News

A fond farewell to Julia, who retires after 18 years with Gilbert Stephens!

3rd April 2024

Last Thursday, we also celebrated a remarkable milestone as we bid farewell to Julia Powell, who is retiring after 18 years at Gilbert Stephens, starting at our Exeter office and later journeying with us to Budleigh.

Throughout her time here, Julia has been the welcoming, friendly face at the heart of our offices. Over the years, Julia has shown kindness, willingness, and dedication in every interaction. Her commitment to ensuring our clients and colleagues feel valued and supported has left a lasting mark on our workplace culture.

As Julia embarks on this new chapter, we want to express our appreciation for the years of wonderful service. Julia will be immensely missed by all!

We wish Ian Penny a very happy retirement after 50 years!

3rd April 2024

Last week, we wished Ian Penny farewell as he left Gilbert Stephens to enjoy his very well-deserved retirement!
For over 50 years, Ian has been an integral part of the Veitch Penny team and continued to be after we merged. Ian brought not only expertise and professionalism but also a warmth of character that has endeared him to colleagues and clients alike.
Ian will be truly missed at Gilbert Stephens, but we wish him all the best for his very well-earned retirement!

International Women’s Day: Women In Property South West’s Panel Discussion 2024

15th March 2024

This year, we were honoured to be able to sponsor Women in Property South West’s International Women’s Day Panel Discussion 2024 in Bristol.

Antonia D’Alessio, Sarah Heath, Emma Webb and Tracie Bowden from our Conveyancing Department all attended the day to hear from a panel of inspiring women, talking about their journey, success and motivations in the industry. Chaired by Maddie Difazio-Wright, the panel consisted of: Morwenna HallPriya Aggarwal-ShahPooja AgrawalLaura C Aiken and Olaide Oboh who shared their personal experiences and spoke about inclusivity and diversity in the industry.

A very big thank you to Women in Property South West and the Bristol Property Agents Association (BPAA) for organising such an insightful day!

IWD Discussion IWD Panel Discussion

Exciting news for Antonia D’Alessio!

4th March 2024

We are delighted to be able to share that Antonia, Partner in our Residential Conveyancing Department, is now the Branch Chair of Women in Property for Devon and Cornwall!

This is an incredible achievement for Antonia who says “I am very much looking forward to taking the reigns and leading such a great team. There are so many opportunities in Devon and Cornwall and it’s fantastic to see so many empowered women come together to share ideas, inspiration and opinions.”

Women In Property is about creating opportunities and expanding knowledge for women working in property and construction.
Click here to read more: https://lnkd.in/ehR4iB9B

Antonia D'Alessio

Wellbeing Week for Childrens Hospice South West

21st February 2024

Last week, we hosted our first ever ‘Wellbeing Week’, raising an incredible total of £460 for Childrens Hospice South West. This brings our total to date, to £880!

To kickstart the week, we had a Valentines themed bake off, where all offices participated in baking some delicious cakes for everyone to buy on Monday! Thank you to Henrietta at CHSW for coming to crown the winners. Claire Gubb won with her delicious white chocolate and raspberry cake, Ava Hill with her red velvet cake-sicles and Debbi Egan with a gorgeous heart shaped Victoria sponge.

On the Wednesday, Claire Strickland (former yoga instructor), kindly offered to host a lunchtime yoga session where we did 45 minutes of stretching and breathing exercises, leaving us all feeling energised and ready for the afternoon ahead!

Thursday’s activity was a lunchtime quiz – a battle between all offices! After 5 rounds of general knowledge, love, guess the lyrics and more, scores were totalled and ‘Team Hubbers’ (East Devon Private Client Team) and ‘Team Okehampton’ claimed victory!

Finally, on Friday we hosted an afternoon tea at our Financial Services office, where we had delicious scones, tea and fizz! As always, the order in which you should put cream and jam caused a divide in the room. However, the ‘cream first’ team outnumbered the ‘jam first’ crew!

We would like to extend our immense gratitude to Antonia and Laura for organising the week and for everyone who continued to donate along the way. We are all feeling incredibly fortunate to be able to continue to give our support to Childrens Hospice South West, who are such an inspiring Charity.

Cheque Presentation

 

Sidmouth Rugby Club Sponsors Day

19th February 2024

It was great to see Sidmouth Mens 1st XV take the win in an exciting match against Chard this weekend.
Despite the wet weather, spirits were high and after Sidmouth scored their first try in the first 15 minutes, the game was very much on their side, leading to an incredible 29-0 win!

Ava Hill, Marketing Assistant, went along to show her support and said ‘Despite not knowing an awful lot about rugby, it is clear that Sidmouth have a very strong team, making it a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch!’.

Thank you very much to Sidmouth Rugby Club for inviting us along!

Sidmouth Rugby Club Sponsors Day Sidmouth Rugby Club Sponsors Day Sidmouth Rugby Club Sponsors Day

Wellbeing Week: Valentines Bake off

13th February 2024

Wellbeing week 2024
Love is in the air and so are the sweet smells of our Valentines Bake Off in the kitchen!

To kick start our Wellbeing Week, in aid of Children’s Hospice South West, we started the week with a Valentines themed bake off!

A huge thank you to everyone who participated. We have some very talented bakers amongst the team, making it a tough decision for Henrietta at CHSW, who kindly agreed to come and crown the winner!

We are pleased to announce the Exeter winners are as follows:

1st place: Claire Gubb with her mouth-watering white chocolate and raspberry cake
2nd place: Ava Hill, who had made delicate red velvet cake-sicles
3rd place: Debbi Egan, with the gorgeous Valentine’s Victoria sponge

Thank you to our East Devon Hub and Crediton for also cooking up some delicious treats too!

Now the winners have been crowned, it is time for everyone to tuck in!

CakeCake

Cake pops

Networking Breakfast for Children’s Hospice South West

2nd February 2024

Members from our East Devon Hub: Tracie Bowden, Emma Webb, Claire Strickland and Sue-Ellen Lee thoroughly enjoyed attending a networking breakfast, hosted by Children’s Hospice South West, at THE PIG Hotel last week!

Children’s Hospice South West have been our chosen charity of the year, so it was great to show them some support whilst learning more about the wonderful work they do. Thank you to THE PIG Hotel for a delicious breakfast too!

Santa comes to Okehampton!

21st December 2023

Gilbert Stephens was delighted to sponsor the Okehampton Round Table Christmas Santa Sleigh drive by, for the fourth year running, this year.

This event runs annually throughout the festive season and is organised by the Okehampton District Round Table. It is a much enjoyed part of Okehampton’s Christmas Celebrations, which sees Santa and his busy elves travel across the town and surrounding areas, spreading cheer and delivering treats to children (and even our 4 legged friends!)

The sponsorship money, provided by Gilbert Stephens, went towards the Christmas Sleigh event and towards the maintenance of the sleigh itself. Okehampton Round Table also support the local Food Bank, which is a support line for many in the community, especially at Christmas time.

You can keep up to date with the Sleigh and future events on the Round Table’s Facebook here.

Festive opening hours 2023/24

21st December 2023

Just a reminder of our opening times over the festive period. 🎄

Gilbert Stephens would like to wish all clients and colleagues a very happy Christmas and New Year. We look forward to seeing you in 2024!