On 14th June 2014, over 800 participants, amongst them our very own Rubberatkins team The Rubber Lovers, took part in the Caledonian Challenge and Hike. The Caledonian Hike is a 24 mile walk, through arguably the most picturesque part of the British Isles, the Scottish Highlands. Participants undertook the challenge for charity Foundation Scotland, with the walk running from along the West Highland Way from Glen Nevis to Glen Coe. We are extremely proud to announce that The Rubber Lovers to the date raised over a £1000 and completed the challenge within impressive 8h 49min earning a well-deserved 2nd place! Congratulations team Rubberatkins.

As of this week, we have a brand new, 100% electric Nissan Leaf parked on-site at our Headquarters in Aberdeen.

This will be a company pool car and is ideal for trips within the local area as it has a range of 90-100 miles so look out for the distinctive graphics.

We are installing 2 charging points so if you are visiting us in an electric car you can top up your battery.

The age of free motoring has arrived as there is no road tax and we are re-charging it from the energy generated by our own wind turbine. As the sign on the back says…powered by the wind!

On Thursday, March 27th Rubberatkins welcomed to its premises a group of 5th and 6th Year Pupils from Oldmachar Academy at the Bridge of Don.

The main purpose for the trip was to gain a greater understanding of the construction and benefits of our wind turbine. Here at Rubberatkins we are extremely proud of our wind turbine and we like showing it off, especially for educational purposes.

Students were treated to a trip around our manufacturing facilities in order to help them understand the scope of work and familiarise them with a wide variety of tools and machines used in the manufacturing, development and testing of our products.

Finally Andy More, Rubberatkin’s General Manager, held a short seminar about employability skills, communication in business and importance of the teamwork to facilitate better understanding of how skills and knowledge developed through education can be applied in the work place.

It was a very enjoyable visit for us. We always welcome enthusiastic and curious students.

Rubberatkins FC (an official name is still under discussion) played its first official game on Thursday, September 25th 2014 against Enovate. It was a real test of strength, fitness and teamwork, but most of all great fun for everyone involved. The fact that our US-based customer account managers Mark, Danny and Greg took part in the game made it extra special. Despite our team, best efforts Enovate won the match 11-4. Ambitious as we are, it only makes us work harder and our team can’t wait to regroup and play again.

If you would like to play a friendly game of football please get in touch!!!

Rubberatkins acquires additional 1.36 acres at the Aberdeen Energy and Innovation Parks to allow room for continued expansion.

On Saturday 7th of September, our keen golfers went on a trip out to Stonehaven Golf Course. A great day was had by all and the weather was superb. The golfing winner was one of our Account Managers, Alistair Gorrie, who is second from the right hand side. Well done Alistair!

Our new extended section of Rubberatkins is now complete! We have a further 1000m2 housing a new test facility and tool room. If you are passing by, why not drop in and have a look.

To celebrate 25 years of Rubberatkins, there was a party held at Kippie Lodge on the 18th May 2013. The day was a great success and fun was had by all, the only downfall was the torrential rain! Here is a selection of photo's from the day.

Work is progressing well now the weather has cleared! The steel frame has been started and work on the roof has also begun.

The steel frame has been completed and the cladding is almost done. Our new building is finally taking shape and is looking very impressive.

Our branch in the USA has just moved to their new offices. Their new address is:

24900 Pitkin Road, Suit 230, Spring. TX 77386.

Tel (001) 281 719 5116

Rubberatkins MD Nick Atkins was pleased to present South Aberdeenshire Swimming club a cheque for £1000.00 towards the cost of their new website. The presentation was made to Katherine Pickles who is the Chairperson for SAS and who was delighted to receive the support. Jill Webster, Provost of Aberdeenshire, also attended the presentation showing her support of the club.

Rubberatkins Quality Engineer Aki Ikaheimo will be running the in the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in September. He is raising money for the SSPCA, please visit his page and kindly make a donation - its for a good cause!

Click here for details

Rubberatkins was happy to present Eric Sim with a well-earned retirement gift. Eric joined the company on 15th August 2002 as our Maintenance Electrician and officially retired in November. We are pleased that he has chosen to return to us on a part-time basis.

A few months ago we offered up some of our old redundant computers for employees to purchase for £10 which was to be donated to charity. We did manage to find buyers for all 9 off them and as a result raised £90.

Our chosen charity was the Archie Foundation, who does a lot of fantastic work at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s hospital. In addition to the £90 raised from the sale of the computers, Rubberatkins topped this up to £250 and today we received a thank you card in the post.

For more information on the Archie Foundation click here

On Monday 19th November 2012 building work started at our headquarters here in Aberdeen. We are pleased to announce that we are adding a further 1000m2 to our facility. This will provide us with extra manufacturing space, a brand new custom-designed R&D facility and double the size of our tooling area. This is a very exciting project and we will be posting regular updates on the building progress along with a photo diary.

Work will be completed by 29th March 2013, just in time for Rubberatkins to celebrate its 25th anniversary……

WEEK ONE

Ground preparation. Our existing test facility has been moved to make room for the new building. The foundations have been marked out and digging has begun.

WEEK TWO

The foundations have been laid and the supports for the steel structure have been cemented in place. The first layers of the main foundations have been laid and the top cementing should begin next week.

WEEK FOUR

The demolition has begun and the old tool store is being taken down. The gas mains have been laid and the external drainage has been started. Everything is now in place for the steel structure, once the old tool store has gone then preparations will start for the new building.

Rubberatkins is proud to be a sponsor of the Gordonian Rugby Club. The team currently is in 3rd place in the RBS Caledonia Regional Division 1 league and is one of North-East Scotland’s up and coming team.

This season Rubberatkins sponsored post protectors for the 1st and 2nd XU, with the new vertical Rubberatkins logo and of course, our support of the team. The photographs taken at Countesswells show the new protectors doing their job!

The Gordonian RFC run three teams are always looking out for new players (and spectators) so if you are interested in playing, getting fit or wishing to be a social member the club can be contacted through the website.

http://www.gordonianrfc.com

Matches are normally played on a Saturday afternoon, a full list of fixtures can be found on the Scottish Rugby website.

http://www.scottishrugby.org/community/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showResultsRank&p=

In May 2012 Rubberatkins were visited by a group of pupils from Bucksburn Academy in Aberdeen. The pupils had been working on a project at the school about wind turbines, which included building models of them as well as researching how they work. To aid in there project Rubberatkins invited the group along to see our newly operational wind turbine and to see inside the turbine itself and shown how it all worked. Rubberatkins hope that the pupils learnt a lot on their visit and would like to thank them for the wonderful thank you letter and picture.

Rubberatkins are delighted to be associated with Newtonhill Boys Club and have become proud shirt sponsors for the clubs youngest age group. The boys club are affiliated with Aberdeen & District Juvenile Football Association and play in 4 aside festivals across the region. The boys are all aged between 6 and 7 and this is their first taste of organised football. The 4 aside format was developed by the Scottish Football Association aimed at developing talent at such a young age. The festivals run from early April until January the following year and two teams have been entered for the season 2012/13. So far the boys have started really well and are improving all the time. Just look at the beaming faces on this photograph taken before a recent festival. Rubberatkins wish the boys every success in the future and who knows we may even see one or two playing in a Scotland Jersey in 20 years.

On Sunday 6th May, Banchory Boys Football Club Under 17’s were playing in the final of the Scottish Youth Football Association Challenge Cup. After a gruelling 90 minutes with the score at 1-1 the game headed into extra time. Unfortunately, their rivals, Bellfield Royals, scored after three minutes, and although Banchory won a penalty late on, they could not convert as it came crashing off the bar. Rubberatkins, kit sponsor of Banchory Boys Football Club U17’s, would like to congratulate the whole team and managers on getting to the final and wish them every success for the rest of the season.