The 31st March is the financial year end of George Hay and the end of my first year as Senior Partner. Clearly it was a memorable twelve months with numerous challenges faced by all of us throughout the year. At George Hay, we were well equipped to cope with remote working thanks to our investment in IT over many years. We also appreciated that in certain circumstances, face-to-face meetings were needed and those were held in safe conditions. I was extremely pleased with the way our team adapted and responded as the need arose. We were on hand to supply our clients with support and advice and a pathway through the myriad of Government support schemes. We created a furlough team from nothing, to process a large volume of CJRS claims, and our website was being updated more frequently than ever before.
We are a firm with diverse clients. This has been reflected in our clients’ performances and experiences. For some, such as local food retailers, it has been a bumper year, others have adapted and delivered acceptable results whilst for some, such as hospitality, it has been disastrous. I have never seen such a diverse set of results and hope not to do so again.
As one-year ends, 1st April saw the start of our next period. It is pleasing from that date to welcome many of the former clients of the Keens Shay Keens office in Biggleswade to the George Hay family, following the retirement of Wayne Kingston at the end of March. We have known Wayne for many years, and he was very keen to ensure that his clients will be looked after appropriately going forward. If you are one of these clients joining us, then I do hope you find your time with George Hay a rewarding experience.
Also joining us from the KSK office in Biggleswade is Libby Penwright, who had been working with them for many years. When I spoke with Libby, she too was delighted to be joining us and said that it was a good feel as both George Hay and KSK (Biggleswade) have been the leading accountancy practices in the town for many years.
On a different topic, along with the rest of the nation, we have been mourning the death of Prince Philip. Many tributes have been made about the Prince, in particular his foresight on a range of subjects, for example talking about melting glaciers in 1957.
As a reforming Prince, he was also the first member of the Royal Family to have a computer installed. This was carried out by a George Hay client, Chris Blake, then of Trivector who personally installed the computer at Buckingham Palace in 1983. Chris is still a client of the firm today and remembers fondly the installation process and his conversations with Prince Philip when he made a Royal visit to the company in Sandy. There is no news on whether the computer has been upgraded!!
As we all move forward and towards a return to some form of normality, I wish you all success and happiness and thank you for being part of the George Hay family.
