Signscape blog

Solar Powered signs for children

This is me teaching Year 2 pupils @ Yatton Infant School. My daughter goes there and my wife was talking to one of the teachers, who asked if we could come in and talk about solar power as the children were learning about the planet and the harm fossil fuels were doing.

It was a great experience - very different from teaching teenagers. My daughter had helped me make a battery from an old shoe box, with a little 6V battery and light. The children rubbed their hands and put them into the “molecules” to light the bulb - all very excited when it lit up.

One of the children asked why don’t we use solar more?, especially if it saves the planet from being dug up! How incisive children can be..

 Following our successful open day last year we will be holding another one this September, spanning two days 15th & 16th September. We will be opening our doors so everyone can see production, including our powder coating department. Come and speak to our staff and enjoy some refreshments.

We will be highlighting our Solar Powered Sign range, including EcoVision. In addition to Signscape there will be several other companies joining us, including:

Boldscan banner suppliers

Tekcel CNC solutions

GroundPlug (UK) Ltd  Steel anchor alternative to concrete

There will be some further announcements of other local companies joining us coming soon…

After knowing each other for more years than we’d care to mention, John Cosham has joined Signscape.  John brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role - with many of our customers already knowing him. His primary role will be to go and meet our customers and ensure they have all the relevant information on Signscape products and services, but more importantly to see if we can help you with any part of sign making.

If you would like to see John, or myself, please contact us to so that we can arrange a visit. John will be showing all the products, including the new Solar Powered Range of Noticeboards and Post & Panel* , Fingerposts, together with the rest of our sign supply systems.

*Our new Post & Panel price list will be out shortly, watch this space…

Every month we are hoping to interview leading lights from the sign industry, this month we are talking to John Cosham from Jantick 

Did you know?

John was born in the 1950’s to a Doctor and Company Director, he trained as an engineer at Reading University. At 25 he started his illustrious career in the Sign supply industry with Duramark Safety selling safety signs and then onto vehicle graphics and sign faces. He then moved to Rennicks starting the vinyl supply  for the traffic market.

John then moved to Signfix where he moved from Sales Manager to Sales Director looking after both the commercial and Traffic divisions. In 2000 John formed Jantick which specialises in supplying the commercial sign market with various products. 

 Known for his affable nature and extensive contacts throughout the industry Jantick  offer a wayfinding and consultancy service second to none. Working with a network of companies and individuals Jantick have now completed over 20 University projects throughout the UK.

John specifies Signscapes Fingerpost, Noticeboards and Column Plates, together with other products from the Signscpape range for some of his projects.

When asked why John is still enjoying his career in the sign industry he commented “The sign industry continues to evolve and diversify into new areas and is forever changing”  

Jantick

Jeremy carrying out maintenance

All of you that have been following our Blog and developments on the website are aware that last year we purchased our neighbour MH Powder Coatings and then moved the plant into the Signscape Factory - something I wrote about back in October last year.

When we took the Powder Coating side on, I probably didn’t look into it sufficiently in terms of maintaining the oven, keeping in clean - to ensure no inclusions in the work. It has definitely cost us time and money (more than we planned for).

We invested in some new kit to ensure that it runs smoothly and efficiently and now put new day to day procedures in to ensure that everything is as clean as it can be.  Thanks to everyone who has given us advice on this, particularly Jim Kearse - who is a fountain of knowledge on all things painting.  It is great to now be able to offer this service in-house and keep improving our quality and efficiency of our painting. Also a big thank you to Jeremy for all his hard work, research and determination in getting it right!

Mono D Posts

This picture shows some of the diversity of colours we do on a weekly basis - sign makers come up with some fantastic colour and graphic schemes and its great we are a part of that.