth points hauls for Down in Albion (103) and the Denwal Dinosaurs (95) saw them leap up the table to third and sixth respectively. It also works the other way, too, with the previously high-flying MM City suddenly lurking in 21st despite being third after week one.

And while the international break won't contribute any points to Theme Dream, it may throw up some intrigue. Players are bound to get injured as the fight to qualify for the 2010 world cup, and this could lead to some hasty pack reshuffling - and the loss of some big names.

So it's been tense so far, but it's about to get a whole lot tenser.

The top five teams are:

• Hectors Heroes - 305
• Wags R Us - 293
• Down in Albion - 288
• Manchenster - 286
• Mason United - 285

Posted by Lil Lou on 02-09-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…