Giving a little more this Christmas//

This time of year at Factor 3, it’s natural that our minds turn to thanking the clients who have contributed to our year, with a gift that’s befitting and orangey.

In this, our twentieth year, we looked back through Santa’s sack at the gifts given in the past. Terry’s Chocolate Oranges in year one (our first year was tough, alright), through orange dominoes, playing cards, a bespoke scent (olfactory being one of our better factor word-plays), Veuve Clicquot in various guises and our popular, orange themed hampers.

Someone not something

This year will be a little different though. And here’s why.

We know many of you had met Robin Craddock – Managing Director, owner and all round good egg of our client Lakes Bathrooms.

Sadly, on 25th November aged just 51, Robin passed away at the Sue Ryder Hospice here in Cheltenham.

If you hadn’t met Robin, we probably all know someone like him. The one-of-a-kind amongst your family, work or social circle that everybody has a good word for, that people gravitate towards, that puts people at ease, that is generous with their time, that has a ready smile, that sees the good, that’s quick with a joke and even quicker to the bar, that knows everyone, that has their passions and pleasures, that gets away with stuff others wouldn’t and that people love all the more because of that.

Don’t get us wrong, he ran a tight ship. He was demanding, he drove himself and the business, he didn’t suffer fools, he stuck to his guns and you always knew where you stood. He let us know when he thought we could do better. Equally, he once hugged a headline right through a meeting because he loved it so much.

Such passions were balanced by appreciation, by honesty, enthusiasm and by listening to the views and opinions of others. In short, a perfect client.

So, this year, in Robin’s memory, we are donating the monies (plus some icing on the cake) that we would normally spend on client gifts to Robin’s chosen charities – Sue Ryder and Cancer Research UK. It feels to us like the right thing to do.

We hope you’ll also join us in raising a glass in his honour – something he’d not only want us to do, but he’d probably pick up the tab too.

Thank you for sparing the time to read this message. It only remains to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, relax and enjoy a well-earned break and let’s return ready again for the fray in 2017.