Free business skills workshops will take place in Gt Yarmouth in July to help people who are thinking of setting up their own business or have taken the plunge during the last 12 months.
MENTA’s mission is to help people achieve their dreams of becoming self-employed or running their own successful company.
The series of three, four-hour workshops cover business planning, marketing and bookkeeping and will be held at the Imperial Hotel, Great Yarmouth.
MENTA trainer, John Clarke said, “I meet people from all age groups and backgrounds who come along to gain expert support and business skills training.
The sessions are informal and the feedback we receive is fantastic, people get a lot of practical advice which they appreciate.” Leanne Castle, MENTA’s marketing manager commented, “The 12 hours of free start-up Start Right training has been completed by more than 500 Norfolk and Suffolk based people. In the last three years at least 270 of them have made their dream a reality and started their enterprise.”
The start-up training is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and isn’t affected by Brexit. MENTA’s long-term aim is to produce more employment opportunities and prosperity in Gt Yarmouth and the surrounding area.
For more details visit the MENTA website www.menta.org.uk and go to the ‘start up’ page or call 01284 760206 for details. Booking is essential.
As it marks its sixth birthday, leading maintenance company RFT can celebrate carrying out a massive 60,000 responsive repairs each year.
The facilities, repairs and maintenance specialist, part of the Flagship Group, was set up in 2013 to take a new approach to looking after the Group’s homes.
Over the last six years, the company has done just that. It has grown significantly to offer responsive and planned repairs, grounds maintenance and cleaning, ensuring a joined-up service for the customers of its 28,000 properties.
This is complemented by the gas maintenance service provided by Gasway, which Flagship Group acquired in 2017.
With an area of operation the size of Wales, RFT has some 232 vans on the road and each year it brings 1,200 empty homes back into use. It also renews in excess of 1,500 bathrooms and kitchens.
In the last year alone, RFT fitted more than 900 kitchens and 600 bathrooms.
Warren Gannaway, Operations Director with RFT Services said: “When RFT was set-up, the overriding goal was to provide a great service to the Flagship customers by bringing all these areas of expertise in-house. It was a huge challenge and opportunity to set up a new company completely from scratch and the RFT staff should be proud of what they have achieved in that time.”
The partnership with Victory Housing in January 2019 brought an additional 5,000 homes in North Norfolk into RFT’s remit. And, RFT – which offers a 24/7 service – now also works with other housing associations, local associations and businesses.
RFT’s growth has been supported by technology and the development of an in-house developed IT operating system which supports the team’s work across such a large geographical area. Further improvements are planned as RFT looks to the future. Warren said:
“We are focused on continuous improvement and making our service even better for our customers. Innovation is at the heart of how we work and we have plans for further enhancements, such as electric vehicles.
“RFT has made a huge difference over the last six years and that is down to our great staff, both in the support roles and our customer facing operatives, who are empowered to make the right repair, first time to meet the customer’s needs.”
We have Arts Council support but we have to unlock it!
We are thrilled the Arts Council has awarded £14,950 as a National Lottery Project Grant. This provides the major part of funding for a pilot project in a close working partnership with Norfolk Library Information Services and artists. A funder we approached for the critical matched funding to release the ACE funds of 10% of the estimated total project budget of £25,000, has advised us sadly they cannot support us after all. So we are approaching you as leaders in the business community asking for your help in the form of a corporate social donation, perhaps £500, £1,500 or even the full 10%, £2,500.
Creative learning in the community: pilot projects with libraries
The project will develop NPT Creative Learning services and deliver immediate benefits to families and children visiting libraries in Norwich, Aylsham and Brundall. We shall use our skills and experience to explore how puppetry and creative play can have a positive impact on the work of Norfolk Library Information Service.
Your co-funding help will help ensure we can
Develop and run programmes with 3 children’s libraries of different sizes (main, town and village scale libraries in terms of users and building spaces) and different settings (city, market town, rural)
Present in each of the partner libraries a programme of professional development for library staff, a touring puppet show and one or more puppet making and performing workshops, all with a focus on how these can assist the development of literacy skills (reading and writing)
Evaluate these programmes against agreed indicators, including the delivery of public benefit to users, report the results and propose future development
Benefits for your firm
Demonstrate active corporate commitment to wider activities in our cultural and social landscape
Share in the publicity about the project in the communities where the events will be run
Recognition of support in our evaluation reports as well as updates and summaries on social media
Recognition of your support on our website
Please get in touch with us if you would like to offer or discuss support! Perhaps there are other opportunities for us to work together. We have been a regular venue for book, music, and charity launches as well as corporate events. So if you haven’t visited us before or in depth, perhaps you would like to visit for a short tour and a chat over coffee? You can contact us by email or phone: Ian Woods will have the fullest picture on ianwoods@puppettheatre.co.uk, 01603 615564 or you can contact me nichopkins@puppettheatre.co.uk. Thank you Nic Hopkins, Chair of Board of Trustee
An innovative million-pound project designed to unlock the talents of graduates and Norfolk’s thriving small-medium enterprises will start this summer following a successful bid to the Office for Students (Ofs).
The Gateways to Growth – Unlocking Talent in Norfolk project will receive £300,000 of funding from the Office for Students and attract additional support from partners making the total project worth £1,000,000.
UEA led the successful bid to the Ofs Challenge Competition. It will run for 3 years and aims to boost engagement between graduates and Norfolk’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through internships and enhanced skills training linked to Norfolk’s Enterprise hubs.
Key Facts:
£1,000,000 project, including £300,000 Ofs grant
1,600+ Norfolk SME businesses and 750 graduates supported over three years
Focus on working with six Enterprise hubs linking SMEs with graduate interns
UEA Vice Chancellor Professor David Richardson said: “Bringing talented graduates and Norfolk’s innovative SME businesses together is vital for our region. UEA has a significant role to play in support Norfolk’s thriving local industries and this project will deliver real benefits both to our graduates and to small and medium enterprises in our county.
“UEA is proud to be leading this project which will help to stimulate and support local industry and entrepreneurs and graduates.”
The tailor-made project will address some of the problems faced by Norwich and Norfolk’s economy and UEA’s graduates, many of whom want to remain in Norfolk after completing their studies but struggle to secure graduate level employment.
Julie Schofield, Joint Head of UEA Careers Service, said: “Our graduates love to stay in the city and county and yet there is a perception that there are too few graduate jobs for them. Our local economy is 90%+ SME and from our research we know that graduates do not always think that employment in an SME is a viable career option and SMEs do not always appreciate what a graduate can do for their business.”
Chris Starkie, Chief Executive of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “We have more than 60,000 businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk so there is a huge opportunity for graduates to find excellent roles on their doorstep and have a fulfilling career. There is also substantial investment in tech and energy taking place therefore these sectors will experience immense growth. Now more than ever this is the place where ideas become reality and you will want to be part of it.”
The winning bid has been developed by University of East Anglia (UEA), with support from New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP); Chamber of Commerce, Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, South Norfolk Council, UEA SU, Hethel Innovation Centre, Kings Lynn Innovation Centre, Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor and the St Georges Works.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students said: “There is an outdated assumption that the typical student experience involves moving far away from home to study and work. This is not true for a large number of students and graduates, and we know that, whether by choice or circumstance, many stay in their home towns.”
“Graduates should not have to move to London to get good jobs. It is essential that those who stay in their home towns and cities can enter high-skilled work and are not locked out of the graduate labour market.”
“This funding will help universities and colleges find ways to remove barriers to local graduate employment, broaden the choice for those local graduates, and help ensure that students are getting the right skills to enter rewarding work. It’s good news for graduates, universities and local employers in search of highly-skilled, work-ready graduates.”
Meeting like-minded business people in a friendly and informal environment is a fantastic way of making those all important business contacts. MENTA’s networking event, Coffee Means Business returns to The Feathers Hotel, in Holt on Tuesday 18 June when sole traders, freelancers and company owenrs and staff are welcome to meet up over coffee and biscuits.
Leanne Castle of MENTA will host the event and comments, “Linking up, making new contacts cannot be underated in business, especially if you are someone who works remotely. Running a business can be a lonely place and to have the opportunity to meet others can lead to some great connections and sharing of ideas.”
“Our invited speaker will be Keith Osborne of Keith Osborn photography who will be sharing his thoughts on why we need proffessional photographs to reflect our brand.”
MENTA’s Coffee Means Business events don’t require a membership or joining fee, just £5pp payable on arrival. The event on Tuesday 18 June at The Feathers Hotel at Holt starts from 9.30am and finishes at 11.30am (it is fine to arrive later, or leave earlier).
For further details go to www.menta.org.uk and visit the events and networking tab or call 01284 760206
MENTA has announced its free business start-up training will take place at locations across Norfolk. The series of three, four-hour business skills workshops cover subjects vital when setting up a business; planning, marketing and bookkeeping. The sessions have been well received and over the past three years more than 500 people have completed the training and more than 270 of them have made their dream a reality and set up a business in Norfolk or Suffolk. The start-up Start Right workshops are designed to help people who are thinking of setting up their own business or have taken the plunge during the last 12 months. MENTA’s mission is to help people achieve their dreams of becoming self-employed or running their own successful company. MENTA trainer, John Clarke said, “I meet people from all age groups and backgrounds who come along to gain expert support and business skills training. The sessions are informal and the feedback we receive is fantastic, people get a lot of practical advice which they appreciate.” The start-up training is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and isn’t affected by Brexit. MENTA’s long-term aim is to produce more employment opportunities and prosperity in Norfolk. The workshops are held in Gt Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Norwich, North Walsham and Dereham. For more details visit the MENTA website www.menta.org.uk and go to the ‘start up’ page or call 01284 760206 for details. Booking is essential.
Marcin ‘Magic’ Pomierny (age 34), Head Chef at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich and Chef of the Year in the EDP Norfolk Food and Drink Awards 2016, is a semi-finalist in the 2019 Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year competition. This is the second year running that Magic has reached the semi-final.
Forty chefs, split into four semi-final heats, will be competing on June 11 for a place in the final. The winner of each heat, plus the six best runners up, go through to the final, which is at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday, October 1.
Magic’s semi-final heat is at Sheffield College. The brief for the chefs is to produce a creative three-course summer lunch menu.
Magic, who was a finalist in the 2008 Craft Guild of Chefs Young Chef of the Year competition said: “I am very excited to have reached the semi-final of the National Chef of the Year competition for the second year running. I learned a lot at last year’s semi-final and will do my very best to secure a place in the final for the Maids Head and Norwich.”
Christine Malcolm, General Manager, Maids Head Hotel said: “Magic has worked very hard over the last six years to raise the profile of the hotel as a fine dining destination. We achieved a second AA Rosette in 2016 and Magic’s ambition is to raise the bar further and achieve a third AA Rosette. We wish Magic all the best for the National Chef of the Year competition.”
Marcin ‘Magic’ Pomiernycomes from near Krakow in Poland. He trained as a chef in Poland and studied catering for diabetics as an additional subject. Magic moved to Norwich in June 2005; his brother and sister were already in the city.
He spoke little English at the time and his family helped secure him a job as a kitchen porter at Tatlers, where he did washing up and food preparation for one year. Then Magic worked for Pulse and The Library for 18 months, followed by McIntoshes Kitchen for another 18 months.
His next job in 2009 was Sous Chef at Rare Steak House and he moved on to The Mad Moose where he was Sous Chef for two years and Head Chef for one year. Magic arrived at the Maids Head Hotel as Sous Chef in May 2013 and was promoted to Head Chef in September 2013.
Pure is marking four years of working with Big C, providing both recruitment and fundraising support for the charity which works to improve the lives of those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney.
As professional recruitment specialists, Pure has a strong track record of supporting charities and not-for-profit organisations across the Eastern region with talent recruitment and through its Charity Leaders Forum.
As a socially responsible business, it is also committed to supporting local charities which are making a difference to people’s lives.
Pure’s ongoing relationship with Big C is a great example of how both aspects have come together to form a long-term partnership.
Since 2015, Pure’s Norwich team has supported Big C to recruit 19 new employees as the charity continued to grow and expand.
Claire Bush, Senior Consultant at Pure’s Norwich office, said: “We have recruited a wide variety of roles across the Big C. The roles may all be different, but they each play an integral part in the ongoing success of the charity and in it continuing to make a positive impact. That is why we are always committed to finding not only high-calibre candidates but those who are a great overall match for the organisation’s culture and values.”
Having worked closely with Big C on its recruitment needs, the Norwich team also pledged to support the charity through all its fundraising during Pure’s 2017/18 financial year. T
ogether they raised over £3,000 for the organisation with activities including Pure’s annual charity quiz night for Norfolk businesses and fundraising bake sales.
Claire added: “Each year our team chooses a charity they would like to support. Having worked closely with the team at Big C for its recruitment needs, and found out more about its fantastic work, it was no surprise the team picked it as our annual chosen charity as well. It is an exceptional organisation, based on our doorstep, and one we are incredibly proud to support.”
Ruben Davis, senior recruitment consultant at Pure, even went the extra mile and took part in a 160ft bungee jump at The Forum, organised by Big C and the UK Bungee Club to raise money for the charity. Ruben said: “I have had a couple of family members who have been affected by cancer so when the opportunity came up to do the bungee jump, I knew I had to challenge my fear of heights to help raise money for a cause close to my heart. Being able to support a local charity which helps people affected by cancer in our region was very important to me.”
The Big C has recently celebrated the opening of its newly refurbished Big C centre at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
The fresh new look helps to maintain and enhance the home-from -home, welcoming and calm environment where people can seek support and advice and find a calm space to retreat to within the medical setting.
The makeover was made possible through charity fundraising, including by Lilac (Ladies in League Against Cancer), a fundraising group which raises funds for Big C.
This centre, along with the charity’s other centres across Norfolk and Waveney, are used by thousands of people affected by cancer every year and provide valuable information about diagnosis, treatments, side effects and recovery as well as emotional help and support.
Sewell Park Academy are looking for five business mentors to judge their enterprise challenge on Wednesday 19th June between 13:30 and 14:30.
Their students have been working hard to come up with money making ideas within their form groups and they need a panel of business judges to find the best project.
To get involved all you need to do is be available for one hour between 13:30 and 14:30 on Wednesday 19th June and be prepared to judge some interesting ideas from the students!
Contact Natalie davies at n.davies@sewellpark.org for more information.
Flagship Homes have unveiled 33 new homes in Narborough.
The scheme, at Rectory Close off Denny’s Walk, includes 31 homes for affordable and social rent as well as two owner/occupier properties.
The new homes – a mixture of 1, 2- and 3-bedroom bungalows and one four-bedroom house – replace 12 post-war Airey and Swedish prefabricated houses which had previously been on the site. These properties were no longer fit for purpose, with half of them having fallen empty.
Six families who had lived in the old Airey houses have relocated into the high quality and modern new homes. Two owner/occupier homes were also replaced on the site.
The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss, MP for South West Norfolk attended the launch of the new homes on Tuesday, 28th May. She said: “It was great to meet the team behind the new development in Narborough. Housing is in high demand so to have more affordable homes in the area is extremely positive – I was delighted to have the chance to chat with local residents and look round the new properties.”
As well as the new homes, further improvements to the site have been made with the creation of a new public space and four speed bumps installed as a traffic calming measure.
The scheme, which has attracted £558,000 in funding from Homes England, has been delivered with the support of the Homes & Communities Agency, Breckland Council and Narborough Parish Council.
Tony Tann, Managing Director of Flagship Developments said: “Our work on this development allows us to provide great quality homes on this site for many more people than before.
“Through this scheme, we are meeting housing need, and we are pleased to be providing the majority of these homes at affordable rent.
“It is particularly good to see families who lived in the former Airey houses moving into these new homes.”
Councillor Peter Wilkinson, District Councillor for the Nar Valley Ward and Parish Councillor for Narborough Parish Council said: “I have championed this scheme from the very beginning as I saw it as an opportunity for families to have not just a house but a beautiful home. This has realised a dream as buying a house is out of reach for many families. I was really happy with the vision that Flagship had for this site.”
Work on the development began in summer 2016 and was completed in early 2019.
With your support, the Norwich Business Beats Cancer Board, will play a key role in the fight against cancer. We are looking to bring together a group of committed, dynamic and influential individuals from across the city to help Cancer Research UK realise it’s vision.
We need your support to develop and host a fundraising proposition for businesses, private clients, advisers and inspiring philanthropists to support our life-saving research. In return for your input we hope to bring significant value to you and your business by positioning you as a key game changer in the Norwich Business Beats Cancer Board.
Every pound raised will stay in East Anglia and go towards the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Centre and will help fund the lifesaving research of our amazing scientists, doctors and nurses.
With your support we can make sure even more people survive cancer in the future.
If you would like to find out more about Norwich Business Beats Cancer, general fundraising for Cancer Research UK, or would like any support or materials for any activities you have planned, please do not hesitate to contact gill.burgess@cancer.org.uk .
The re-vitalised Stars of Norfolk and Waveney Awards, in association with Chambers members, OPEN are looking for new sponsors to support this amazing initiative.
This year, there are fifteen categories celebrating the region’s most hard working, caring, and talented individuals.
Carer of the Year
Young Person of the Year
Sporting Achievement of the Year
Education Champion of the Year
Outstanding Bravery Act of the Year
NHS Person of the Year
Fire & Rescue Person of the Year
Police Person of the Year
Community Champion of the Year
Team/Community Group of the Year
Charity Fundraiser of the Year
Cultural/Arts Person of the Year
Unsung Hero/Heroine of the Year
Judges’ Special Award
Overall Star of Norfolk and Waveney
The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on Thursday 05 December 2019.
Anyone wishing to sponsor these brilliant awards should contact the Chief Executive of OPEN, John Gordon-Saker on: john@opennorwich.org.uk