Over the last month or so the local community of Teesside, where skignz was founded and currently has its UK & European HQ, was hit with a heavy blow.
SSi today announced it was closing its operations on Teesside due to the change in steel prices across the world and they do not see a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.
Much has been debated in the local, national and international press about if the plant could be saved, who might be interested in it and is their still a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.
For those of you who don't know much about Teesside, or familiar with its heritage.
It's an area surrounding the NE of England town called Middlesbrough. Once termed the 'Infant Hercules' at the turn of the 19th Century, where a little town grew exponentially on the back of the Iron & Steel industry.
A Heritage that ALL Teessiders the world over are fiercely proud of, and they have a right to be. Steel from Teesside helped build some of the world's most Iconic Structures, including more recently they Wembley Stadium Arch, in London, UK, but going way back to the previous century when not only Teesside Steel built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but also the expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship of the Teesside people.
It's been said:
"Some of the world's leading engineers come from Teesside".
The skignz team wanted to show their support for their local community, many of which who have family or friends directly affected, by placing #SaveOurSteel campaign skignz's across Teesside and beyond!
Below here is a selection of images that we have taken and others sent to us.
With some 7,000 jobs at risk, including employees of SSi UK and the immediate supply chain, this story unfortunately does not have a happy ending as it was decided today that SSi UK would be put into liquidation and the Blast furnaces and Coke Ovens will be allowed to cool down, resulting in the END of Steelmaking on Teesside.
Generations of Teessiders have supplied the world with steel and now it's finally supplied its last.
Not only those who have lost their jobs, careers and especially their livelihoods, but the wider community that will feel the knock on effect. The last few years have not been kind to the people of the North East of England, especially those on Teesside.
The steelworkers are not the only ones to lose their jobs, many other companies across the North of England are downsizing, laying off people in order to compete in a global market.
However one thing that won't be extinguished like those flames of the Blast Furnaces and Coke Ovens, is that of the spirit of the Teesside people.
#TeessideSteelLivesOn
skignz was founded by two guys, Gary and Si who both hail from Middlesbrough, UK. support their local team Middlesbrough Football Club (Soccer for our readers in the US).
Middlesbrough F.C. had progressed through to the Championship Playoffs against Norwich City F.C. on Monday 25th May 2015, at Wembley Stadium.
The winner would not only win what has been termed the Richest Game on the planet (circa £150m) but also a place in the worlds leading League - Premier League. Both teams aiming to win so they could play the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal etc... every week.
Obviously being local guys, many of their friends, family, ex colleagues and businesses associates would be attending the game.
In fact 38,000 Middlesbrough fans descended on Wembley, London to watch the game.
Si & Gary thought this a great opportunity to test the skignz platform with some of its new functionality.
They asked various people to set up their own accounts and 'skignz' themselves and put up 'signage' and 'badges' either above their heads or in places they wanted to meet friends and family.
Below is a gallery of images that we took and others have sent to us since we returned from Wembley.
"BTW Norwich won the game 2-0, so Middlesbrough fans, returned home in a very disappointed and deflated manor with only next season to look forward to!"
if you would like to know more about skignz and how you can use it either as a brand or an individual then please take a look at http://www.skignz.com/discover and complete the 'three simple steps'.
Also you can check out skignz on the usual Social Media channels by entering skignz in the relevant search box.
Myplace is a state-of-the art £4.3 million venue and activity Centre for young people in Middlesbrough. It has amazing facilities and opportunities for young people including a theatre, TV and recording studio, Internet cafe, alcohol free nightclub, multi-sensory room and amphitheatre.
Myplace is for anyone between the ages of 9-19 years (or up to 25 with special needs).
There are many activities that you can do at myplace. It caters for everyone’s needs with a range of different activities from:
- Popping down for a coffee or game of pool with some friends,
- See what’s going on, or sign up for a future event, activity or group,
- Checking for job vacancies, volunteering, training courses or get confidential advice, information or guidance from a range of services.
and many more!
You can become a member of myplace for just £2.50 a year. You can then use myplace every day for 75p (£1 on the door for non-members). You can even get involved with deciding on activities, events and more!
skignz takes corporate social responsibility seriously and with being a small start up company we believe that we have shown just how serious and how active we are about corporate social responsibility. A big part of this was through the CMO of skignz who supported the local youth centre myplace.
skignz wants to create a more sustainable future for everyone, so we decided to support myplace with their marketing activity generating the attraction to their youth centre and website.
skignz wanted more people to recognise what a good deed myplace does, so we offered to help them increase their recognition.
If you live in the local area then do take a visit to myplace. It has everything you need and it is there to provide a good time for everyone.
You will find a range of support and something fun to always do. You can never be bored and will never be alone. There are many services available for you to use which you can find out from their website.
For further information on Myplace then please visit their website at http://www.myplacemiddlesbrough.org/
If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.
Are you a little inquisitive by the title? Well…
Captain Cook was an 18th Century explorer and navigator whose achievements in mapping the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia; radically changed western perceptions of world geography. From Middlesbrough, UK. Captain James Cook wanted to explore the world mainly the south pacific.
During the Seven Years War, Cook became quite the craftiest and the master himself in map making. After getting noticed by those high up in the navy, Cook had been set his main first objective to observe the planet Venus as it passed between the Earth and the Sun.
Cook could always sail his way directly to a location he wanted to go.
The method he was using to find longitude was the method of lunar distances or lunars. To facilitate the use of this method Cook had with him on his ship the Endeavour Nautical Almanacs, newly published by the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. These almanacs listed the angular distance of bright stars from the edge of the Moon at various times at Greenwich.
Cook and subsequent navigators using this method measured the angular distance between a star and the Moon with a sextant together with the elevation of the star and the Moon above the horizon. What made the technique difficult to use was that calculation had to be used to make the measured distance comparable with the tabulated distances.
First the navigator had to make the obvious corrections for the distance between the edge of the Moon and its centre and for the zero or index error of the sextant.
Then came the tedious business of ‘clearing the distance’, which was applying corrections for parallax, that is working out what the measured lunar distance would have been if made from the centre of the Earth and correcting for refraction, the shifts in the positions of the Moon and the star due to the bending of their light by the Earth’s atmosphere.
So how did we go from Capt. Cook to skignz…?
'skignz is the new way for you to navigate around. It helps you to find your way through following skignz you can view through your mobile device located in the sky. Your signs in the SKY!'
skignz (like captain cook) eliminates the need for maps and allows you to find where you’re going or where you wish to be through following skignz in the sky you can visualise through your mobile device.
The skignz do need to be pre-placed by yourself before you go to any journey, however it saves you the trouble of struggling to find where you’re heading and make your journey a whole load simpler and easier.
skignz do not only allow you to find where you need to be, they allow you also to find your friends if you lose them. With a simple skign pre-placed above your own head or a friends then the task of finding each other in a busy environment is simplified.
You yourself could travel the world, meet new people, learn new things and discover new places all through using skignz to direct you there. You will never get lost yourself, lose your friends and always know the places you need to be.
So why don’t you be just like Captain Cook himself, follow in his footsteps and his passion for life. You can do all of this through skignz!
It is free to download and very simple to use. Once you become a expert at skignz you will see it is the best technology to use!
For further information on Captain Cook's 1st voyage then you can find this out at
http://www.captcookne.co.uk/ccne/timeline/voyage1.htm
If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.
With some 7,000 jobs at risk, including employees of SSi UK and the immediate supply chain, this story unfortunately does not have a happy ending as it was decided today that SSi UK would be put into liquidation and the Blast furnaces and Coke Ovens will be allowed to cool down, resulting in the END of Steelmaking on Teesside.
Generations of Teessiders have supplied the world with steel and now it's finally supplied its last. 
The steelworkers are not the only ones to lose their jobs, many other companies across the North of England are downsizing, laying off people in order to compete in a global market.
For those of you who don't know much about Teesside, or familiar with its heritage. 
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