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During this health emergency all our thoughts are with the families who are affected or have suffered because of COVID-19. Also to our amazing health workers who are working tirelessly to support those families and protect the health of us all. This article is intended to focus on supporting small business owners but we should not lose sight of those helping care, support and fight to keep the country safe and moving forward. What a week - at the time of writing this article its been nearly seven days since UK "lockdown" and when most of the business world stopped. Small businesses up and down the country were either forced to close or business owners made the correct moral decision to close helping to protect the health of their employees and customers as well as helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Every small business owner in the country who has been affected should be proud of their actions and also give themselves a pat on the back for what they have had to go through over the past week. Many have had to furlough employees and spend many hours and long days on the phone to customers, suppliers and banks. It’s not been easy and it is unlikely to be any easier over the coming weeks and months. But that does not mean that as a small business owner we just sit back and accept our fate, whether that would be as extreme as business closure or just sitting back, waiting and hoping for normal times to return. It’s important for our health, our families and our business that we have sacrificed so much for over the years to build up that we do not just let the current situation and events overwhelm us. There are steps we can take to get us through this, to give us the strength to plan our next moves and to action our way out of this not only as business survivors but also in a much stronger position. Like nearly every business owner over the past week I've lost sleep, spent many hours on the telephone to a host of different people and organisations and had to make some pretty big and important decisions in recent days that not only affect my own but other peoples life’s. I’ve been running my own business for nearly 24 years now and nothing over that period has prepared me for events of the past week but over those years I've learnt many tactics, routines and plans that have helped me navigate through those many years of small business life. There's probably going to be no other time in my business life where I need to rely on that arsenal of tools as much than the present time - I'm compiling this list of things primarily for my own benefit as it's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of news, social media posts, guidance and rules, that I needed to write them down in this article to keep on reminding myself that I have tools to help my wellbeing, to help me focus and to help me plan for the coming weeks, months and years ahead. Below is a list of 10 tools that I rely on, some every day, some every week and some whenever I require them. The list is not exhaustive but hopefully you will find some of them helpful to not only as small business owners but also as human beings trying to navigate through this turbulent time. Please comment and share with me your own tactics and tools.
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All future news and blog posts about Stirling Electrical Services and Stirling Alarms will now be on their new blog available on the Stirling Electrical Services website.
Please visit this link for the new business blog. At the start of each month I take a look back at the previous month's weather information for Stirling. More historical weather stats can be found on the Stirling Weather website February 2020
As well as the main weather website, Facebook and Twitter, in the Stirling Observer published each Wednesday I look back and take a look ahead to what the Stirling Weather has in store for us.  Swollen River Forth at Stirling Bridge (22 February 2020)  Fallin-based electrical contractor Stirling Electrical Services Ltd. celebrated the official launch of our new Electric Vehicle (EV) Charge Point Installation service on Monday 17th February.
Formed in 1996, the company have a large client base throughout Scotland carrying out electrical and security system work in homes and businesses. The new EV charge point service is fully approved by both UK and Scottish Government grant assistance schemes OLEV and Energy Savings Trust, enabling Stirling Electrical Services Ltd. clients to apply for financial assistance for the installation of a new EV charge point at their home. After many months of preparation company director Scott McLean said “The EV industry is an exciting opportunity for us, we have invested heavily in training and qualifications for our EV team and our office-based and electrical teams have worked tirelessly to prepare for the launch of this new service. It is approaching 5 years since Stirling Electrical Services Ltd. launched our security systems division, ‘Stirling Alarms’ and everyone is excited to bring our new EV service to the local area." The company have launched a new website www.stirlingEV.co.uk to provide current or soon-to-be owners of electric vehicles with information and guidance on the process of having a new EV charge point installed for their vehicle. Across our electrical and security system services we currently have opportunities available for qualified electricians and security system engineers to join our team. Vacancy information is available at www.stirlingelectrical.co.uk/recruitment At the start of each month I take a look back at the previous month's weather information for Stirling. More historical weather stats can be found on the Stirling Weather website. January 2020
As well as the main weather website, Facebook and Twitter, in the Stirling Observer published each Wednesday I look back and take a look ahead to what the Stirling Weather has in store for us.  Stirling Castle (18 January 2020)  Stirling Weather Information
Past Week Sunday January, 5 to Saturday January, 11 The first working week of 2020 was wet and windy. A weekly rainfall total of 86.6mm was our highest weekly total since mid-March 2019 with over two inches of rainfall recorded on Friday evening and Saturday. Our maximum wind speed recorded was 47mph on Tuesday 7, our highest of 2020 so far. Despite a couple of mornings of frost it was in general a mild week with four days reaching double figures and the 12.9ºC recorded on Tuesday 7, is our highest temperature of the winter season. Maximum Temperature: 12.9ºC Tuesday January, 7 Lowest Temperature: -2.7ºC Friday January 10 Maximum Daily Rainfall: 37.3mm Saturday January, 11 Weekly Rainfall Total: 86.6mm Maximum Wind Gust: 47mph Tuesday January, 7 The Week Ahead Similar to last week this week also started off wet and windy with wind speeds around 45mph on Monday. It will remain blustery for most of the week. Wednesday could be a drier day but rain is expected to return on Thursday. Most of the wet weather this week is expected to fall as rain but at lower levels it could turn occasionally to sleet. There are signs that from Friday and into the weekend that more settled conditions will move into the area and with that temperatures would drop to freezing and below. Earliest Sunrise: 08:30 Latest Sunset: 16:23 Did You know: It’s been a wet past week and the longest period in January we have went without any rainfall was for 6 days during 2017. On January 26, 2016 we recorded our wettest January day with 43.8mm of rainfall with over 9mm falling in just one hour in a month that saw 231mm of rain. For the local weather news including historical and real-time weather information from Stirling visit www.stirlingweather.co.uk and on social media @stirlingweather and also our weather editor @scottlmclean Cancel It Please!! - that was the cry from over a thousand runners when we woke up to the relentless rain & wind on Saturday morning. : But how glad are we all now that they didn’t - what fun was had running through lots of mud & puddles getting battered from the rain & wind and then someone threw in some hills - well lots of hills. : Well done to all the runners, organisers & volunteers for their magnificent efforts in such horrible conditions. : Sounds weird & silly but that’s the best fun I’ve had running in many years. At the start of each month I take a look back at the previous month's weather information for Stirling. More historical weather stats can be found on the Stirling Weather website. December 2019
As well as the main weather website, Facebook and Twitter, in the Stirling Observer published each Wednesday I look back and take a look ahead to what the Stirling Weather has in store for us. Below: Stirling County Cricket Club on December 15, 2019.  So there goes another Christmas and with it another year with no festive snow. The last time we had snow in Stirling on Christmas Day was in 2010 during the cold spell that lasted from November, through December and into January 2011. Some would say that we had enough of the cold and snow during that spell to last a decade but in keeping with the season it would have been nice if we had some snow over the festive periods since. In last week's Stirling Observer newspaper (article below) I wrote more about the 2019 Christmas weather. As well as the main weather website, Facebook and Twitter, in the Stirling Observer published each Wednesday I look back and take a look ahead to what the Stirling Weather has in store for us.   Stirling Weather Information
Past Week Sunday November, 24 to Saturday November, 30 Another week of contrasts which ended with our lowest temperature of the Autumn -6.6ºC on Saturday November, 30. That day was also a sub zero day with the temperature rising only to -0.6ºC resulting in a cold average temperature for the whole day of -4.4ºC. Compare that to the beginning of the week when on Tuesday November 26, the temperature climbed to nearly double figures: 9.5ºC and the average daily temperature was 8.6ºC. Tuesday, 26 was also our wettest day of November with nearly 15mm of rainfall in what was a dry month 96mm, around half the rainfall of the 184mm that we recorded during November 2018. Maximum Temperature: 9.5ºC Tuesday November, 26 Lowest Temperature: -6.6ºC Saturday November, 30 Maximum Daily Rainfall: 14.99mm Tuesday November, 26 Weekly Rainfall Total: 24.9mm Maximum Wind Gust: 18.0mph Tuesday November, 26 The Week Ahead Forecast: By mid-week we will have lost the cold air that dominated last weekend and with the jet-stream strengthening from the west it will result in low pressure systems from the Atlantic heading our way, meaning a return to wet and at times windy conditions. Rain on Thursday is also expected to see the strongest of the wind with gusts at low level around 40mph. Temperatures are likely to reach double figures by the end of the week around 12ºC before falling close to freezing again as we approach next week. Earliest Sunrise: 08:27 Earliest Sunset: 15:40 Did You know: With wind returning in this week’s forecast our highest recorded wind speed in the month of December was 51.8mph on December 5, 2015 during Storm Desmond, on a day that also resulted in 64mm of rainfall in Stirling. (from Stirling Weather records since 2009) For the local weather news including historical and real-time weather information from Stirling visit www.stirlingweather.co.uk and on social media @stirlingweather and also our weather editor @scottlmclean |
Scott McLeanBusiness , Weather, Community, Charity 
www.stirlingelectrical.co.uk
www.stirlingalarms.co.uk
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