Area Focus: Coventry - Mid Warks - North Warks - South Warks - Rugby
Transport museum launches Women in Motorsport exhibition Coventry Transport Museum has opened a new interactive exhibition celebrating the inspiring diverse roles women play in motorsport, past and present. Women in Motorsport launched in January and runs until May 31 amid Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture.
New Central Campus Venues spaces to enhance delegate experience Two new spaces have been added to Warwick Conferences’ Central Campus Venues, further improving delegate experience and providing more flexibility for organisers than ever before. Bringing together world-leading culture and leisure, hotel-style accommodation and cutting-edge large-scale venues, the £57.5m Faculty of Art Centre and recently renovated £25.5m Warwick Arts Centre have been added to the service. As a result, Central Campus Venues offers 300 spaces in total. A complete package for event organisers, Central Campus Venues is capable of hosting meetings, conferences and exhibitions for up to 1,200 delegates and has been designed to provide completely bespoke packages.
The exhibition provides the opportunity for visitors to fuel up on their knowledge of the fastest women in motorsport and explore their varied roles within the industry through personal stories – as well as capturing an exciting glimpse of the future of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Women in Motorsport curator Elisabeth Chard-Cooper said: “It’s really great to be able to open this new exhibition focusing on diversity and inclusion in motorsport and the automotive industries during Coventry’s City of Culture. “We felt it was hugely important to celebrate some of the UK’s fastest women in motorsport and those working in roles behind-the-scenes. One of our aims is to inspire future generations.” The exhibition features interactive family-friendly elements, including a pit-stop experience, DIY-tracks and projections which allow visitors to race their designs against each other.
Highlights of the exhibition range from a helmet belonging to ‘speedqueen’ Jill Scott-Thomas, a British racing driver of the 1920s and 1930s along with a race car driven by Canadian-born Kay Petre, another early British motor racing star from this era, who was 4ft 10 inches tall. There is racing gear owned by recent professional racing drivers Susie Wolff – now the CEO of Venturi Racing in Formula E – and 28-year-old British W Series driver Sarah Moore, who
Central Campus Venues is located at the heart of the University of Warwick, creating a village environment for visitors to experience. The central location also allows delegates to explore the campus and take advantage of the world-class facilities on offer, including the Sport and Wellness Hub. Sustainability will also play a leading role in the new campus. Like the rest of the Warwick Conferences packages, booking an event at Central Campus Venues will provide organisers with the assurance that materials are reduced, reused and recycled where possible. For more information visit www.warwickconferences.com
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Other interesting things to see include dramatic moments in motorsport, a Jaguar Racing Formula E, a Le Mans suit, Limited Fundz Junior Dragster and a Williams Racing F1 Show Car along with famed trophies, examples of cutting-edge technologies and rare interviews.
For further information visit https://www.transport-museum.com/events/1525/women_in_motorsport
Grant paves way for V-Farm launch part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered by Coventry University Enterprises. A match-funded grant was awarded at a rate of 40 per cent with V-Farm’s 60 per cent contribution.
Organisers are now able to pick and choose from a number of add-ons to suit their needs. These include food and dining – ranging from threecourse meals to barbecues – overnight accommodation requirements and additional facility support services. Paul Bartlett, director of Warwick Conferences, said: “Central Campus Venues has been launched to provide a one-stop-shop for events, meetings and conferences. No event is the same and we wanted Central Campus Venues to reflect this. Designed with flexibility in mind, the enhanced service will allow organisers to create the ideal event for their delegates, whatever the budget.”
became the first woman to win the Britcar Endurance Championship in 2018 and an LGBTQ+ rights ambassador for Racing Pride.
Stuart explained: “Food production is a global market and years have been spent developing the technology but it hasn’t been commercialised until now. We knew we had a great product but wwe needed help in taking it to market.
From the left, Ilektra Alma Fronista (Coventry University Enterprises), Justine Chadwick (CWLEP Growth Hub) and Stuart Green (V-Farm)
A high-tech horticultural company in Coventry is launching a groundbreaking system for growing crops indoors. V-Farm, which is a spin-off of HydroGarden, a European manufacturer and distributor of indoor plants, has spent the last seven years developing a vertical farming concept from its base in Progress Way on the Binley Industrial Estate. It is designed to be used worldwide from a rooftop in Canada to a warehouse in Hong Kong by using the latest
hydroponics technology – which is the process of growing plants indoors – through a mobile rack structure fitted with trays, lighting and ventilation equipment which can be adapted to meet the available space. Stuart Green, of V-Farm, contacted the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub to discuss grant opportunities. The business secured a £10,000 Proof of Concept grant which forms part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Support Programme which is
“The Growth Hub has helped us reach our ambitions by developing the equipment that we’ve spent the last seven years researching, as well as securing patents now that we’re in a position to commercialise V-Farm. “We’ve already supplied units to Brazil, Australia and China and we’ll be fully launching V-Farm towards the end of the year.” Justine Chadwick, account manager at the CWLEP Growth Hub, said: “One of the many ways we assist SMEs in Coventry and Warwickshire is by supporting their innovative ideas to help with their growth plans. “V-Farm’s new urban farming idea has been brilliantly developed and now manufactured here in Coventry to maximise areas throughout the world where food can be grown.”
www.cw-chamber.co.uk
