Other News In Brief

Lurgan's GCD Technologies Named UK App Agency of the Year

Lurgan-based GCD Technologies has been named UK App Agency of the Year at the 2021 UK App Awards.

The firm has continued it's success from 2020, when it won Best Streaming App and Best News App.

The UK App Agency of the Year (Medium) award is awarded to an agency with 11-50 employees who are developing exceptional apps for their clients. Other winners of the awards this year include HSBC Bank, PureGym, Dominos Pizza, and some of the UK's leading app developers.

Andrew Gough, Managing Director of GCD Technologies, said: "I am immensely proud of the entire team here at GCD and I am elated that their dedication and talent is being recognised with this award. The pandemic created many challenges for both us and our clients but our team adapted so quickly to ensure we were able to continue to deliver the high level of service our clients expect and deserve."

Andrew Cuthbert, Technical Director of GCD, added: "The team have been achieving great things here at GCD. Not only did we achieve one of our company objectives in launching what is proving to be a very popular Product Design Sprint service, which ultimately has been assisting us in unlocking additional projects but we also achieved certification in both ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. As well as this, we have gained additional qualifications in programmes including Agile Project Management, AWS SysOps and the Nielsen Norman UX certification.

"Creating solutions for customers is at the heart of what we do, and this award shows not only that we are dedicated to our customers, but also to providing our team with an environment where they can grow and thrive."

SDLP To Host East Belfast 'Listening Event' Following Reports Of Harassment

The SDLP have announced a public 'listening event' in East Belfast following reports of women and girls in the area being harassed.

The event will be hosted by SDLP East Belfast representative Charlotte Carson, who is the founder of the Feminism in Schools Network which invites girls and women to come and share their thoughts, concerns and ideas with each other.

The event will take place at The Mount on Saturday, December 4 from 2pm to 4pm.

She said: "When I learned about several recent reports of women and girls in East Belfast being subjected to street harassment I felt compelled to speak out and do something. This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and its shameful that it is still taking place in 2021. What some would crudely dismiss as ‘banter' can have a real impact on someone's self-esteem and whether or not they feel safe in their community.

"One of the aims of the Feminism in Schools Network is to empower young women and give them the chance to call out unacceptable behaviour and that's why I've decided to hold this listening event. People need to hear the experiences of young women and how incidents like this have made them feel and this gathering will create a space to talk about how we can tackle this issue and allow women to feel safe and secure in our communities.

"This is a timely issue that demands recognition. In the wake of the Sarah Everard case and other horrendous incidents across these islands women's safety and society's attitudes towards them is firmly back on the agenda. Alongside great local community initiatives like Reclaim the Night Belfast and Women's Aid I want to highlight the issues still experienced by women in our community and challenge the outdated attitudes and behaviours that are sadly still all too common."

New State-Of-The-Art School Building Officially Opened

A new state of the art building for Braidside Integrated Primary and Nursery School in Ballymena officially opened today.

The £7 million project, funded through Fresh Start money, provides a 14 classroom school with a single nursery unit for 300 pupils.

Speaking at the official opening, the Education Minister Michelle McIlveen said: "It gives me great pleasure to be here today to celebrate the opening of these magnificent facilities. The investment of over £7 million has improved the school experience for everyone currently at Braidside Integrated and also for future generations.

"I would like to commend the staff, pupils and parents for their perseverance and patience over the last few years, as the project team has taken the work through from design to planning and construction."

Construction work on the new school began in April 2018 with the school opening in late August 2020.

Concluding, the Minister said: "I hope these modern facilities will match the school’s collective enthusiasm and passion for learning and teaching and will help the school advance further on its education journey."