Good Directions

Good Directions Ltd have manufactured a large scale version of a gold pocket watch to create a centre piece in a Wetherspoons pub. To see a video of our manufacturing process please click on this link: http://youtu.be/QHaEIYLXDjI

Clock for school in Azerbaijan  Setting a machine    Good Directions Ltd recently moved to new premises in Botley, Hampshire to expand in-house manufacturing capabilities. As a family owned British company we are world leaders in the design, manufacture and installation of Exterior Clocks, Roof Turrets, GRP Structures and Copper Guttering. When moving to our new building we also took the fantastic opportunity of taking over a local engineering company, including their seven highly skilled staff and precision CNC machines for our new workshops. Our new 15,500 sq ft unit has been designed to cope with our growing manufacturing capabilities including large purpose built metal fabrication and CNC machine workshops, together with more offices offering the latest in computer technology, enabling us to provide a complete design service using the latest in 2D and 3D CAD CAM technology to customers wishing to create unique products.  Welding radius gutter   Technicians ...

 Sales Advisors - Melanie (left) Maria (right)  At Good Directions Ltd we are lucky enough to have loyal staff that have been with us for many years, including two of our Sales Advisors - Melanie Cassie (who has been with us for eleven years) and Maria Rudd (who has been with us for five years.) Last year we were pleased to offer them both the opportunity to work through an NVQ and an Apprenticeship in Customer Services so that they could both obtain qualifications to support the work that they do every day. Having put in an enormous amount of effort, hours of study and thousands of words into their case studies, we are pleased to say that both have passed with flying colours and have now received their certificates. Both staff deal with our customers every day helping to quote our many products including exterior clocks, clock towers, weathervanes and copper guttering. For more information on all our products please visit our website http://www.good-directions.co.uk/ or contact...

Good Directions Ltd were pleased to see that 'Ecclesiastical and Heritage World' magazine chose their Big Ben replica, manufactured for the new signature room in Harrods, to feature in their latest issue of the magazine. The scaled version of Big Ben stands 2.4m high and replicates exactly the four clock faces, with their black numerals and gold detailing, back illumination and chiming system programmed to mark each quarter of an hour and strike on the hour. The clocks are also fitted with a state of the art controller to automatically change all four clocks at the summer and winter time changes and deal with any power failures that may occur. To read the article in full you can see it clearly on their website: http://www.ecclesiasticalandheritageworld.co.uk/component/content/article/399 Also to see other examples of our clocks please visit: http://www.exterior-clocks.co.uk/ or for our full range of products visit: http://www.good-directions.co.uk/ For any enquiries please con...

 Maria (left) Dave, Melanie and Georgia On Friday Good Directions joined in the national 'Wear it Pink Day' by wearing pink clothes to work and donating £2 each to the breast cancer campaign. We also played the 'guess the next item on the washing line' game that was included in the charity pack. The organiser of the pink day (Rosalie) chose what she would next put on the washing line and everyone had to pay £1 to have a guess, with half the money raised going to the charity and the winner receiving the other half of the money. At the end of the day it was reveiled that Maria had chosen the correct item (a pair of knickers) but kindly donated her winnings to the charity instead of keeping it. Overall Good Directions Ltd staff raised well over £500 for the very worthy cause so a big well done and thank you to all the staff. To find out more about Good Directions Ltd please visit our website http://www.good-directions.co.uk/ . 

Last year Good Directions Ltd, world renowned exterior clock manufacturers, enjoyed a fun day at work by wearing something pink for the day to raise money for the breast cancer campaign, but this year the fund raising has stepped up a gear. Not only has the company doubled in size since pink day last year and now has twenty staff all wearing it pink, one member of staff decided this very worthy cause was really worth pushing the boat out for. Dave Quainton, one of our Production & Workshop Technician's decided to dye his hair and eyebrows pink for the day and before he knew it he was dared to wear it pink all over and come into work dressed as a woman for the day. Donations have been given of a dress, hat, handbag, shoes, tights, glasses and even a bra and pink briefs with supporters now sponsoring him over £400 already. Working in our machine shop helping to manufacture large exterior clocks and architectural features, Dave will be wearing his pink outfit while milling, drilli...

 New Factory and Head Office in Botley Hampshire  Good Directions Ltd is a world leader in the design, construction and installation of Exterior Clocks, Cupolas, GRP Structures and Weathervanes. Our Head Office and factory is based in Botley, Hampshire where we recently increased our in-house production capabilities by enlarging our metal fabrication workshop and employing new staff. It quickly became apparent that the premises we had could no longer cope with our requirements and we have now purchased a new unit nearby increasing our space from 3,500 sq ft to over 10,500 sq ft. Increased in-house metal fabrication workshop facilities The new unit has been designed to cope with our growing manufacturing capabilities including large purpose built metal fabrication and machine workshops, together with more offices offering the latest in computer technology, enabling us to provide a complete design service using the latest in 2D and 3D CAD CAM technology to customers wishing to crea...

Having been with Good Directions Ltd for ten years now we were pleased to present Alan Gingell, our newly appointed General Manager, with a clock to celebrate his time with the company and to mark his recent promotion. Alan studied Art, Design, Accountancy and Business Studies at College before joining Spectrum Signs in 1994 as a trainee sign maker designing, manufacturing and installing signage nationwide. Skills acquired by means of both traditional hand tools and state-of-the-art CAD CAM systems. In 1997 Alan joined global sign maker Fast Signs as a graphic designer and sign maker in their Southampton branch and in 1998 was made branch co-ordinator covering all aspects of running the business. In March 2001 Alan joined Good Directions as a Production & Installation Technician to work within our newly accuired signage company ‘Swift Signs’ as well as helping with design and production elements within the core business. Alan's hard work and skills has seen him...

We were approached by a company enquiring about several large clock features for Azerbaijan. From the outset it was apparent we had to come up with innovative and fresh ideas whilst still maintaining some aspects of traditional clocks. Working closely with our client we developed a series of clock features using a mix of 2D and 3D CAD software, which when combined with Photoshop and Google earth we were able to superimpose virtually into the desired locations. The chosen designs were finally decided and were put into production. Through a period of learning curves and outsourced production issues we decided to use this opportunity to increase our own in-house production facilities with the introduction of our own metal fabrication workshop and the employment of two new staff with the necessary key skills. Throughout the manufacturing process we photographed every aspect of the construction of the clocks and once complete, engineers flew to Azerbaijan to help in the installation of the ...

Pupils at a school in Sussex decided that when they left they would like to give a leaving present that was a thank you to the whole school and would also be of use for many years to come. So the year of 2010 all raised money to be able to donate two large exterior clocks and came to us for advice. The pupils chose two 790mm Classic style clocks in dark blue from our range of standard exterior clocks. Gold leafed Arabic numerals were chosen to make the clocks clear and simple to read, then to personalise the clocks it was decided that the school logo would be sign written above the hands and the year 2010 sign written below. Having an in-house sign facility meant we could not only sign write the dials using special 22 carat gold leaf vinyl but even provide a brass plaque with all 52 of the children’s names on it to be fitted beneath one of the clocks, making us a one stop shop for the whole project. The school was so pleased with the clocks they have come back t...

Darrick Wood Junior School wanted an exterior clock to go on their school wall and decided that it would be a great idea to get the children involved, so they ran a competition to see who could design the best clock face. Four children's designs were short listed and then the Headteacher came to us for advice. As the children range in age from 7 - 11 years old it was decided that above all the clock needed to be clear and simple to read. Several of the designs had a leaf theme as every class is named after a tree and the logo for the school is a leaf. However having submitted nine variations, based on the children's designs, for the school to choose from it was decided that the winner should be Ela, aged eleven. Her design was on a clear white back ground, with the school logo in the middle and a pattern of children around the outside in red, blue, yellow and green. The Headteacher saying that this design was simple but effective and fitted the school house...

Disney has unveiled its new showcase store in Oxford Street, which became the biggest in Europe when it opened on 2 nd June. The centrepiece is a 28 foot high castle which sits in the middle of the store and is the first thing to be seen when walking in. Good Directions Ltd were asked to manufacture a specially designed clock specifically to suit the castle. The clock is in typical Disney fairytale style with beautiful ornate gold hands, yellow and gold chapters back lit with static white lights and the centre of the dial back illuminated with multi coloured changing LED lights. The clock is controlled by one of our clock resynchronisers, which will automatically restart the clock after any power failures and is pre-programmed to alter the clock at the summer and winter time changes for the next 20 years.   A launch party was held at the new store, where guests including Claudia Winkleman, Ben Fogle and Tom Hollander sampled the store with their families. Jonathan Storey...

Some weeks ago we were approached by Paul Cook, the proprietor of hair salon 'Hair Concepts' to design and manufacture a feature clock to go on his new premises in Banbury. The building was formerly a warehouse for a wine merchants, which Mr Cook has sympathetically transformed with his team of Architect, builder and shop fitters to recreate a period building typical of Banbury town centre. The clock is now a unique landmark above the shop, appropriately featuring hands in the shape of scissors and the words 'It is hair time' in place of traditional numerals around the clock face. With back illumination behind the dial the clock is highly visible both day and night. In keeping with traditional clocks the bezel surround, although manufactured by Good Directions in modern GRP material in a colour to match the rendering, it is designed to look like raised stonework around the clock. Using GRP instead of stone however means that it can be manufactured to suit the clock size...

  Good Directions was excited to receive an enquiry to manufacture a replica of Big Ben for Harrods prestigious London themed signature room, which was designed and recently installed by Prop Studios. Harrods Signature Room, home to their branded products and souvenirs, has been given a complete new look thanks to a range of iconic replicas of London buildings and British landmarks. The room has been themed with large-scale models of iconic British landmarks, which include Tower bridge, Big Ben and traditional telephone boxes. We were asked to manufacture four working clocks to exactly replicate a scaled version of Big Ben’s actual clock faces. The dials were produced in white opal acrylic with black numerals and gold detailing, with back illumination behind each face. Standing 2.4 metres tall the Big Ben makes for an impressive addition to the scheme.  Inside the clock feature our Total Control system is fitted to keep all the clocks acc...

The installation of a new clock in Bingham marked the culmination of a competition run by Toot Hill School on behalf of the town council.   The finished clock, designed by 12-year-old Mollie Grice, was unveiled at a special school assembly. Town Crier Peter Taunton announced the unveiling to pupils at the school before heading to Bingham Market Place to tell residents the clock would be installed. Mollie was one of five finalists short listed for the chance of having their design turned into a £10,000 community clock, funded by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Local Improvement Scheme.  Mollie said she was delighted with the finished clock and was very proud it would now be centre stage in her local town. “I think it looks brilliant and I’m really excited to let people know it was my design,” Mollie added. The numbers have been laid on using 24-carat golf leaf, a very durable, hard-wearing material. The numbers six and 12 have been replaced with the town council’s Buttercross...

At Good Directions Ltd we have a long standing close relationship with an Architectural Features manufacturer in Italy and we recently had the pleasure of one of their members of staff coming over for two weeks to gain work experience with us and improve his English language skills at the same time. A talented fabricator whom has worked for ItalG for the last four years, Diego was keen to learn English techniques from our own experienced in-house team of fabricators and engineers. At Good Directions we offer a range of copper rainwater systems with three standard styles of gutter in two sizes. These often need to have special angle corners made to suit a customers exact requirements or even made to suit curved or completely round buildings. Our in-house capabilities also means we have the expertise to manufacture bespoke items such as customer designed copper hopper heads. Keen and enthusiastic Diego was a delight to have working along side us and soon picked up...

It was an exciting moment as many people watched the replacement clock we manufactured for the Royal Borough of Windsor being lowered into the pavement in Thames Street, the exact spot where the original clock had been placed over fifty years previously. Lowering the pavement clock into the ground at Windsor The original clock was installed on May 15, 1950, by former Windsor Mayor and owner of Dysons, Sir Cyril Dyson. Sadly the clock was removed many years ago and its wareabouts is now unknown but the council wanted to re-instate an important part of Windsor's heritage and so approached us to manufacture a replacement. Grandaughter of original clock maker with the Mayor at the unveiling of the new clock Dyson's grandaughter Caroline Fox, whose father Geoffrey Dyson took over the family business until it closed in the 1980s, proudly watched as Mayor Cllr Catherine Bursnall, unveiled the new clock. Mrs Fox, from Maidenhead, said: "It is very emotional, I feel m...

Having manufactured a 3000mm skeleton style clock for a school in Baku we were approached by our agent to come up with design concepts for a new time feature to be the largest clock in Baku, situated in a prominent position on the main route through the city centre used by the President daily. The chosen building was a typical Soviet apartment block with no detail and little character, which was to be refurbished and embelished around the new clock. Having decided on a large 5000mm Skeleton style clock with LED illumination to both the chapters and hands we had to overcome the difficulties in manufacturing and exporting the clock for installation by our client. To ensure the dial was lightweight but strong it was decided to fabricate the chapters in Aluminium box section welded between rolled angle rings. The dial was formed in four pieces with rear bolt flanges for ease of transportation. The hands were waterjet cut in Aluminium with additional strengthening ribs down the ...