Merry Christmas 2021 from ESco

Dear partners, clients and friends

At Christmas time we connect with you, the best way we know how
Festive messages via digital comms…seem to fit the bill somehow
Perhaps digital is the future after all – perhaps this is the death of the card?!
Where would we send it anyway!? Answers on a postcard…

The year began in lockdown, a phenomenon we'd all rather forget
Empty streets, empty pubs, human contact? Limited to the internet
It sounds more like an apocalypse, than 2021
So we're opting to veto the "c" word and bring back pre-"c" word "fun"

We invite you to join us, in putting down your worries and your fears
Instead? We'll succumb to mince pies, prosecco, chocolate & beers
We're a feisty bunch at ESco with a fighting spirit, it's true
It'd take more than pandemic to stop us – from sharing Christmas cheer with you

So, let's look back at 2021, what GOOD came from this year?

4 additional team members and 3 new clients to boot
1 brand new fancy phone system, with social media management en route
A bucketful of dev; basket discounts, show order capture, guest checkout and the rest
Plus 4 in-person industry events, where we donned our very best

2 sparkly new content sites, 7 new single customer views
More dev; favourited items, star ratings and customer reviews
The dawn of the membership model, which is fast becoming a theme
Plus the joy of EU VAT changes (alright, "joy" might be extreme)

Our clients make it all worthwhile, your feedback just makes us beam…
"already they feel like good friends and part of our working team"
"ESco have demonstrated they care about our customers as much as we do"
"ESco was the obvious choice"…" their work has always been detailed and extremely reliable" – THANK YOU!

So, an apocalypse? Almost, maybe. But there is still some good to be found
To quote Love Actually, at Christmas "you'll find that love is all around"
What we really mean to tell you – is we've got this. And we've got you
And we cannot wait to share even more adventures in 2022.

It is Christmas time once more.

As you know, we at ESco believe it's important to support and care for each other – for our team, those we work with, our community and those further afield. We believe it's our duty, especially at Christmas time, to ensure that love is all around.

So, with love in our hearts, our chosen Christmas charity this year is "The Smile of Arran Trust". This charity has really touched the hearts of those at ESco. Arran was a beautiful young boy, brother of Chloe, a former ESco team member, who lost his life to a brain tumour at age 13.

Chloe has told us that Arran dedicated much of his short life to fundraising for charity through music…

The charity has raised over £200,000 and provided more than 650 grants to children and their families affected by a brain tumour. We are delighted that ESco have been donating to the charity since its inception in 2015 and have always offered their support for our events and fundraising activities. There are a number of annual fundraising events including The Charity Ball, Isle of Arran Walk and the Smile Festival. We would welcome business sponsorship for Smile Festival; if you would like to support the 2022 event contact the organisers through the Smile Festival website. We would be delighted to hear from you. You can read more about The Smile of Arran Trust and the great work we do here.

Alison Tosh, The Smile of Arran Trust

As we see out the end of 2021, we want you to know we have so enjoyed working with you all this year, despite the obvious challenges. The pleasure of meeting up again at various events this year has outweighed it all. We look forward to the year ahead, to more face to face meetings, good food, maybe some fine wine, but most of all, enjoying your good company whilst providing the excellent service we're dedicated to.

So, with our hearts bursting, we wish you the happiest Christmas and blessings of health and happiness in the year ahead.