Area Focus: Coventry - Mid Warks - North Warks - South Warks - Rugby
Coventry University offers free training for bar staff Hillmorton Craft Studios has been acquired by Warwick-based Prova Investments from property investment company The Wigley Group, which has its headquarters in Warwickshire. Coventry University is offering free training to bar staff in the city to help them identify harassment, spot drink spiking and make nights out safer. The Girls Night In campaign saw women in the UK boycott nightclubs earlier this year to highlight the issue of drink spiking and called on clubs to deliver welfare training. Case manager Amber Taroni, who specialises in harassment and hate incidents, had already planned to work with university bar Square One to deliver training on how to spot, report and tackle harassment and spiking before the boycott.
Coventry BID director joins Chamber board The director of Coventry’s Business Improvement District (BID) has been announced as the newest addition to the board of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce.
place to work and visit. Its work aligns closely with that of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, which acts as a local hub for businesses to access a broad offer of business support.
of Commerce in the UK and, as well as supporting businesses locally, plays a role in a wider network that works to champion business, destinations and trade nationally and even globally.
Trish Willetts will take up the role with immediate effect, bringing decades of business experience and extensive knowledge of Coventry to the board, which is made up of representatives from a diverse range of business sizes and sectors, who work to inform, support and provide expertise on a wide range of business areas.
Trish, who has been director of Coventry BID since 2016, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the board of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber does wonderful work for the city and wider area and I’m looking forward to bringing my own experience, knowledge and passion for Coventry & Warwickshire to a great organisation run by a brilliant board.”
Chamber president Tom Mongan said: “We're delighted to welcome Trish to the Chamber board and she is a very welcome addition. The board is made up of a diverse range of representatives, elected by our members who ensure
The BID represents nearly 700 businesses within Coventry’s ring road, with the remit of promoting, developing and boosting the city centre to make it a great
Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is one of 53 accredited Chambers
“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the board of Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber does wonderful work for the city and wider area."
Chamber members join forces for awards success something we should go for because we knew we had a good story to tell, we just needed someone to help us tell that story.
She recently delivered a pilot session at Square One and to widen the training to help more venues across Coventry, she’s developing a 15-minute training webinar that can be provided free of charge.
“The Chamber introduced us to Lee at Advent, and we just talked through our story and he took it from there. It was just a case of him getting all the information he knew the judges would be looking for and putting it into the right format.
Amber said: “This training session included identifying harassment and knowing when it is safe to intervene, addressing stereotypes around sexual violence, licensing rules and highlighting the university’s reporting procedures. “There is an expectation that the bouncers deal with harassment but actually it is everybody’s responsibility to recognise harassment and know how to deal with it. “It’s about giving bar staff more confidence to identify and report any concerns they may have.” Anthony Malone, licensee holder for Square One, says his staff benefited greatly from Amber’s training. He said: “Spiking has been around for a long time but the levels and awareness of it and the key indicators of what to look for haven’t always been communicated. “That’s why training is important as our staff are frontline in the fight against it. They can spot something potentially before anyone else sees it. Amber empowered our staff by giving them the skills, knowledge and tools to intervene.”
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that the vast range of sectors in our Coventry & Warwickshire economy have a voice.”
Tom Mongan (Chamber president), Lee Corden (Advent) Joanna Farr (Purple Planet Packaging), Mark Farr (Purple Planet Packaging).
A Coventry business has been helped to awards success thanks to a Chamber introduction. Purple Planet Packaging is run by husband-and-wife team Mark and Joanna Farr, who bought the Devonbased company in 2019 and moved the whole operation to Coventry. After seeing a major rise in sales for the company, which is on course to go from £120,000 a year turnover when the couple bought the business two years ago to around £1.6 million in 2022, they decided they wanted to shout about their success. They contacted the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce to ask about support in entering the Coventry Live Business Awards 2021 in the Small Business of the Year category. The firm was put in touch with Advent Communications – a PR company in the
city that has a proven track record of supporting victorious award entries. Mark and Joanna briefed Advent director Lee Corden who compiled the entry which scooped the honour at a ceremony at the Coventry Building Society Arena in October. Mark said: “We sell a range of environmentally-friendly food and drink containers, from hot and cold drink cups to takeaway cartons, to a range of sectors, from schools through to the hospitality trade. “Since buying the business, we have put in long hours and it has been really hard work, especially having two young children. But we really wanted to grow the company and be a success story for the city. “When we heard about the Coventry Live Business Awards, we thought it was
“We’re grateful to the Chamber for making the introduction and it was great to pick up the award on the night. We have had lots of positive comments since winning the award and it has helped to raise our profile in the region.” Lee, a director of Advent – which was bought by the PLMR Group in October, said: “It was great to work with Purple Planet Packaging and to hear their incredible story. “From our side, we can help businesses to tell their stories in the best possible way – whether through press stories, blogs, social media or award entries. In this case, the amazing story was already there, it was just a case of making sure we presented all of that in a way that would capture the imagination of the judges. Thankfully, Purple Planet Packaging won!” Hazel Pilling, membership manager at the Chamber, said: “The Chamber is here to help companies across the region come together and do business. “In this instance, that has led to an award-winning outcome thanks to the efforts of both businesses, which was fantastic news all round.” www.cw-chamber.co.uk
