WCNW June 23

Welcome to the Summer edition of our Quarterly Business Magazine.

Members have continued to show their resilience as the UK narrowly avoided a recession in Q1, particularly as the core issues such as unprecedented inflation, energy price shocks, and record challenges in the labour market, have not gone away.

I recently attended the British Chambers of Commerce’s Global Annual Conference where the government was urged to put business at the heart of its plans to revive the UK economy. I will be making sure that the voice of business from West Cheshire and North Wales is heard as we work with colleagues at the BCC to improve the UK’s business environment.

It was brilliant to host our North Wales Dinner in May and what an amazing night we had in Deganwy. Through the support of people that donated prizes for our raffle, and those that bought the tickets, we managed to raise an incredible £1750 for Nightingale House

Hospice. Thank you to all those that attended and to our sponsor for the night, Sales Geek North Wales.

We are now looking forward to the launch of our Annual Awards on Monday 3rd July. This is your opportunity to nominate your business and gain recognition for the hard work and achievements you have had over the past year. There are 10 award categories to choose from and you can enter as many as you like before the deadline on Friday 1st September. It would be amazing to have a nomination from you and you could be going home with an award at our Annual Ball & Recognition Awards ceremony on 17th November. As a Chamber member, you remain at the heart of everything we do and if there is anything that the we can do to support your business please do not hesitate to reach out on 01244 669988 or info@wcnwchamber.org.uk.

Contact Matthew Hodgson Churchill House, Queen’s Park Campus, Queen’s Park Road, Chester CH4 7AD

t: 01244 669988

e: info@wcnwchamber.org.uk

w: www.wcnwchamber.org.uk

Publisher Ian Fletcher Benham Publishing Limited

Aintree Building, Aintree Way, Aintree Business Park, Liverpool L9 5AQ

t: 0151 236 4141

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e: admin@benhampublishing.com

w: www.benhampublishing.com

Published June 2023

© Benham Publishing

Media no. 1983

Advertising and Features

Karen Hall

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Design

Chris Millett

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INSIDE:

Disclaimer The magazine is mailed without charge to all Chamber members and distributed to businesses in the region.

All correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce. Views expressed in publication are not necessarily those of West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce. Reprinting in whole or part is forbidden except by permission of the Editor. © 2023. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in this journal, Benham Publishing and its agents can accept no responsibility for the veracity of claims made by contributions in advertising or editorial content.

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WCNW Chamber represented at BCC Global Annual Conference 2023

A delegation of West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce employees and Board Directors recently attended the British Chambers of Commerce’s Global Annual Conference 2023.

The event, held at the QEII Centre in London and themed on Building British Business, saw over 600 business leaders gather to hear from an incredible line up of speakers including Rt Hon Jeremey Hunt MP, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, and Rt Hon Sir Kier Starmer KCB KC MP.

The conference was opened by Director General at the BCC, Shevaun Haviland,

who emphasised the importance of collaboration between businesses and the power of the Chamber network to represent the voice of business. Shevaun also highlighted the key issues that matter most to firms including; the digital revolution, global Britain and green innovation.

Shevaun also used the conference as a platform to launch the BCC’s new campaign: Where Business Belongs.

RT Hon Jeremey Hunt MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, then spoke about the government’s plans to tackle challenges facing UK businesses before Andrew Bailey gave an in-depth analysis of the economic landscape of the UK and his forecast for the next few years.

The afternoon session saw a keynote

KCB KC MP, Leader of The Opposition, who outlined the Labour Party’s plans to support businesses, including the restructuring of the UK’s planning system.

Un-fore-gettable time had by attendees at Chamber Golf Day

The event began with breakfast in the hotel’s conference room and an introduction from Jeff Mills, National Golf Sales Director at Macdonald Hotels. Jeff explained the shotgun start format for the day before revealing the host of amazing prizes up for grabs, kindly sponsored by Foster4 Recruitment Hub. These were to be awarded for winning side games such as the longest drive competition & nearest to the pin as well as for the top three teams! Shortly after, the Golfers headed out into the early morning sunshine to tee off!

A brilliant day was had by all as some amazing shots were made, along with some that were “skewed by the wind”, before attendees made their way into the Hotel Bar for some well-earned rest and maybe a couple of celebratory drinks!

Congratulations to the top three teams:

n 1st Place overall: The Team from Avid Personnel Ltd! ��

n 2nd Place overall: The Team from Ellis & Co! ��

n 3rd Place overall: Andy Mckinney (Game Plan Financial), Jim Smith (ACJ Risk Solutions Ltd), Joe Wade (Daktela UK), & Tom Foran (Daktela UK)! ��

Taking place on the Hotel’s beautiful Championship Course, guests had a great time as they took in the amazing views, towering pine trees and the cascading waterfalls.

At 4pm, a delicious two-course dinner was served and thoroughly enjoyed by attendees! To round off a wonderful day, it was time to reveal the winners and hand out the prizes!

Jeff had the following to say about the day: “Macdonald Hotels were delighted to host the 2nd Annual Chamber Golf Day at the stunning Portal Golf Resort. Having invested heavily on the golf course throughout the winter, it was great to see over 25 different businesses take part in the day and provide such positive feedback. We are delighted to work with the Chamber to hold this event and hope see many of the players back again at Portal later this year”

Thank you to Jeff, and all the team at Macdonald Portal for making this event possible and for their amazing hospitality!

speech from Rt Hon Sir Kier Starmer

Attendees had a great time on 4th May as we welcomed guests to our second annual Golf Day at the Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa.

n The delegation from the Chamber were delighted to represent West Cheshire & North Wales Businesses at the Conference

n It was a sunny but windy day for the Chamber’s Annual Golf Day!

E2E Integration Ltd strengthen its relationship with the WCNW Chamber of Commerce by becoming Strategic Members

The West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce is delighted to announce that IT Support company, E2E Integration Ltd, has become a Strategic Member of the West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce.

E2E Integration was Established in 2011 to provide technical clarity and outstanding customer service to their clients. Their philosophy is that IT is a tool to do a job and should be an enabler, not a disabler.

E2E Integration has now made the move to become a Strategic Member of the Chamber meaning they will be engaging further with members whilst forming a closer relationship with the Chamber of Commerce.

“The ethos of E2E is to enable technology to support the improvement and growth of businesses with a costefficient and fit-for-purpose solution. By becoming a Strategic Member of the Chamber, we’re supporting their aims for local businesses in our area. We feel that we’re ambassadors for this fantastic organisation and are proud of our involvement,” said Sales & Marketing Director, Paul Verinder.

By becoming a Strategic Member, E2E Integration will be able to support the Young Chamber programme through a variety of events including careers talks, workshops and mock interview days. This aims to bridge the skills gap in the region by helping students gain the necessary skills to hit the ground running when they enter the world of work.

Paul continued “Working with Young Chamber is also close to our hearts. Being able to provide support to bridge the gap between business and education is invaluable. We’re delighted to be a Strategic Member.”

Debbie Bryce, Chief Executive Officer at West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce commented: “The Chamber is thrilled that E2E has become our newest Strategic Member, since joining the Chamber

they have attended many events and built strong connections. We look forward to growing our relationship with Paul and the team as well as seeing them support the Young Chamber programme.”

Working with Young Chamber is also close to our hearts. Being able to provide support to bridge the gap between business and education is invalua ble.

n Paul Verinder, Sales & Marketing Director at E2E Integration with Debbie Bryce, CEO at the Chamber

A Beautiful Evening for our North Wales Dinner!

The Chamber’s North Wales Dinner took place on a stunning evening at The Quay Hotel & Spa in Deganwy on Friday 12th May.

With clear blue skies and an amazing view over to Conwy Castle, it couldn’t have been a better backdrop to welcome 90 guests to a celebration of North Wales business.

at Cheshire College – South & West, Helen Nellist, who thanked Sales Geek North Wales for their support in sponsoring the evening.

Helen then welcomed Sarah Povey, Corporate Partnership Lead at Nightingale House Hospice, who introduced the charity that the evening was raising funds for. Sarah explained that Nightingale House is an independent charitable hospice based in Wrexham, North Wales which provides specialist palliative care to patients with life-limiting illnesses living within the catchment area of Wrexham, Flintshire, East Denbighshire and Shropshire border towns.

the charity, a total of £1750 was raised for Nightingale House Hospice during the night. A huge thank you to those that donated on the evening and to those businesses that kindly supplied prizes for the raffle!

After the meal, guests were entertained by singer and performer, Ally Mac from Liverpool. Ally performed medleys, individually crafted covers and took requests from guests. Ally, who also appeared on BBC 1’s The Voice UK with his duo, The Mac Bros, kept people entertained until the evening came to an end at midnight.

The event, kindly sponsored by Sales Geek North Wales, started with a welcome drink as guests took in the beautiful surroundings before being welcomed to the event by Deputy Chair of the Chamber and Director of Business Banking at NatWest, Sarah Bailey.

Sarah then introduced Chair of the Chamber and Deputy Principal and CEO

It was then time for the delicious three course meal to be served!

During the meal, entries to the raffle were gathered and the lucky winners were revealed. A favourite fundraising game of Heads and Tails then took place where a bottle of champagne was given to the winner.

After a donation from the Chamber to

Aaron Sussex, Sales Director at Sales Geek North Wales and sponsor for the evening said “The North Wales Dinner is such a great opportunity to celebrate the year to date with other businesspeople from across the region. As always, the Chamber managed to organise a thoroughly enjoyable event. The Quay at Deganwy also proved to be the perfect backdrop for such a lovely night.”

n It was a beautiful evening in Deganwy!

Debbie Bryce, Chief Executive Officer at the Chamber said “What an incredible night it has been in Deganwy! Thank you so much to Aaron for his sponsorship of this event, without your support events like these wouldn’t be possible.”

“Thank you so much to the people that took part in the raffle and the heads and tales game, also to those businesses that

kindly donated prizes. Your generosity will go towards supporting a brilliant charity in Nightingale House.”

“A final thanks to all the attendees for making it a fabulous occasion! We are now excited for our next showpiece event, our Annual Ball and Recognition Awards on 17th November with tickets available on our website, we hope to see you there!”.

Taylor

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n Aaron Sussex, Sales Director at Sales Geek North Wales and sponsor for the evening, with guests

Websites and Your Visitor’s Journey

Within increasingly competitive markets, how can your business stand out? What can you do to keep your website visitors safe and engaged, when the aim of the game is to convert visitors to clients?

With the average time spent on a website being as little as 4 seconds before a website visitor decides to stay or leave, user engagement is the key to success!

Key Points to Consider:

n Ensure your demographic likes the look and feel of your website

n Include calls to action (Ask us a question, download a FREE Factsheet etc) on every page

n Ensure your website navigation is logical, straightforward and easy to use

n The website MUST be mobile responsive otherwise Google will penalise you

n If possible, add FAQs – these are a great selling tool!

n Investigate analytics tools as these show the number of visitors, their path on your website and where they left so you can fix this

n If you add blogs, make sure that they are up to date

n If you have links to social media platforms, ensure the links work and these too are up to date

Stay Safe Online

We should all be aware that online security is essential and, as this is your website, it’s your responsibility to keep your website safe for your visitors:

n Ensure your SSL certificate is in date, if it’s not, Google will highlight your website as not secure

n Add 2 Factor Authentication so you receive a text to your mobile phone to login

n Ensure your hosting company backs up your website regularly

“Websites are a window to your business. A successful website isn’t just about it looking great, it’s also a tool to do a job, so make sure this comes across quickly, as it is an integral part of your sales function.

Websites can be transformative, so invest the time and the resources to get it right and reap the rewards!”

Have any questions about how your website can be improved, please email paul.verinder@e2e-integration.co.uk

Update and repurpose existing content

Creating new content is great for marketing, but it does take time and sometimes money, to get it right. A great timesaving exercise is updating existing content to make it even better, rather than always starting from scratch. For example, if you have a blog post on your website that already drives visitors via

search engines, updating and expanding the piece to take its usefulness to the next level can make it even more effective. Amplifying it by using little snippets on social media can also give the content a different dimension and appeal to a new audience. You can create eye-catching visuals and even videos on aspects of the blog content to spread reach further.

Use free or cheap marketing tools to save time & effort

Marketing tools are designed to take some of the hassle out of certain marketing tasks. While a free graphics platform will never replace an experienced graphic designer, it can help you create quick social media visuals in minutes. An AIpowered proofreading platform can’t tell you whether the content you’ve written matches the brief, but it can tell you whether you have made any spelling or grammatical errors. Our favourite free (although they also have paid plans to unlock more features) marketing tools include:

n Canva – for designing anything from social media visuals to presentations and posters

n Grammarly – for proofing your written content

n Mailchimp – for quick and easy email marketing design and sending/tracking

n Trello – for project management and planning

Leverage user-generated content (UGC)

If people are talking about your brand or business online and on social media, then you can leverage this for the benefit of your business. Share happy customer content on your socials, add reviews to your website, and survey customers to generate useful stats to share and help them become brand advocates.

If you’d like cost-effective help with your marketing strategy, Umbrella Marketing Team can help!

Keeping costs down as much as possible is currently a focus for many businesses, so we’re sharing our top three tips for helping your marketing activities achieve more for less.

Zodeq launches healthcare campaign

Chester based invoice finance and back office support providers, Zodeq, has recently unveiled its latest campaign that specifically speaks to healthcare recruitment agencies and their cash flow.

Covering a range of roles from social care to NHS, private healthcare to care professionals, there are lots to contend with when it comes to healthcare recruitment. And with many end clients or organisations stipulating a wide array of payment terms or the use of certain portals, it can be tricky for recruiters to find a finance provider that would offer them an appropriate package.

Why is finance so important to recruiters?

Healthcare recruiters often seek providers who are able to provide 100% funding or pre-payment, extended payment terms and dummy invoicing, and not to mention fast funds, areas that Zodeq is uniquely placed to support with.

Speaking of this new campaign, MD at Zodeq, Paul Cooney, has said:

“With healthcare recruitment growing by an average of 5% year on year, it is clear to see that healthcare providers, be it NHS, private or social care, are supporting the crucial recruitment of professionals in these fields, key to keeping UK healthcare running effectively.

Often viewed as a relatively ‘high risk’ sector of the recruitment industry, healthcare recruiters have previously found it difficult to access the right finance for their businesses due to the nature of their work.

Time to drum up excitement for the 2023 Blacon Festival

Rock out this summer at Blacon’s biggest community celebration.

The Blacon Festival, organised by local social enterprise Avenue Services, will be taking place at Queen Elizabeth Fields on Blacon Avenue from 1-5pm on Saturday 1 July.

Every business across every industry will require working capital, but for the recruitment industry in particular, which will often pay candidates on a weekly basis but invoice clients monthly, finance is critical to maintaining cash flow month-round.

Specialising in invoice finance for the recruitment industry, Zodeq is no stranger to a wide range of recruitment fields, each bringing their own challenges.

To do this, more often than not, they will require the right finance to ensure adequate working capital month in, month out and that is precisely what Zodeq is here to do. Having supported many healthcare recruiters in the past few years to overcome challenges and thrive under difficult economic circumstances, we are encouraging healthcare recruiters to speak to our team and find out how we can support them moving forward.”

If you would like to learn more about how Zodeq supports clients with their finance and back office support needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touchpaul@zodeq.com.

The annual event is now in its 26th year and is recognised as Chester’s largest community-led festival, attracting thousands of visitors each year. This year’s event will have everyone jamming out to the sounds of summer with a music festival theme.

Chester MP Samantha Dixon will officially open the festival at 1pm, kicking off a day packed full of fun and entertainment for all ages including stalls, music, games, dancing and much more.

Paul Knight, Head of Avenue Services, said: “The Blacon Festival is always a highlight in our calendar and I’m delighted that we have another fantastic event lined up this year for our community.”

If you are interested in having a stall at the festival, please contact Sandra Hewitt atsandra.hewitt@sanctuary.co.uk. Avenue Services, which is a not-for-profit organisation, is a joint venture between Sanctuary and Cheshire West and Chester Council.

n Paul Cooney, MD at Zodeq.

n Crowds enjoy the Blacon Festival

What do bank rate hikes mean for my business?

In times of economic uncertainty, it can be difficult to keep up with the market, let alone consider how changes may affect your business.

On Thursday 11 May 2023, the Bank of England raised their interest rate (Bank Rate) by 0.25 percentage points to 4.5%, for the first time since 2008.

The effects of this and rate hiking in general have serious implications for businesses, regardless of whether or not you trade internationally.

With an increase in interest rates, businesses with existing loans, company credit cards, or mortgaged properties will likely find their repayments increase. Additionally, in an environment with

higher interest rates, consumer habits are likely to change.

Higher interest rates ultimately make it more attractive to save money and less attractive to spend. Mortgage rates increase, so those on variable interest rates will find they have lower disposable income. As a result, businesses may well find their sales drop with consumers favouring saving in the short term. In the long term, those who’ve saved could be more likely to spend their accumulated savings once interest rates lower.

Every penny currently counts for businesses as the BoE continues their battle against inflation, with interest rates likely to continue to rise.

Ashley Salisbury, Senior Sales Manager at

Could you be a Winner? Our Annual Recognition Awards Launch Soon!

their hard work and achievements of the past year.

Members are strongly encouraged to enter as many categories as they wish before the deadline on Friday 1st September. Finalists will then be chosen with winners revealed at the Annual Ball & Recognition Awards ceremony on Friday 17th November.

Equals Money, added “You can’t control what happens in the market - but you can control how you manage volatility and take care of your company. As strategic members of the WCNW Chamber, Equals Money is here to keep you up to date on key economic movements and the potential impact on your business.

“I would be happy to discuss how Equals Money can assist with our portfolio of competitive exchange rates, FX hedging, and more, so you can spend less time worrying about rates and more time growing your business.”

Get in touch with Ashley on a.salisbury@equalsmoney.com or +44 (0) 1244 572280.

2023 Award Categories

The Equals Money Award for Export & International Trade

The Digital Innovation Award

Start-Up Business of The Year Award

Sponsored byEquals Money

Sponsored byProtos Networks

Sponsored byFI Real Estate Management

Young Person/Apprentice of the Year Award

Business Growth Award

Made A Difference Award

Customer Excellence Award

We are looking forward to the launch of our Annual Awards on Monday 3rd July which will give members the opportunity to nominate themselves for 10 award categories and gain recognition for

“The aim of our awards is to celebrate the successes of members and recognise their accomplishments throughout the last year.

We hope members will seize this opportunity and we look forward to a great night in November!” said Debbie Bryce, Chief Executive Officer at the Chamber.

Young Chamber Award

Excellence in Sustainability Award

Business of The Year Award

Sponsored byThe HR Department

Sponsored byNatwest Business Banking

Sponsored byWurkplace Ltd

Sponsored byTopwood Ltd

Sponsored byBathgate Business Finance

Sponsored byWR Partners

Sponsored byEllis & Co Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers

n Ashley Salisbury, Senior Sales Manager at Equals Money

n The Award Winners at the Annual Recognition Awards 22

In today’s marketplace, companies are facing serious challenges in finding the right talent. Taylor-Miller is the FMCG recruitment agency finding rare candidates with real potential.

In the world of business, there are those rare kind who bring true value, let’s call them ‘blue lobsters’. Taylor Miller can’t get you a Unicorn, because they don’t exist, we can get you a Blue Lobster. There is just about a 1 in 2 million chance of catching one…..

At Taylor-Miller, we believe great things happen when the right people come together. As an FMCG recruitment specialist with over 18

years experience in the sector, we partner with an exhaustive network of clients including global blue-chip manufacturing groups everybody knows and loves.

Taylor-Miller helps qualified candidates secure permanent placements from junior and middle management, right up to board level positions across the following disciplines:

• ECOMMERCE/DIGITAL

• D2C

• DATA & ANALYTICS

• HSE

• TECHNICAL & QUALITY

• R&D • SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS

• ENGINEERING

• FINANCE

International Partnership Announced for Holyhead Hydrogen Hub

Hynamics and Menter Môn, announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub. The aim is to accelerate the development of the project and secure potential future capital investment worth several millions.

The Hub project, managed by Anglesey social enterprise, Menter Môn, has gained planning approval and is looking to secure funding as it moves to the next phase in its development. This private sector agreement signals confidence in a project which is considered groundbreaking in Wales.

Under the terms of the MOU, Hynamics and Menter Môn will collaborate on the development of hydrogen infrastructure at Holyhead and have entered a 6-month period to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of the project. They will also be concluding negotiations on financing the Hub, hydrogen sales and operation agreements. The partnership will support Wales and UK’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is hoped that the MOU will lead to a final investment decision supporting the build of the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub.

Dafydd Gruffydd is Managing Director of Menter Môn, he welcomed the agreement and said: “Hydrogen has huge potential as a clean, low carbon fuel, so we are delighted to be entering into this MOU with Hynamics. As an internationally renowned company their confidence in us is a real boost and is good news for this project. We look forward to working with them to making the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub a reality.

“As a social enterprise with a focus on sustainable development projects and a growing renewables portfolio we are in a unique position. We can keep economic and social benefits local as work to put North Wales on the map and at the forefront of green technology.”

Pierre de Raphelis-Soissan, Business Development Director of Hynamics, said: “We are delighted to partner with Menter Môn to support the development of the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub. Our collaboration

brings together Hynamics’ and EDF Group’s expertise in hydrogen solutions and Menter Môn’s unique capabilities in sustainable development. Together, we can create a low-carbon energy system that supports the transition to net-zero economy.”

The Hynamics team work alongside EDF Renewables UK which is already constructing Porth Wen Solar Farm on Anglesey. The team in Wales is working closely with the local community and have plans to make a multibillion-pound investment into developing a 2GW pipeline of projects in Wales, accelerating a net zero future. EDF Renewables UK has recently opened a new office in Cardiff.

The new partnership between Hynamics and Menter Môn is expected to create significant opportunities for local businesses, suppliers, and contractors, as well as academic institutions and research organisations.

The project will see the Hub built at Parc Cybi, Holyhead with Menter Môn, working alongside the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s Energy Island programme. Renewable hydrogen is to be produced at the site and distributed as fuel for zero emission hydrogen-powered vehicles and the decarbonisation of local marine transport bunkered in Holyhead.

Welsh Government has provided seed funding from 2020-2023 enabling the project to progress to this point with additional support expected to be announced over the coming weeks. UK Government has also pledged significant support as it aims to achieve its net zero targets by 2050.

Support for the Hub

Virginia Crosbie, MP said: “This announcement is excellent news for Ynys Môn and clearly demonstrates the value of the Freeport in attracting investment. The UK Government made a commitment to Holyhead Hydrogen

Hub in 2021, when the then Chancellor and now Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, pledged £4.8 million to the project if the business case could made. Having EDF Hynamics on board strengthens the project significantly and I will work with them and Menter Môn to bring much needed employment in this exciting industry.

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: “This is great news and I congratulate Menter Môn on taking the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub development to this next stage. Having EDF Hynamics on board is a real boost and I’m pleased that this exciting project is progressing well.

“This project by Menter Môn – in a rapidly developing, low carbon sector – has the real potential to act as a catalyst to create a larger Hydrogen industry on Ynys Môn, whilst also creating significant economic activity. Having led the very first Senedd debate on the potential of the hydrogen sector, I very much welcome this announcement.”

nThe Menter Môn team meeting with EDF in London about the hydrogen hub

Business Support and Grants

As part of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda, the Council has been allocated monies through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) for activity until March 2025.

delivery of the Council’s sustainable and inclusive growth objectives.

The Year 2 support and grants will be promoted through our weekly online newsletter. If you haven’t already signed up, do that nowletstalkbizcw.co.uk.

New Online Learning Platform for West Cheshire Businesses

The Council set out its priorities for how this funding will be used in an Investment Plan, which was development in line with government guidance and in partnership with local stakeholders and approved in December 2022.

The funding is divided into three broad themes: Community and Place; Supporting Businesses; and People and Skills, which also includes Multiply, the Government’s adult numeracy programme.

The delivery timescale for Year 1 was short, December 2022 - March 2023. However, working with delivery partners, including WCNW Chamber, the CWaC Business Growth Team were able to deliver a mix of business support activities and grants to stimulate entrepreneurship, support new businesses to start, and help existing businesses to expedite investment plans and make transformational change.

To illustrate the value; we were able to support three start-up businesses who all operate solo, but collectively provide a complimentary service for start-ups. Chester based Zena Barrick; Webadoodle web designer offering services specifically targeted at small businesses giving them a platform to grow. Ellesmere Port based Maira Azhar, Brand Photographer captures the essence of you and your business through images and Tarporley based Laura Beckett, Quietly Loud Copywriting services can help you set the tone and bring your words to life.

All three were assisted to secure a small grant, and through attendance at the start-up club have collaborated to support other businesses to access their services some grant funded. Illustrating this project has been a catalyst to support not only their development but enabled them to support their peers; testimony to its value.

There will be more business support activities and grants delivery during UKSPF Year 2 which is due to launch in July. This will build on the activities delivered in Year 1 and support the

In response to feedback and working with business focus groups the CWaC Business Growth Team is creating a dynamic online learning resource for West Cheshire businesses and entrepreneurs.

The Business Tapas website will offer a bespoke knowledge hub that provides support and guidance for those starting or growing their business.

The website will showcase useful, easily digestible bitesize chunks of information, helping the end user easily navigate each topic and apply what you’ve learnt to a business or business idea. The information will cover a range of topics such as marketing and business management. In addition to the original content that will sit on the website, users will also be signposted to additional information that can help them progress their business idea or grow their business.

The website will be highly customisable and engaging, allowing users to tag their interests, like, share and save.

The Business Tapas is due to launch at the end of July, we’ll promote through our online newsletterletstalkbizcw.co.uk.

n L to R: Laura Beckett, Quietly Loud Copywriting Services, Maira Azhar, Brand Photographer and Zena Barrick; Webadoodle Web Design

Events Round-Up

We have had a great few months of events with incredible turnouts and great times had by attendees! You can view some of the events below:

First Lunch & Learn Power Hour a great success!

The West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce held its first Lunch & Learn Power Hour on 28th March at Ramada Plaza Wrexham. The one-hour session was sponsored and run by management consultancy, Think Beyond, and explored innovation, change and transformation. Steven and Mercè Cozens, co-founders, covered key topics including strategic planning, market profiling and neuroscience.

After the event Steven said: “Thank you to the West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce for hosting the first Lunch and Learn ‘Power Hour’. I, and Think Beyond, were very keen to offer a presentation to Chamber members that offers knowledge and value to busy businesspeople who are sacrificing their time to attend events.”

Our next Lunch & Learn takes place in October, keep an eye on our website for updates!

8th March – Liverpool Airport Tour

28th March – Networking Lunch at Ramada Plaza Wrexham

25th & 28th April – Sales Club

15th March – Networking at Moxy Hotel Chester

18th April – Round the Table Networking at Cheshire College – South & West

26th April – Networking Lunch at Chester Football Club

23rd March - West Cheshire Women’s Network

20th April – Thursday Is The New Friday Networking

17th May – Round the Table Networking at Wrexham Glyndwr University

Business success at the end of the financial year with Ellis & Co.

It has been an interesting year for businesses of all sizes as the ongoing cost of living crisis has seen everyone tighten the purse strings. However, it has been great to see so many businesses keep calm and carry on, succeeding and growing despite the current hardships. Ellis & Co. has helped many of our clients stay focused and on track, even in the face of these unexpected challenges.

Many businesses find themselves scrambling to make sense of their finances and plan ahead at the end of the financial year. This can be a daunting and stressful process, especially for small business owners who may not have the experience and expertise of larger corporations, or access to the same resources. Fortunately, Ellis & Co. are dedicated to providing support and guidance during this crucial time.

The end of the financial year is an opportunity to reflect on the year just gone, analyse where improvements could be made in the year ahead and set achievable, yet ambitious goals. Year on year, Ellis & Co. consistently support our clients in doing this and 2022/23 was no different. Our experienced team ensures that financial records are up to date, offering advice and guidance and helping to set budgets. By providing this support, we have helped countless businesses successfully navigate the end of the financial year by making informed decisions and avoiding costly mistakes. Find out how below…

Reviewing finances

We start by reviewing our client’s financial records and assessing their position. Doing this means that we could look to either cut costs or invest more resources in the areas that need them. Having an external party such as your accountant, view your

finances over the entire year means they can see clearly where there were any significant dips or boosts in revenue and make recommendations for your business for the following financial year.

Collating records

As all our clients know, it’s important to keep records of everything so they are easy to access when you need them. This meant that when our team came to tying up the 2022/23 financial year for our clients, we were able to ensure everything had been paid for and any issues were spotted immediately.

Setting financial goals

An essential step at the end of any financial year is setting clear, datadriven goals after reviewing previous finances. These goals should be realistic but optimistic, taking into consideration any expected or desired growth. On behalf of our clients, we reviewed their previous year’s goals and based our recommendations on what was achieved, as well as our expert, industrydetermined predictions for the financial year ahead.

Creating an action plan

Once goals are set, our team of dedicated accountants work with our clients to decide on a plan of action. We asked questions such as how you plan to achieve your goals and how you think

the current strategies are working for the business. We also recommend this time to take a look at any marketing or sales techniques and readjust them to meet new targets.

Budgeting

At the end of every financial year, the Ellis & Co. team work closely with our clients to set a budget for the following year. It’s important that budgets are realistic, reflective of the cash flow forecast and consider the financial position, goals and plans. Cash flow is something that we work on with our clients year-round however, and so if budget adjustments do need to be made, our team will be available to offer advice throughout the financial year.

The end of the financial year can be a challenging time for businesses, but as shown, with the right support and planning it can also be an opportunity for growth and success. Ellis & Co. is a trusted partner for businesses across the UK, offering the expertise and guidance they need to navigate this complex process and plan for the year ahead. By taking a proactive approach to financial planning, businesses can achieve their goals and thrive in today’s competitive market.

If you’re looking for an established, local accountant to take your business into the new year, get in touch with the team at Ellis & Co. today on 01244 343 504.

n John Farrell, Director at Ellis & Co

Protos Networks is leading the charge for sustainability in the technology space…

Protos Networks, a leading managed networks and security provider, has successfully achieved Cisco Sustainability certification, setting a remarkable example for the industry. In this article, we will explore Protos Networks’ achievement, the significance of Cisco Sustainability, and why it is important to us as individuals.

Protos Networks recently attained the new Cisco Sustainability certification, solidifying its commitment to operating in an environmentally responsible manner. This recognition reflects Protos Networks’ dedication to sustainable practices, including energy-efficient infrastructure, waste reduction strategies, and reliable supply chain management.

To earn this certification, Protos Networks had to meet rigorous criteria set by Cisco, encompassing various aspects of sustainability. These criteria included energy conservation, renewable energy adoption, carbon footprint reduction, responsible e-waste management, and sustainable procurement practices. Protos Networks has positioned itself as a leading force in driving positive change within the technology sector by adhering to these standards.

Cisco Sustainability is a blueprint for businesses aiming to minimise environmental impact while maximising their social and economic contributions. It promotes sustainable practices throughout an organisation, resulting in tangible benefits for the company and the environment.

Firstly, sustainability efforts help reduce carbon emissions, a key contributor to climate change. Protos Networks can help companies significantly decrease their carbon footprint by implementing energyefficient technologies and optimising operational processes. This benefits the environment and helps combat global

warming and its adverse effects on ecosystems and human well-being.

Secondly, Cisco’s Sustainability encourages responsible resource management. Companies can choose suppliers prioritising environmental stewardship and ethical labour standards by adopting sustainable procurement practices. This commitment to responsible sourcing helps protect natural resources, promotes fair trade, and supports sustainable economic growth in local communities.

Furthermore, Cisco Sustainability promotes waste reduction and responsible e-waste management. Through proper recycling and disposal of electronic equipment, companies can prevent harmful substances from polluting the environment and ensure the responsible handling of valuable resources. By embracing circular economy principles, businesses can reduce waste, conserve resources, and minimise their ecological footprint.

The achievement of Cisco Sustainability by Protos Networks holds significant importance for individuals and global businesses. As consumers, we can influence companies’ sustainability practices through our purchasing decisions. By choosing to support companies that prioritise sustainability, such as Protos Networks, we contribute to a more environmentally conscious economy.

Moreover, sustainable businesses like Protos Networks often drive innovation, creating solutions that address pressing environmental challenges. Their commitment to sustainability inspires other companies to follow suit, creating a ripple effect of positive change throughout industries. This ultimately contributes to a more sustainable and resilient future for all.

Furthermore, adopting sustainable practices helps protect natural resources and preserves the beauty and diversity of our planet for future generations. By supporting companies

like Protos Networks, we actively participate in the conservation of ecosystems, safeguarding biodiversity and the delicate balance of our natural environment.

Protos Networks’ achievement of Cisco Sustainability certification sets a commendable example for businesses in the UK. By prioritising sustainable practices, they reduce their environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable economy and society. As individuals, we can support and encourage such initiatives, fostering a collective commitment towards a greener future. Promoting sustainability can preserve our planet’s resources, mitigate climate change, and create a better world for present and future generations.

If you are interested in supporting sustainable businesses like Protos Networks? Take action now by making a conscious effort to choose eco-friendly products and services. You can also spread the word by sharing this article with your network and encouraging others to make sustainable choices. Together, we can make a positive impact on our planet.

“Success is not just about achieving the destination; it’s about the journey and the impact it creates. Protos Networks is incredibly proud we have achieved the Cisco Sustainability Specialisation; we have gained the knowledge and skills and can help our customers contribute towards a sustainable future for all.” Damien Sansom, Sales Director at Protos Networks.

Sustainability has become a crucial focus for businesses worldwide as the urgency of addressing environmental concerns grows.

n Damien Sansom, Sales Director at Protos Networks

YOUNG CHAMBER

Young Chamber

Sponsors help Students at Castell Alun High School to prepare for life after Education

Sponsors of the West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce’s Young Chamber programme recently helped students at Castell Alun High School in Hope, North Wales to prepare for the next step after education with a mock interview day for the School’s Year 13 Sixth Form students.

The Young Chamber programme aims to bridge the skills gap between education and employment and this mock interview day was one of the many events that include mock interviews, careers talks, CV building and enterprise projects that the programme helps to organise at 19 schools & colleges across the West Cheshire & North Wales region.

Lauren Robinson, Assistant Head of Sixth Form at Castell Alun, commented the following about the event: “Our warmest thanks to the employers for giving up their valuable time and effort to help our Year 13 students develop their interview skills. Our learners welcomed feedback from the employers; it was inspiring to see them motivated, engaged and professional during the interview process. As always, we value the Young Chambers’ support in meeting our school vision.”

Young Chamber Sponsor The HR Dept Wrexham & Chester helps students at Castell Alun High School to understand the all-important recruitment process

Young Chamber Sponsor, The HR Dept Wrexham & Chester, recently helped over thirty year 12 students at Castell Alun High School in Hope, North Wales, to gain a better understanding of the process that companies follow when recruiting new staff.

Niamh Kelly, Director of The HR Dept Wrexham & Chester, started the session by delivering a case study to the students on the Polar Express experience tour by giving them an idea of all the jobs that are required for it to run successfully.

Niamh told the students about some of the benefits that the recruiters would use to try

and attract young people into the roles.

Niamh later gave the students an idea of some of the steps that employers may take to ensure they hired the right person.

Niamh commented “I very much enjoyed this workshop via the Young Chamber. The students brought such interesting and challenging points to the discussion and made me think of how I approach things!”

EPQ P resentations at Christleton High School Supported by Young Chamber

Young Chamber Sponsors were invited to the final part of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) at Christleton High School on 27th March, where Year 12 students delivered 15-minute presentations on topics of personal interest.

Throughout the school year, students at Christleton High School have been planning, researching and developing their EPQ on a subject of their choice that they are passionate about. The aim of the EPQ is to provide students with invaluable skills, including; independence, timemanagement, researching, referencing, communication, responsibility, resilience and presentation skills.

Topics of the presentations ranged from ‘Is Fast Fashion leading to a global crisis?’ and ‘Is it possible to develop a society without crime?’ to ‘How have crocodiles survived all this time?’ and ‘How can we use fungi to build a better future?’. Students were asked questions at the end of their presentations and were given feedback aimed to help them to understand areas they could improve.

n Niamh Kelly, Director of The HR Dept Wrexham & Chester, giving valuable advice to Castell Alun students

n Young Chamber sponsor interviewing a Castell Alun student.

Membership Support Officer at the Chamber of Commerce, Helen Pullin, attended the event and commented “It was brilliant to see the presentations from the students and it was easy to see the passion and effort that had gone into creating them. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak to a room full of people so well done to all that took part. Thank you to our Young Chamber Sponsors for supporting the event!”

Guided tour of Platts Agriculture helps students from Bryn Tirion Hall School to gain valuable insight into the working world

Students from Bryn Tirion Hall School recently enjoyed a guided tour of animal bedding specialists Platts Agriculture. Students were given a guided tour of Platts’ production plant and also learnt some vital information on pedestrian & cyclist safety, particularly around HGVs.

The event started with a talk from Alison & Wendy Cartwright, from HGV trailer manufacturers, Tiger Trailers. Alison & Wendy gave the students vital pedestrian & cycling safety information. The students were then able to put these lessons into practice as they were invited to walk around one of Platts’ HGVs and see for themselves the driver’s blind spots and how they should safely approach an HGV.

It was then time for the students to enjoy a guided tour of Platts Agriculture’s production plant where they got to experience the production of the animal bedding and witness the use of several cutting-edge robotic machines that support the manufacturing process. At the end of the tour, the students gained

valuable knowledge by asking the Platts team important questions about jobs and training.

Platts’ Sales & Marketing Director, Nadia McKane, had the following to say on the event: “We were delighted to host Bryn Tirion Hall School on our first factory tour and HGV Safety Lesson, in collaboration with, Tiger Trailers. Staff from our transport, production and marketing teams were able to share information about their roles. We’re looking forward to hosting more in the future!”

Alison Cartwright, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at Tiger Trailers, added “Wendy and I enjoyed visiting Platts to deliver our ‘STOP LOOK BE SEEN’ program to the students. We are proud to support The Young Chamber and Platts.”

Welcome to our new Young Chamber Sponsors

Get involved with Young Chamber

Young Chamber was established to tackle the skills gap that businesses were reporting and to help pupils, at schools and colleges from across the region, develop the necessary skills

to hit the ground running when they leave education.

It does this through the running of events at schools and colleges that are part of

the programme. These include career talks, interview days and workshops, all designed to give students an insight into the world of work and to help them as they start their careers.

If you are not a sponsor of the programme but would like more information, please email youngchamber@wcnwchamber.org.uk.

n Alison & Wendy prepare to deliver their presentation to the students.

The Hidden Benefits of Having a Skilled Accountant in Your Business

a few lesser-known benefits of having a competent accountant on board:

Business Strategy and Advisory Role: Accountants possess a comprehensive understanding of the financial aspects of a business. Leveraging their expertise, they can provide valuable insights and strategic advice. They can identify growth opportunities, assess risks, and recommend effective strategies for long-term success.

Cash Flow Management: Maintaining a healthy cash flow is vital for the survival and growth of any business. Skilled accountants specialise in cash flow management, ensuring sufficient liquidity to meet obligations and seize opportunities, enabling Business Leaders to make informed decisions and maintain financial stability.

Beyond numbers, accountants should bring additional advantages to drive business success. The importance of having a skilled accountant involved in your business is acknowledged for financial expertise, but there are lesser-known benefits that can significantly contribute to overall success. These hidden advantages go beyond crunching numbers and offer additional value to businesses.

Networking and Industry Insights: Accountants often work with businesses across various sectors, exposing them to industry-specific trends and best practices. This knowledge and network should be leveraged to benefit any company they serve. Accountants can provide valuable connections, introduce potential partners or clients, and offer insights into industry benchmarks, which opens doors to collaborations and growth opportunities that may not have been accessible otherwise.

Financial System

Optimisation:

Accountants can recommend and implement software solutions that streamline operations, automate tasks, and improve efficiency. By leveraging technology and best practices, accountants help save time, reduce errors, and enhance productivity.

Business Valuation and Exit Planning: Accountants can be crucial in business valuation and exit planning. Whether a business is considering a merger, acquisition, or sale, accountants possess the knowledge and skills to assess the financial health and value of the company. They help business owners navigate the process, identify potential tax implications, and optimise outcomes.

By embracing digital transformation, harnessing predictive analytics, and fostering collaborative partnerships, great accountants pave the way for exciting and modern financial management, helping business leaders unlock their full potential, adapt to the rapidly changing business landscape, and carve out a path towards sustainable growth and success.

If your business is seeking a better accountant to navigate the future, we’re here to help. Contact us to discover how our Team can help. Call us on 08000 664 664 or email hello@wrpartners.co.uk.

Paul Littler, the Business Development Director at WR Partners, a Firm of Chartered Accountant, Audit and Tax Advisors, shares

Paul Littler, Business Development Director at WR Partners

Enterprise/Business Name: Docea Contract Review Services Ltd

What’s in a name?

Docea is the Latin for ‘clear’ – which is exactly what I want my contract review service to be – clear. Legal documents can be written in confusing language, without punctuation, making them difficult to read. The word ‘Docea’ combines my aim to be concise with my love of classical history. Your position?

Michelle Small – I am the owner and Managing Director of Docea Contract Review Services Ltd.

About your business?

I am a single person enterprise, recently relocated to Rhyl, after being based in Sale, South Manchester. I offer contract review and writing services, along with Property lease and dilapidations reviews, aimed at any SME who has a physical office, sells anything, or provides services.

About you!

I have worked within a corporate background for all of my working life, having various managerial roles, the last one being as a Procurement and Contracts Manager for a large independent recruitment company. During my almost 20 years in my last position, I was responsible for dealing with the property portfolio for the company along with any purchase contract, and any terms of business the company was asked to sign, in order for them to provide recruitment services. I enjoyed the variety of work I was responsible for, I loved working with people, and I loved explaining things in simple terms; however, found myself becoming disillusioned with the rigidity of corporate life.

Why? - What made you consider self-employment/starting a business?

I was offered voluntary redundancy towards the end of 2019, and decided to take it,

and work for myself; however, I wasn’t 100% sure on what to focus on, as I had a couple of ideas floating around!

The light bulb moment! - how and when did the idea come about?

It was during my garden leave, that I thought about the contracts and property leases that I dealt with in-house, and realized that not many other recruitment companies of 250 staff or less had a legal department – they were all reliant on solicitors. If this were true of the recruitment industry, then it was probably true of most other industries too, and therefore set about doing some research into this. Sure enough, most businesses of a SME size were reliant on solicitors to deal with their property leases, and as for contracts, most were just signed and not read. I saw this as a gap in the market that I could fill – completing legal work for companies that didn’t have a legal team, in a quicker turnaround and without the huge cost implications.

Who is your ideal client/customer?

My ideal customer is anyone from a single person company to a large company, who needs some contract or property legal work carried out, but would struggle to find the money to pay for a solicitor. As my background is within the recruitment industry, I am more knowledgeable in this area, however, I can deal with any commercial property lease/licence or dilapidations schedule.

Best moment so far?

Securing three large recruitment companies to provide my services to, and getting engagement from referrals through social media, and also managing to survive Covid! I didn’t have my first face to face meeting until March 2022 – and I started my business in March 2020! It’s amazing what you can achieve by Zoom and Teams!

Biggest challenges?

One of the biggest challenges for me, has been the ‘selling’ side of business– I have never sold a thing in my life, and when you start on your own, you have to do everything. You have to market yourself and get your name known; whether that be on social media, networking, or through connections on LinkedIn – the process was alien to me and took some time to come to terms with.

Benefits of the Chamber Start-Up

club

since you joined?

I set up my company in 2020, however, due to Covid, I couldn’t actually attend any face-to-face meetings for 2 years – so I still feel like a relative newcomer. For me, a definite benefit of the Chamber Start Up Club is finally getting to meet other business owners in the same position. I like the variety of businesses you get to mingle with, as everyone has a different way of working and it’s useful to get a different perspective.

Lessons learnt …what would you do differently and why!

In general, I wouldn’t do anything differently – perhaps setting a business up just before lockdown wasn’t the best move – but it did give me time to research companies, areas, virtual networking groups and lay the foundations for my business. If I had hit the ground running, then I don’t think I would’ve been as prepared.

Michelle Small, Managing Director of Docea Contract Review Services Ltd.

Students win two UK enterprise awards and showcase business to The Princess Royal

Demi Evans, and Jade McArdle, who provided an overview of their product and business journey.

The students are currently in the second year of their undergraduate degree studies in Business Management, International Business Management and Events Management. They developed the idea as part of the Entrepreneurial Thought in Action module which is one of the ways students are supported to start their own business and learn the skills of new enterprise management.

University of Chester students have won two awards and showcased their carbon-cutting venture to HRH The Princess Royal in a UK competition championing young entrepreneurs who are leading the way with their enterprise and innovation.

Representing the North-West, students from the University’s Business School were recognised at the Young Enterprise (YE) UK Start-Up Final.

The team was presented with the award for Best Pitch Deck and team member Eleanor Jones was awarded the title of Student Entrepreneur of the Year. The Pitch Deck award was presented after the students submitted their business plan in advance, and took part in the pitching competition on the day. The Student Entrepreneur award is given to a student who has developed significantly as a result of the start-up journey. They were the first of the 15 teams from across Britain to speak to Anne, Princess Royal, who showed great interest in their eco-friendly business, A Wild Life. The business offers seeded cardboard boxes, as a more sustainable way to package goods. Consumers can plant the packaging which is integrated with flower or vegetable seeds. She spoke to each member of the business: Eleanor Jones; Josh Sellings; Aaron Jones;

Jade McArdle, Managing Director of A Wild Life, said: “Our young enterprise journey has been incredible. It has taught me so many personal and professional skills that I can take forward with me. Meeting HRH Princess Anne and explaining our business to her was an amazing experience that I am very proud of.”

Josh Sellings added: “To share this entrepreneurial journey with this amazing team has been an absolute pleasure and I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. This journey has taught me so much about myself and improved all aspects of my character while improving my business knowledge and experience. I can’t wait to be a part of what A Wild Life does next.”

Dr Connie Hancock, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Management at Chester Business School said: “Our enterprise students did an outstanding job of representing the Business School in the UK Start-Up Final; coming out with two awards is tremendous.

“The Princess Royal herself was impressed by their business idea and came straight over to their trade stand when she arrived at the venue. The students have worked tirelessly on their business, and I am extremely proud of all of them.”

Lecturer and Joint Leader of the Entrepreneurial Thought in Action Module, Cheryl Sorensen shared more on what the recognition means: “We are extremely proud that A Wild Life won Best Pitch

Deck during the Young Enterprise national final. Winning this award is a testament to the team’s hard work, dedication, and unwavering commitment to A Wild Life and everything that it stands for. It is an honour for us to be able to support this business and its student founders. Alongside this, Eleanor’s win is an amazing and welldeserved achievement, as her resilience and motivation as an entrepreneur are outstanding.”

Conor Dangerfield, Lecturer and Joint Module Leader, added: “This achievement is not only a win for A Wild Life, but also for our module, Entrepreneurial Thought and Action. It demonstrates the high quality that our amazing students strive to achieve and the results that can come from hard work, dedication, and a supportive entrepreneurial network, which is incredible at Chester Business School.

“We would like to express our gratitude to Suzanne Lockwood, the judges, and organisers of Young Enterprise, as well as our wider faculty, for their support and encouragement. The awards are a celebration of collective efforts, and we look forward to what comes next.”

The YE UK Start-Up Final was held at the University of Salford and welcomed student entrepreneurs from across the UK to pitch their business to a panel of respected judges from organisations including The Marketing Trust and The Institute of Leadership and Management.

Supporting the Chester students at the event were: Dr Connie Hancock; Cheryl Sorensen; Conor Dangerfield; Enterprise Tutors Athalia Dangerfield and Andy Firr, as well as Student Rep, Piyush Choudhari.

This year’s Start-Up Final coincides with the 60th anniversary of YE, a national financial and enterprise education charity that motivates young people to succeed in the changing world of work by equipping them with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need. For more information, please visit:

https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/.

Students Josh Sellings, Aaron Jones and Demi Evans, with HRH Princess Anne.

How apprenticeships could help to upskill your workforce

It’s no secret that the UK economy is struggling with a skills and talent gap and for many businesses recruiting and retaining talent is number one priority, and therefore many are looking to invest more in upskilling the existing workforce.

Karen Roberts, Assistant Principal Apprenticeships & Employer Engagement from Cheshire College - South & West outlines how apprenticeships could be the answer to many businesses’ recruitment and retention issues, and how they could be the ideal solution to the need to upskill existing teams and therefore investment in the businesses and team’s future.

Different types of apprenticeships

There is a misconception that apprenticeships are for post-GCSE school leavers only, when in fact, there are a variety of apprenticeship routes to suit various levels and ages, explains Karen. We find when speaking to business leaders that many don’t realise how apprenticeships can be a complete game-changer for their business! In fact, those businesses looking to upskill their teams, for example, pushing employees up to management level, could take advantage of an apprenticeship, which would come as little or no cost at all to the business.

Anyone over 16 and not in full-time education can apply for an apprenticeship. Programme lengths vary and can take between one and four years, depending on the level of study, the sector and the apprentice’s initial ability.

The cost of putting an employee through an apprenticeship

One barrier to businesses training their employees is the worry of cost. Many have had to tighten their purse strings in the past few years, so the additional cost of training courses isn’t always possible for SMEs.

There are ways in which businesses can put their teams through apprenticeship courses for little or no cost. If a business does not pay into the Apprenticeship Levy, which we will touch on later in the article, the government will fund 95% of the cost of training an apprentice. With just a 5% contribution required from the employer, this

usually equates to a few hundred pounds. If a business employs fewer than 50 people, that contribution increases to 100% for apprentices aged 16-18 or aged 19-24 with an education and healthcare need. However, in England, an employer that has an annual bill of more than £3m will pay monthly into the Apprenticeship Levy. This levy is an amount paid at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s annual pay bill and this includes related companies and charities. This therefore means that if the employer wishes to put team members through an apprenticeship scheme, it will cost them nothing at all as the business would be eligible for an Apprenticeship Levy allowance, plus a 10% top up from the government. Further guidance on this can be found on the Gov.uk website.

Case studies

Pamela Crehan, Level 3 Healthcare Support Diploma at the Crewe Campus

Background:

Having worked as a healthcare assistant, Pamela knew it was an industry that she wanted to progress her career in, which is why she decided to enrol on her Level 3 Healthcare Support Diploma at Cheshire College to advance and learn new skills. Her ultimate goal was to go on to university and study to be a nurse, something that she may not have been able to achieve without her apprenticeship.

Pamela’s story:

“I knew a lot about healthcare in the hospital before I started the programme from my years working on site, however I learnt so much academically through the apprenticeship” says Pamela. She said: “My employer funded my apprenticeship, so I decided to take the opportunity to better my knowledge and increase my job prospects. My assessor was great; she was always available and offered me support regularly. It was comforting to know that she was only a phone call away and there to help me out if I ever needed it.”

Once completing and passing her course with flying colours, Pamela gained a place at Liverpool John Moores University to study a nursing degree.

James Smith, Level 3 Leadership and supervisor and CMI at the Ellesmere Port Campus

Background:

James took on his apprenticeship through his employer and partner of the College, Encirc Glass, as a means to grow his skills and help with career progression.

James’s story:

“I was happy that Encirc partnered with the college to provide training and courses. I agreed with my employer that my apprenticeship would take up 20% of my working week and that has been spent at college, which is a great environment to learn in. Some of the stuff I have learned will be valuable for any future promotions and responsibility.”

James is looking forward to his future and utilising his new skills to manage people and day to day situations.

For more information about apprenticeship courses with Cheshire College South & West, contact apprenticeships@ccsw.ac.uk

Karen Roberts, Assistant Principal Apprenticeships & Employer Engagement from Cheshire College - South & West

Adrian La Trobe

Head of Events

Venue Cymru & Conwy County Borough Council

WCNW: To begin, tell us a little about yourself and your background

I grew up in the hills above Conwy having relocated from the West Midlands in my early teens. Like most youngsters in holiday areas, my first part time jobs were in hospitality, where I quickly discovered a love for the service industries. A tourism management degree later, I started my career back in North Wales in hotel management before moving into the more niche area of events management.

As a hobby, I have always been involved in amateur theatre (mostly backstage) and I see a real link between this and events management. If done properly, both enhance the experience of the event whilst being invisible to the attendee/audience member. I find something very satisfying about knowing your advice and knowledge has contributed to a client’s event achieving its goals more effectively.

WCNW: Where is Venue Cymru located and what facilities do you provide?

Venue Cymru is located in Llandudno on the North Wales coast. It is the largest purpose-built Conference Centre in North Wales and hosts more than 600 events every year ranging from business meetings and awards dinners to National Association Conferences and televised sporting competitions. Our clients span a broad range of sectors.

n Adrian La Trobe with the rest of the Conference Team at Venue Cymru

We also have a 1500 seat auditorium which hosts West End Productions, World renowned singers Comedians, Explorers, Welsh National Opera and Royal Ballet to name but a few.

WCNW: What are your main responsibilities?

The department covers the operation of the county’s two theatres, our conference centre, and a business centre. Additionally, I look after the council’s Major Events team who liaise with event organisers planning anything happening in the public realm across the county as well as delivering the council’s own programme of events.

Every show or event (and across the department this can be over 1000 per year) is its own project needing input from multiple teams all with different deadlines. We are lucky to have a strong team of experienced and highly skilled staff, so for me, the main responsibilities are providing a steer on our priorities, the ongoing development of our offer, and supporting the teams to maximise their productivity.

WCNW: What does a typical day involve?

One of the best parts of my job is there is no ‘typical day’. Obviously, there is the usual finance, HR and operational issues that are part of any managers job, but much of my time is spent discussing events that are (or might be) coming to our area.

In just this last week I have met with a think tank looking at holding an international business summit, done a site visit with a UK Association about their Annual Convention, and spent a day supporting my team as they ran a beach and promenade fun day attracting nearly 10,000 local residents.

With a theatre as part of our complex, it’s nice to end the day with the chance to chat with patrons and members of our staff as the audiences arrive for an evening performance.

WCNW: Who are your target audience?

As an organisation, our target audience is just that – Audiences! Live Theatre is an unavoidable expensive evening out, and to sell the 200,000 tickets per year needed takes huge effort by our marketing and box office teams. Despite the apparently high ticket prices (although much better value in regional theatres like Venue Cymru), very little of this money is retained by the venue, so getting the Food and Beverage offer right is really important.

By contrast our Conference business is a B2B offer, targeting event organisers and key influencers in business sectors or special interest groups who will champion North Wales as a destination for their industry’s (or hobby’s) conventions. Making contact

with event organisers from such a diverse range of backgrounds is a challenge and we use a mixture of networking activities and attendance at specialist event industry exhibitions in the UK and Europe.

WCNW: What is the main aim of the organisation?

As a local authority owned facility, we get the privilege of running a business for the benefit of the wider community. Our organisation aims are about delivering economic benefit and improved wellbeing/ quality of life in our region, and I’d like to think we are pretty good at it!

In an average year, Venue Cymru alone contributes an additional £33m in economic benefit to the North Wales economy, helping to support over 500 jobs in hotels, restaurants and the retail and travel industries.

We work closely with local businesses and our events clients, partnering them with community or arts and wellbeing projects to help them achieve CSR or event legacy benefits in the area, and in turn helping them realise the associated PR opportunities.

WCNW: How can businesses get involved?

Venue Cymru works alongside art organisations such as Arts & Business Cymru and the Conwy Arts Trust to promote, enable, develop and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships. We believe that by working collaboratively we can achieve great opportunities for our community.

Together, we run workshops and outreach projects for young people and adults with mental health difficulties, as well as a programme of events for adults and the older generation who suffer with loneliness.

We are very proud to have won numerous awards for our arts projects over the years.

Venue Cymru also has a strong track record of developing successful, progressive and innovative sponsorship partnerships with companies, which achieve great benefits for both parties.

We value each and every one of our sponsors, they are as committed as we are to encourage participation in the arts across the generations.

WCNW: What projects are you currently working on?

Venue Cymru is committed to achieving the corporate goal of becoming a net zero carbon user by 2030.

We believe that we should lead by example to reduce our negative environmental impact and continuously improve our environmental performance. To help us

achieve this, we have implemented the Green Dragon Environmental Standards, ensuring our environmental impacts are monitored and managed and our overall environmental performance continues to improve.

WCNW: What are your career aims and aspirations? Is there anything else in particular you’d like to achieve in your lifetime?

I actually see myself as really lucky. To have worked for over 25 years with the same organisation and have seen my area of work evolve and grow throughout that time has allowed for career development and new opportunities. I tell students and those starting their working life you’ll spend a quarter of every week in work – so always do a job you enjoy getting up for, and I still do.

Obviously, there are always opportunities you aspire to, and I have a handful of European conferences and international sporting tournaments I would still love to hook for Conwy. But perhaps the greatest aspiration I have, as someone who has spent their whole career in the events industry, is to see North Wales properly recognised for the range and breadth of its events product. With great natural and outdoor arenas, major purpose-built conference centres and world class incentive activities, we deserve to be better known.

And hopefully now (within the WCNWCC at least) we now are!

n A meeting room with a view!

n The 1500 seat auditorium

ADjuto

Engagingways to better understandhow your business ticks

ADjuto – Engagingways to better understandhow your business ticks

ADjuto - Engaging ways to better understand how your business ticks

ADjuto – Engagingways to better understandhow your business ticks

What – Digitally enabled ways to understand how businesses operate, remain competitive and obtain best results

ways to businesses operate, obtain best results benefit from insight best practice, gamification and AI

Why – All businesses can benefit from review and independent insight

What - Digitally enabled ways to understand how businesses operate, remain competitive and obtain best results

What – Digitally enabled ways to understand how businesses operate, remain competitive and obtain best results

Why - All businesses can benefit from review and independent insight

How – A combination of best practice, years of experience, gamification and AI

Why – All businesses can benefit from review and independent insight

How - A combination of best practice, years of experience, gamification and AI

Who –Small, Medium or Large businesses across a variety of market sectors

How – A combination of best practice, years of experience, gamification and AI

Who - Small, Medium or Large businesses across a variety of market sectors

Who –Small, Medium or Large businesses across a variety of market sectors

Discover more in our overview video by clicking on QR code

➢ Play our games for a prepared business scenario

Play our games for a prepared business scenario

➤ Play our games for a prepared business scenario

➢ Play our games for a prepared business scenario

➢ Build a scenario to better resonate with your sector and business setting

➤ Build a scenario to better resonate with your sector and business setting

➢ Build a scenario to better resonate with your sector and business setting

➢ Run a copy of real data from your business as if it a game

Build a scenario to better resonate with your sector and business setting

➢ Use as an everyday business assistant

➤ Run a copy of real data from your business as if it is a game

➢ Run a copy of real data from your business as if it a game

➢ Run a copy of real data from your business as if it a game

➤ Use as an everyday business assistant

➢ Use as an everyday business assistant

Adjuto has been formed by people with long term business sales and operations experience, dealing with small, medium and lar ge organisations in start-up, day-you-day running , long term planning and transformation. Our approach of using straightforward, proven approaches combined w ith gamification / simulation technology. Linked to commonly used business products such as Sage, Xero and QuickBooks our AI -based solutions can be used for awareness, period checks and simple competitive fun. We also offer development of websites and mobile apps. See our website for more inf ormation …

Large businesses sectors

Adjuto has been formed by people with long term business sales and operations experience, dealing with small, medium and large organisations in start up, day you day running , long term planning and transformation. Our approach of using straightforward, proven approaches combined w ith gamification / simulation technology. Linked to commonly used business products such as Sage, Xero and QuickBooks our AI based solutions can be used for awareness, period checks and simple competitive fun. We also offer development of websites and mobile apps. See our website for more information …

Or visit us at www.adjuto.com (or email at enquiries@adjuto.com)

➢ Use as an everyday business assistant

Adjuto has been formed by people with long term business sales and operations experience, dealing with small, medium and lar ge organisations in start-up, day-you-day running , long term planning and transformation. Our approach of using straightforward, proven approaches combined w ith gamification / simulation technology. Linked to commonly used business products such as Sage, Xero and QuickBooks our AI -based solutions can be used for awareness, period checks and simple competitive fun. We also offer development of websites and mobile apps. See our website for more inf ormation …

people with long term business sales and operations experience, dealing with small, medium and lar ge organisations in start-up, planning and transformation. Our approach of using straightforward, proven approaches combined w ith gamification / commonly used business products such as Sage, Xero and QuickBooks our AI -based solutions can be used for awareness, competitive fun. We also offer development of websites and mobile apps. See our website for more inf ormation …

Insight into Victorian Ventures

Kieran and Marcella Rizzotti

If you look around the organically built city of Chester, what do you see? There are the fascinating remains of the Roman Empire and medieval times of course, The Minerva shrine, the amphitheatre, and the cross at St Johns to name just a few. But most of what you can see still standing that makes Chester itself unique is, in fact, Victorian.

The “Tudor” rows and the Cathedral that you see today are Victorian facades, like the Victorians themselves. The original structures have been hidden under multiple petticoats and stiff collars.

Victorian Ventures was born out of a passion from all things Victorian. My wife and I met through our love of history and study of Historical fashion, and we wear historical fashion regularly in our daily lives. Not just purely for fun, but also because every article of clothing tells a story as unique as Chester itself. We immerse ourselves in the fine details to make sure we do justice for our ancestors and to really understand what it was like to be a living, breathing person of the era. We have re-enacted many eras of

Britain’s history, from a Roman legionary to a Victorian soldier fighting in the 2nd Boer War.

It was with all this passion and experience for history and our love for the city itself that the business was born out of. To bring something new and exciting to its Roman walls, we presented a walking tour of the city with a Victorian twist. Breathing life again into the uniquely Victorian structures, enthusiastically and visually. We re-tell the stories of the people who lived and died in the slums, and of the middle and well-connected upper classes of Victorian Chester with as much drama and soul to fill up the coffers of any Grosvenor as if they were present still. And believe me when I say there are many forgotten stories of 19th Century Chester, both morbidly gruesome

and fascinating that happened just under the feet of the passing Chester tourist.

For all of this to happen, we have spent sleepless nights and long days pouring over 19th Century books of Chester, original news articles from its local rags and as much information as we could, with a little help from the ‘Chester archaeological society’s’ archives, and a lot of help from the West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce. With which this business would not exist, and the help and opportunities being a member has given to us. We sincerely hope that Victorian Ventures is as pleasurable to experience as it has been for us to build up from just an idea tucked inside a top hat, into a very interesting and continuously growing reality.

Scented moustache wax and hair pomade was not just the mark of a Victorian Gentleman, but it also covered the many horrid smells with bathing being such a task in the Victorian era!

These images were all taken on an original late Victorian camera using the Victorian wet collodion process, known as a ‘’tintype’’ (originally known as a ferrotype.)

No, the Victorians don’t look miserable in their photographs because they had such hard lives, but because your tintype portrait would usually require you to sit still for up to 15 minutes! and holding a smile for that long is near impossible!

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays launch flights and holidays from new base at Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have announced that Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) will become their newest base, with the launch of their award-winning flights and holidays from Liverpool for Summer 2024.

The UK’s largest tour operator and third largest airline have today put 20 sunshine destinations on sale for Summer 24 from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, in response to enormous demand from customers and independent travel agents across the region.

programme also includes seven exclusive summer routes to Gran Canaria, Menorca, Rhodes, Zante, Madeira, Paphos and Bourgas (Bulgaria).

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays’ arrival at Liverpool John Lennon Airport represents significant investment for the region too. More than 200 new jobs will be created initially, with positions available across flight deck, cabin crew, engineering, and ground operations.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport has been commended for its high levels of customer service in recent years with travellers able to take advantage of the Airport’s faster, easier and friendlier passenger experience. Passengers flying from Liverpool check-in quickly and pass through the terminal with ease compared to many larger airports, with average security queue times of just 12 minutes last Summer and more on time departures than most other UK airports.

with holidaymakers and for our local independent travel agents to be able to sell, with customers taking advantage of all the convenience and hassle free benefits of flying from Liverpool.”

The programme includes seven destinations that are exclusive to Jet2.com and Jet2holidays from Liverpool. The first Jet2.com flight from the airport will depart on 28th March 2024, perfectly timed for the Easter holidays!

In their first summer of operations from Liverpool, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will operate up to 54 weekly flights, including 12 flights to both the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands every week. A fleet of four based aircraft will fly customers to a wide choice of destinations across Mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Portugal, Madeira and Cyprus.

This will be the first time that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will have operated from Liverpool, with 565,000 seats on sale. The

From next Summer, travellers from Liverpool will also be able to enjoy the VIP customer service which has seen Jet2.com and Jet2holidays continually grow its business whilst repeatedly winning high-profile accolades.

John Irving, CEO Liverpool John Lennon Airport commented, “This is a great day for the Airport and for the region’s holidaymakers. For the first time travellers from across the Liverpool City Region and beyond will have the opportunity to book package holidays with the UK’s leading package holiday provider, direct from Liverpool John Lennon Airport – the Airport of choice for travellers from across the North West and North Wales, bringing together the current Which? Travel Brand of the Year with the current Which? Best UK Airport.

It’s also great to have 7 new routes available that we know will be popular

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said, “We are absolutely delighted to be expanding our awardwinning flights and holidays to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which becomes our 11th UK airport base. This announcement further expands our footprint and comes on the back of the enormous demand that we know is out there from customers and independent travel agents across Liverpool, Merseyside and the wider region. We have seen that demand really ramp up over the past couple of years, so we know there will be a fantastic response to this launch. We have seen time and time again how popular our product is when we bring it to new customers, and we look forward to showcasing our VIP customer service to holidaymakers from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and delighting them with our product.”

He added: “The announcement of our 11th UK airport reflects our long-term strategy to continue growing responsibly to become the UK’s leading and best leisure travel business. It also means significant investment in the region, with four based aircraft coming into operation and the creation of over 200 new jobs. Between now and Summer 24, our focus is on ensuring everything is ready to launch operations, so that from day one we can provide customers from Liverpool John Lennon Airport the same award-winning service which has delighted millions of other customers from across the UK for so many years.”

Flights and holidays are now on sale at www.jet2.com or www.jet2holidays.com

(L to R) Jet2.com’s Ian Doubtfire and Steve Heapy with LJLA’s John Irving and Paul Winfield, celebrating the launch of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays at the Airport.

QBR* Breakfast Briefing Re-launch a great success!

*QBR = Quarterly Business Report - A significant economic indicator for West Cheshire and North Wales and contributes to the QES, the largest independent business survey in the UK. We were delighted to bring back our ‘face to face’ QBR Breakfast Briefing, sponsored by Page Group, on 12th May.

The event gave an insight into the economic landscape of West Cheshire & North Wales and the UK and opened with Page Group giving their economic insights. It was then a pleasure to welcome Stuart Morrison, Policy and Research Executive at the British Chambers of Commerce, who presented the national results of the Quarterly Economic Survey. Neil Ashbridge then revealed the local results of the Quarterly Business Report

before James Ryan, Development Bank of Wales, gave an update on the impact of interest rates.

“As the sponsor of the Q1 QBR Breakfast Briefing, we had the opportunity to open the event with an insight into the recruitment landscape, challenges and share valuable candidate expectations. Myself and my team found the whole event very valuable and it gave us all an excellent update on the current state of the economy and business performance both nationally and in the Cheshire West and North Wales area,” said Nicola Jones, Business Manager at Michael Page.

Look out for future briefings on our website!

BCC Quarterly Economic Survey: Despite uptick in business confidence, most firms see no improvement to sales

n Over half (52%) of UK firms believe their business turnover will increase over the next 12 months, up from 44% in Q3 2022.

n However, only one in three (34%) firms experienced an increase in sales over the past three months.

n Almost half (47%) of hospitality businesses reported a drop in cashflow in the last quarter.

The BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) for Q1 2023 shows that while business confidence has improved from a very weak base, most firms see no improvement to business conditions.

The survey of over 5,200 firms – 92% of whom are SMEs – reveals a sectoral division in business performance, with hospitality and retail firms consistently more likely to report worsening cash flow, investment, and turnover than other sectors.

The research took place between February 13 and March 9, before the Chancellor’s Spring Budget was announced.

Growth in business activity remains weak, with retail and hospitality sectors facing most significant challenges.

The percentage of firms reporting increased domestic sales has not seen any bounce back since it fell significantly in Q3 2022. Only one in three (34%) firms experienced an

increase in sales over the past three months, while 24% reported a decrease and 41% reported no change.

The retail and hospitality sectors remain particularly weak. Almost two in five (38%) retail firms experienced a decrease in sales over the past three months, with one in three (32%) hospitality businesses reporting a fall.

After a significant fall in Q3 2022, business confidence is now on the up.

After business confidence plummeted to historically low levels in the second half of 2022, there has been a marked improvement in sentiment in the first quarter of 2023. Over half (52%) of firms believe their business turnover will increase over the next 12 months, up from 44% in Q3 2022. While profitability confidence has also improved, it continues to remain weaker than turnover confidence. 42% of businesses now expect their profits to increase over the next year, up from 34% in Q4 2022.

Inflationary pressures continue to ease slightly, but still remain the top concern

Following a drop last quarter, the percentage of firms expecting their prices to rise shows further signs of easing, as it fell five percentage points from 60% in Q4 2022 to 55% in Q1 2023.

The overall level of concern regarding inflation has dropped for the first time in over

two years. However, at 74%, the level remains close to the historical high.

Cost pressures are varied, but labour costs and utilities come out top overall

Cost pressures vary considerable across sectors; 87% of hospitality firms reported utilities as a factor driving price increases while 86% of manufacturers cited raw materials.

David Bharier, Head of Research at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“After a significant decline in business confidence in the second half of 2022, results from QES Q1 show an improvement in business sentiment as political turmoil and inflationary pressures show some signs of easing.

“However, this comes from a very weak base, and while confidence has improved, this is yet to translate into an overall improvement of business conditions. Most SMEs still report no improvement to sales, cash flow, and investment.

“Three years of economic shocks – Covid lockdowns, global supply chain crises, inflation, and Brexit – have taken a significant toll on UK SMEs. The QES Q1 data once again confirms that these shocks have disproportionately impacted the retail and hospitality sectors, which are once again most likely to be reporting worsening sales and cash flow.”

Neil Ashbridge gave an update on the latest Quarterly Business Report

An update on ONS Trade data shows a weak first quarter for UK exports

Chamber’s upcoming International Trade Training Course Dates

Our British Chamber of Commerce accredited International Trade Training Courses give delegates a clear understanding of the key areas that underpin the world of International Trade. These courses run twice a year and we are delighted to announce new dates for later this year:

- 6th September: BCC Introduction to the Export Process.

- 12th September: BCC Understanding Commodity Codes.

- 20th September: BCC Introduction to Import.

Reacting to the latest ONS Trade data, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:

“The picture for global trade in the first quarter of 2023 is creating serious challenges for UK exporters, with a drop off in services as well as goods. While a pickup in global demand is likely to develop in the second half of the year, we need action now to address both the cyclical and structural factors holding back UK export growth.

“Labour market concerns appeared to act as a brake on any further services growth during March. Removing inflationary effects, UK services exports, which make up the bulk of our overseas sales, are still 0.9% below their pre-pandemic levels. The Government needs to do more to remove non-tariff trade barriers that are frustrating firms and make a big push to improve take-up of free trade agreements.”

Detailed Analysis of UK Trade Data

- Q1 2023

Figures for March revealed a further drop in both goods imports and exports,

concluding a weak start to the year. Across the quarter, UK goods exports values declined by 3.2%, and goods imports by 7.5%. Services exports values fell by 2% across the quarter. Taking goods and services trade overall, there was a fall in UK exports values of 2.6% between January and March 2023, and in imports of 6.8%.

- March data

After taking inflation into account, goods imports values fell by 2.1% in March and goods exports by 2.7%. Although imports of goods with the EU remained static, there was a decline in goods imports trade with the rest of the world in March of 4.7% –driven by lower fuel and oil imports, and across cars, transport, machinery and other manufactured goods. Good exports to the rest of the world fell by 3.6% and to the EU by 1.7%. In services, UK exports increased by 0.8% in March, and imports by 0.3%.

- Trade Deficit

Reduced imports across the quarter led to a fall in the overall UK goods and services trade deficit from £15.1bn to £10.2bn in Q1 2023.

- 27th September: BCC Incoterms ® 2020 Rules.

- 10th October: BCC Export Documentation.

- 18th October: BCC Methods of Payment and Letters of Credit.

- 25th October: BCC Customs Procedures and Documentation.

- 22nd November: BCC Customs Special Procedures.

There are a total of 8 accredited courses covering a whole host of topics and with these new dates now available to book, you can make sure that you are full trained in the most important areas of international trade.

Save

the date for our October International Trade Forum!

The West Cheshire & North Wales International Trade Forum has been established to bring together importers and exporters from across the region to network, share best practice and to gain insights into key international trade topics.

The events offer a great opportunity for businesses that might be considering exporting to gain an insight into the process and hear success stories from across the region.

The next session on 11th October will focus on finance and is sponsored by Equals Money. The event will be live on our website shortly and be sure to book your place at https://portal.wcnwchamber.org.uk/events.html

BCC responds to publication of draft Border Target Operating Model

Responding to the publication of draft proposals from the Government for new border controls, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“The British Chambers of Commerce is a big believer in the shift to a digital trade system. If it is done properly then smaller firms will see benefits when it comes to importing goods into Great Britain.

“Providing certainty for business is crucial and the focus must now be on delivering to the timescales set out. This will need a concerted effort to get the physical and digital infrastructure in place.

“It is then vital that companies, here and across the world, involved in sourcing and supply chains, are properly prepared for these changes and the introduction of new trusted trader arrangements.

“We look forward to engaging with our members and businesses across the UK on the details during the six-week consultation period ahead and pre-implementation period thereafter, as well as Government, to ensure the switchover runs as smoothly as possible.”

Visit GOV.UK website to find out more.

BCC: Semiconductor Strategy ‘A Welcome Start’

Reacting to the release of the Government’s semi-conductor strategy, BCC Head of Trade, William Bain, said:

“The fact the UK now has a National Semiconductor Strategy is a welcome first step.

“We have been calling for this for the past year and it has arrived not a moment too soon to provide some focus, measurable actions and results. Business across the UK is clear on the imperative to secure long-term semiconductor supply chains for Britain – the foundation of advanced manufacturing here.

“The recent semiconductor supply chain agreement with South Korea, and today’s new collaboration with Japan, are strong building blocks to provide greater security for manufacturing on diversity of semiconductor supply chains.

“We also need strong engagement with the US and the EU who have adopted their own solutions to semiconductor supply chain challenges through their Chips Acts, including plans for increased internal semiconductor production.

“The Strategy usefully puts together policies on R&D, skills and investment, with a domestic focus on compound semiconductors.

“Keeping British industry at the cutting edge of research and development is vital and we will be engaging with Government on our role in contributing to the Strategy’s development and keenly focussing on the autumn announcements on infrastructure and additional manufacturing support.”

Win the fight against pests

After over 20 years working with service industries, PA Services Virtually opened it’s doors. Last year we grew to a team of four who help provide solutions to your admin problems. We work with you to provide flexible services so that you can concentrate on your core business, while we take care of the rest. On time, on budget, everytime !

Typical tasks to outsource

✓ Collating monthly expenses, Xero reconciliation

✓ Taking and preparing meeting notes/minutes

✓ Compiling reports, formatting documents

✓ Document Management

✓ Automation, set up software/Apps to save you time & money

✓ Research and data collection - I find the answers on your behalf (this is proving to be the most popular service to date)

✓ Personal Errands

✓ Events

hello@paservicesvirtually.co.uk | www.paservicesvirtually.co.uk

Whatever your need, we can assist. We have access to 100’s of associates & can match to the skills you are looking for.

B2B Marketing Consultant

As an Associate member of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and internationally published photographer I have had the privilege to work across an expansive portfolio of subjects around the world, delivering “real life” images and memories to both corporate and individual clients. I specialise in Events, PR, corporate commissions corporate and personal branding. I have a passion for photography and a wealth of experience capturing images to the highest of standards for my clients.

I offer an unobtrusive event photography service, securing a combination of posed shots and candid photographs, capturing life as it happens as your event unfolds. We believe our approach to photography tells a story and truly captures the essence of your brief.

From your products, processes, events, and individual and team images we can be trusted to deliver high quality images and exceptional photography.

07525 940994

phil@philtugwellphotography.co.uk

www.philtugwellphotography.co.uk

Freelance PA offering flexible solutions to small

Quarterly Recruitment Outlook: No sign of hiring difficulties easing

• 80% of businesses surveyed (92% of whom are SMEs) attempting to recruit have faced challenges, with hospitality and manufacturing firms still the most likely to report difficulties

• Almost six in ten (59%) businesses are actively trying to recruit staff

• BCC calls on Government to work with businesses on solutions including skills training, investment and urgent reform of the Shortage Occupations List (SOL)

The latest Quarterly Recruitment Outlook (QRO), a survey of more than 5,000 UK firms of all sectors and sizes by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) reveals businesses are still facing record-high difficulties in hiring new staff.

The first quarter results for 2023 show that recruitment difficulties have fallen just two percentage points from the record-high level of 82% in Q4 2022.

Attempted recruitment in Q1 was virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, with 59% of those surveyed looking to find staff (61% in Q4 2022).

While recruitment difficulties are being experienced across the economy, firms in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors were the most likely to report recruitment difficulties (83% in each sector). This is closely followed by the construction and engineering sector (81%) and

t hen professional services; and public, education, health sector on 79%.

The recruitment pressure points vary across sectors. For firms who struggled to recruit in the construction and engineering sector, 71% faced difficulties in finding skilled manual/technical workers. However, for hospitality businesses that struggled to recruit, 64% faced difficulties in finding semi/unskilled workers.

Investment in training remains stubbornly low in an environment of increasing cost pressures. Just over a quarter of firms (27%) reported an increase in their training investment plans over the last three months (24% Q4 2022), while 14% reported a drop.

Overall, 67% of businesses say labour costs are a source of inflationary pressure, with a similar number (66%) worried about energy costs. Concerns around labour costs are highest in manufacturing (76%) followed by construction and engineering, logistics, and hospitality (each at 70%).

Responding to the findings, Jane Gratton, Head of People Policy at the BCC, said:

“People shortages are a massive issue and employers can see little sign of improvement. The high number of unfilled job vacancies is damaging businesses and the economy. Firms are struggling to fulfil order books and turning down new work.

“While investment in training is part of the solution, it is being held back by rising overall cost pressures and a lack of time and resource at firms to mentor and support new recruits.

“There is no quick fix and employers and the government need to work together to find solutions. While firms can do more to make workplaces more flexible and jobs easier to access, the government must redouble its efforts to encourage and help people into work.

“Support for parents and carers, older workers and those with health issues will be crucial. At the same time, where there is evidence of urgent and critical skills shortages that are crippling business sectors, the government must adopt a sensible and pragmatic approach to immigration and ensure that the Shortage Occupations List reflects the reality on the ground.

“The Chamber Network is rooted in its communities, representing businesses of all sizes across the UK, and these are the big issues they are telling us that need addressing if we are to get the economy growing again.”

n Jane Gratton, Head of People Policy at the BCC

24 Hrs with Theatre Porto

A brief overview of your role and company

I’m Caz Brader, the Executive Director of Theatre Porto. We are a theatre company and Venue in Ellesmere Port and we specialise in theatre and other creative opportunities for children, young people and families.

Theatre Porto (formerly Action Transport Theatre) has been making theatre for children, young people and the communities of Ellesmere Port for over 35 years.

We are inspired by the child-centred qualities of curiosity, play, fairness and aim to make new work which both challenges and delights.

We provide opportunities for local children and young people to work with us throughout the year through our free, inclusive engagement programme which includes groups such as Drama Drop in, Young Writers and Young Creatives. These activities are inclusive and support well-being.

Our professional theatre productions are made collaboratively with children, schools and other companies/artists touring locally, regionally and nationally.

We are part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio.

Can you tell us a short overview of an average day at work?

The variety of my working life is what I love the most. Today we’ve been planning a Eurovision screening party and fundraiser in partnership with Refugee Assist.

In our theatre today we have students from Cheshire College – South & West creating a new production alongside our associate director and later we have our ‘family

hangout’ when we will welcome local families to spend time together, benefit from free food and make some brilliant creations with our associate artist.

Whilst all this is happening, I’m back-of-house writing funding bids, balancing the books, helping the team to programme outdoor events for our summer extravaganza ‘Topsy Turvy’

How has the company grown in recent years?

The last year has been a momentous time for us as a charity. We opened our new state-ofthe-art theatre in August 2022.

The capital investment from CWAC and ACE allowed to introduce:

n A new 150 seat flexible auditorium for performances and events

n New film screening technology

n New rehearsal spaces

n New workshop and meeting rooms

n A café with an outdoor terrace

And we have now made the transition to a public venue, with a wonderful cafe managed by social care charity 1st Enable. We’re open 6 days a week and bringing joy to 1000’s of families each year.

Have you faced any particular challenges recently?

It’s a tough time for the arts sector - there is steep competition for the public funding we rely on as a charity and costs associated with running a venue are rising all the time. But we are determined to maintain our provision as free or highly subsidised so that local families who cannot afford trips to bigger cities and

larger venues have something of real quality, on their doorstep and accessible to all. We operate a ‘pay what you like’ scheme for a large majority of our performances of events.

The new venue provides us with ways to increase our revenue through space hires and catering and we rely on businesses and organisations using us. And why wouldn’t you want to come to our beautiful unique venue in the middle of the lovely green spaces of Whitby Park.

What are your plans for the future?

We need to expand our activities for children and young people to meet growing demand - there is huge benefit to children’s wellbeing from our inclusive approach and we have more families wanting to take part than we can currently accommodate.

Artistically we’re planning for an amazing outdoor mini-festival in August and we have two Christmas productions taking shapethese will run for 4 weeks here at Theatre Porto as well as visiting other venues such as Unity Theatre Liverpool and HomeMCR. Our business plan includes increasing support from local business and community organisations- through space hires or sponsorship. And increasing support from these residents who can afford to buy a ticket and use our cafe. So that those who can’t afford it - continue to benefit from this amazing asset.

If there was an extra hour in the day, how would you spend it?

I’d give our incredibly hard-working team a chance to kick back and relax together! Find out more at https://linktr.ee/TheatrePorto

Theatre Port in Ellesmere Port

Chester-based Residential Estates kick off their year of fundraising for local hospice with a hike up Snowdon!

Chester-based property company, Residential Estates, has chosen Claire House Children’s Hospice as their charity of choice for 2023.

their families, providing, not only support, but memories and wonderful experiences bringing back a sense of normality to their lives.

They are organising events throughout the year to help raise, both money and awareness of this amazing organisation, helping and supporting Claire House, who look after children suffering with terminal illness, and

On Thursday 20th April a small team of 6 from Residential Estates took to Snowdon. From the first few steps, the mountain didn’t disappoint. The day started with a dazzling blue sky, and the sun streaming down. Taking the Llanberis path, the first few hundred metres nearly claimed a few of the group who had left their fitness and health back in the office, but as they climbed, the shared determination to reach the summit came through to be able to support a great cause.

It took just under 3 hours up, and several hours coming down but the team completed the

P&A Group joins North Wales Wildlife Trust

The P&A Group has joined the North Wales Wildlife Trust after recently working with the organisation on a number of projects.

The Trust, together with members, volunteers and supported by a growing network of thousands of people in diverse communities, is committed to bringing wildlife back, empowering people to take action for nature, and to create a society where nature matters.

Over the past 12 months, employees from the P&A Group have volunteered on several projects to assist with replanting and bringing wildlife back to specific areas. One such initiative was the Woodlands for Water Project. Employees, representing the Group’s various divisions, donned their wellies and worked alongside other volunteers to plant 2,000 hedgerow plants on wetlands on farms in Flintshire.

In addition, the Woodworks Garden Centre and Café, part of the Group, has been assisting Jonathan Hulson and Sarah Ellis from Aberduna Nature Reserve

in growing native ‘hedgings’ which is currently being sold at the Garden Centre. The hawthorn hedging is planted in peatfree compost and comprises 6 trees/ hedging’s in each pot.

Commenting on the announcement, Rhys Hughes, Strategic Development & Supply Chain at the P&A Group said:

“We are delighted to now be members of the North Wales Wildlife Trust. Part of the P&A Group’s Mission is to “contribute to the communities in which we serve”, be this raising money for local charities or by having a positive impact on the local environment.

“Over the past 18 months Kathy Mitchell, Head of Woodworks Plants Department, and others from the Woodworks team have worked with its local Trust to develop hawthorn hedging and co-operated with DEFRA to ensure that plant passports and

challenge, with Natalie Smith, Residential Estates, stating, ‘Although it was an exhausting endeavour, reaching the top and looking out to a gorgeous view was worth every second. Overall, we’re so proud of each other for successfully tackling this challenge and hopefully making a small difference to the Claire House charity. We’re looking forward to the next event in a few weeks, possibly one of the other peaks, though the 3-peak 24hr challenge may require some training’

Residential Estates has set up a general Just Giving page for their ongoing events and challenges which can be found on their website

https://www.residential-estates.co.uk/.

the correct labelling were in place before the Trust could start to supply us.

“We really hope that our Garden Centre customers appreciate this new offering and everyone within the P&A Group looks forward to donning our wellies and getting stuck in helping with future planting and nature recovery projects. The North Wales Wildlife Trust plan on working collaboratively with Woodworks this year by holding open day events at the Garden Centre to speak with potential volunteers and educate customers on the local wildlife.”

Hulson and Sarah Ellis from Aberduna Nature Reserve growing native ‘hedgings’ which is currently being sold at the Woodworks Garden Centre in Mold, Flintshire

The Residential Estates team took on Snowdon!

“Self Storage Is Sexy”

Founder of the industry marketplace, Explorage.com, shares why.

If they could only hear the stories we hear; from people who “don’t know how they ever lived without it”, to people for whom it has provided an urgent sanctuary for their things in a time of crisis; businesses who have been able to remain lean and expand because of it. The Sunday Times style magazine recently shared how self storage is connected to people at an emotional level, and as any good marketer will tell you, connect with people’s emotions first and their head will follow.

to be worth $89bil annually by 2028, and their definition could even be constrained. It is acknowledged that what constitutes “self storage” continues to evolve with various types of storage offerings surfacing.

Tech start-up founders are often met with excitement, but trust me, when you add the words “self storage” into your pitch, you see the glimmer of anticipation dim from people’s eyes. Unless they have experienced the joy and freedom it can give, for most people self storage is about as exciting as discussing shades of steel cladding… Goose Wing Grey anyone?

When you put that “sentimental rubbish” to one side though, self storage stacks up as a business too. In 2016 the UK Self Storage Association were reporting an annual industry turnover of £540mil. Forward to 2023 and the forecast for this year is £1bil. The USA has grown from $23bil in 2013 to $43.3bil in 2023. Reportedly the industry is “recession proof”; and speak to almost any storage operator in the UK and they are usually looking to expand their portfolio, with access to real estate being a constraining factor on the pace of growth here. I could harp on all day about future trends and possible demographics, but people qualified in forecasting, are estimating the global industry

Explorage.com, the online self storage marketplace focused on serving both customers and the industry in which it operates, recently announced the launch of a new and improved platform.

Dean Daley, Commercial Operations Manager at Blue Self Storage in Cardiff, said: “The new Explorage.com site looks great, and we’re looking forward to hopefully reaping the future benefits that the platform offers operators within the storage industry.”

Explorage.com is quickly becoming the go-to marketplace for customers looking for self storage, and the new and improved website is sure to solidify its position as a leader in this space.

The marketplace is just one aspect of the Explorage.com offering. Anna continued, “We are pleased to be working with several storage owners directly, offering remote management services, so that they can step away from the day-to-day operations of running their sites. For smaller sites, self storage is often not their main focus of business, so putting it in the hands of a reliable and pro active team, means they can free up their time and offer a more consistent service to customers”.

Like any industry, technology continues to advance the potential for self storage; and I am pleased to throw our hat at Explorage. com, into that arena. We are seeing increasingly more manless self storage sites, but lets remember where we started this journey; people, emotion. These are inextricably linked to much of the demand. Yes, let’s serve people how they want to be served, often contactless and remote these days, but let’s do it in a way that keeps the human at the centre of the design, and be there for them when they do want us. Inefficient user experiences are about as relevant today as a cassette player in a Tesla. Right now, we are in the midst of a technological revolution; let’s pull together and get it right to build a sustainable industry and service.

Anna Roberts, CEO, Explorage.com

HOME OF OFFICES

INSPIRING YOUR FUTURE CIC

Inspiring Your Future is an organisation with a social purpose using profit to contribute to helping those in need find independence, providing support through mentoring and wellbeing interventions to aid recovery.

We are pleased to offer a variety of training courses that will teach you and your team the skills to help those in need. Our courses are fully accredited and meet the expected teaching standards of training providers.

Learning opportunities tailored to suit different requirements

To book a discovery call on 07517 461 424 or email peter@inspiringyourfuture.org.uk www.inspiringyourfuture.org.uk

WHAT I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT

Nightingale House Hospice

and joy around the hospice and we are very fortunate that we’re not heavily time restricted, so for the most part we can spend time with our patients and their families as they need us.” - NHH Social Worker

It’s an honour to watch patients improve as they gain confidence in their walking or physical abilities. Even modest victories increase their confidence as we help them achieve or progress towards their goals.

People are often anxious about coming here, some immediately think it’s all about death and dying. Actually, no, it isn’t. It’s all about living well. When they realise how many services we can offer and the level of specialist palliative care we provide, you can see them becoming more reassured that our hospice is a valid option for their specific life-limiting condition.

Yes, people do come here for end-of-life care, but we emphasise that we’re here to enhance our patient’s quality of life. A patient might have been in a hospital bed for 5 weeks and once they are transferred here, they might want to go outside for some fresh air, or just to feel the sun on their face; so, we’ll wheel out their bed/ wheelchair or we’ll walk around the garden with them. It doesn’t take much effort but doing the little things may make a big difference to their time here.

“Our hospice is full of life; people sometimes expect a hospice to be a miserable place. Although we do deal with death, we also focus on living life to the full and making the most of the time people have left. There is so much laughter

There’s a perception that people come to the hospice and that’s it, it’s just end of life care. In reality half of our patients go home, they sometimes come in for a short stay, 7 to 10 days, symptoms are managed, and then they’ll go home again. And once they’ve been here, they usually want to come back.

“My feeling about Nightingale House now is totally different to when I first walked through the doors, they do an awful lot of good and make people better and improve their standard of life so much. It’s just a lovely place to come to. And I just love it. -

NHH Wellbeing Centre Patient

Wellbeing is a big strand of the work that we do with our patients, because they’re on a journey, a life path that is not a predictable one at this moment in time. We want to offer the kind of environment where, for example, an art or music therapy session in our Wellbeing Centre can uplift them and contribute to their overall wellness.

“When I told my daughter I was coming, she cried her eyes out, because it’s ‘end-of-life’ care… now she realises how fantastic the care is, she’s like, when are you going back mum? She thinks that the difference in me since I’ve been coming to Nightingale House is amazing. I walk in with a smile on my face, but I walk out with an even bigger smile.” -

NHH Wellbeing Centre Patient

“We use hydrotherapy because it’s easier for our patients’ to move in warm water, the buoyancy helps to aid movement and it’s easier for our physiotherapist to move patients with more challenging disabilities. We can, in some cases, make more progress than on dry land.” –

NHH Physiotherapist

Our passion for patient care is mirrored in the hospice facilities. The day services, reception area, rehabilitation centre, and the Bradbury Atrium have all been refurbished. Patients, workers, and volunteers have all praised the improvements made. The In-Patient Unit will be refurbished as the final stage of the modernisation. This will require a financial investment from the hospice and in partnership with various charitable trusts. For the next 25 years, the hospice will have modern facilities to ensure the best possible palliative care delivery for our patients and an improved working environment for employees and volunteers.

We’re passionate about serving our community and providing them with the best palliative care we can, not just for our patients, but for their families too.

Clinical team members

Hydrotherapy pool

NEW MEMBERS Welcome to WCNW Chamber of Commerce

3 Counties Connected Community Rail Partnership

Tan y Fron

Southsea

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL11 5SZ

01997 8757524

http:www.3countiesconnected.org.uk

Abrasive Technology Ltd

Blackmarsh Road

Mochdre Business Park

Colwyn Bay

Conwy County Borough

LL28 5HA

01492 540444

https://www.abrasive-tech.com/

Accounting & Bookkeeping Consultancy Ltd

Truwood House, Bromfield Ind Est

Mold

Flintshire

CH7 1XB

07429 386274

Atherton & Associates Wealth Management Ltd

1 Park Road

Nantwich

Cheshire

CW5 7AQ

01270 624164

https://athertonandassociates.co.uk/

Becoming the Great

80-82 Wellington road

Rhyl

Denbighshire

LL18 1LA

07940 585933

Byotrol Technology Ltd

Building 303

Thornton Science Park, Pool Lane

Ince

Chester Cheshire

CH2 4NU

01925 742000

https://www.byotrol.com

Deeval Ltd

3 Henry Place

Chester

Cheshire

CH1 3HH 07950 112772

Explorage

0333 9875259

https://www.explorage.co.uk/

Gap Personnel Holdings Ltd

11 trelawney Sqaure

Flint

Flintshire

CH6 5NN 07803 627660

Hullies Ltd

Bryn Afon Mill Street

St Asaph

Denbighshire

LL17 0SP

07967 390950

http://www.hullies.co.uk

Improvedprocesses.com

17 Lower School Drive

Ruabon

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL14 6RP

07440 274445

http://www.improvedprocesses.com

Just Packaging Limited

29 Sherwell Avenue

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL13 9TZ

07534 440772

https://justpackaging.co.uk/

Knights

HQ Offices

58 Nicholas Street

Chester

Cheshire

CH1 2NP 01244 987950

https://www.knightsplc.com/

Oyster North Ltd

07807 792039

PA Services Virtually 07888 744358

https://paservicesvirtually.co.uk

Partly Chester Ltd

14 St Werburgh Street

Chester

Cheshire

CH1 2DY

07767 887221

http://www.partlychester.co.uk/

Pharma Group Holdings

Intuition Healthcare

Bryn Du Hatchery

Ty Croes

Anglesey

Gwynedd

LL63 5SH

01492 593062

Pinestar Ltd

07802 431794

Planet IT Agile Consultancy Ltd

07792 672566

Porcelanosa UK

850 Europa

Boulavard Way

Westbrook

Warrington

Cheshire

WA5 7ZR

01925 237807

http://www.porcelanosa.com/uk

Primary Quiz LTD

Suite 1d

Rossett Business Village

Rossett

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL12 0AY

01244 735110

http://www.primaryquiz.com

Radar Public Relations

30 St George’s Crescent

Rhyl

Denbighshire

LL18 3NN

07743 252658

https://radarpublicrelations.co.uk/

Roomzzz Aparthotel

Chester City

Norroy House

Nuns Road

Chester

Cheshire

CH1 2LJ

01244 553553

https://www.roomzzz.com/aparthotels/ chester-city

Sovereign Corporate & Trustee Services Limited

Office 4, 3/F

Coachworks Arcade

Northgate Street

Chester Cheshire

CH1 2EY

07800 871507

http://www.sovereigngroup.com

Specialist Chauffeur Services Ltd

3a Rossett Buiness Village

Wrexham Cheshire

LL12 0AW 01244 887899

https://www.scschauffeur.co.uk/

Taylor-Miller Ltd

07834 176653

https://taylormiller.co.uk/

Teach Active Ltd

Suite 1d

Rossett Business Village

Rossett

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL12 0AY

01244 735110

http://www.teachactive.org

The CFO Centre

The Old Smiths Shop

Bersham Road

Bersham

Wrexham

Wrexham County Borough

LL14 4HT

07724 103810

https://www.cfocentre.com/gb/meetthe-fds-and-cfos/paul-winfield/

The Essential Expert

M-Sparc Gaerwen

Anglesey

Gwynedd

LL60 6AG

07929 521358

http://www.theessentialexpert.co.uk

University of Liverpool Management School

- Help to Grow

University of Liverpool Management School

Chatham Street

Liverpool

Merseyside

L69 7ZH

07787 095716

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/ management/for-business/help-to-grow/ programme/

Uptrained Brain

Unit R, Anson House, 1 Cae’r Llynen, Llandudno Junction

Conwy County Borough

LL31 9LS

07444 913877

https://www.rethinktherapyconwy.com/ uptrainedbrain

Hft Flintshire – Supported Employment Service

Hft Supported employment team supports people with learning disabilities and autism through their employment journey, assisting people to reach their full potential. Providing vocational support, job searching, interview skills and in work support.

The team provide guidance to companies around recruitment and employment of people with disabilities and neuro-diverse conditions, offering Tap into talent information sessions to bust the myths associated with employing people with additional needs. Disability awareness and neuro-diverse training sessions.

Want to learn more and get involved?

Could you offer some C.V advice, offer mock interviews, provide work trials, visits to your company and talks about the work you do, could you offer employment?

For further information please contact:

Julia Hawkins - 07795304758 hftflintshire@hft.org.uk

EXPERIENCE CHESTER WITH A VICTORIAN TWIST

Crimes of passion, murder and scandal with ghostly consequences, mystery and shocking disasters. Experience Chester as you never have before with a Victorian twist.

Take an immersive walking tour with your own Victorian guides of the era who bring to life the hardships of the poor and the over-indulgences of the rich.

Book your 19th century tour of Chester this summer, suitable for all ages and background. From urchins, dollymops, to ladies and gentiles.

Chamber members Storengy UK delighted to celebrate award win!

Storengy UK are very excited and proud to announce that their Safety performance for 2022 has been recognised in being awarded a ‘President’s Award’ for gold level status as part of the prestigious RoSPA annual safety awards 2023.

personnel from contractor companies.

Storengy UK believes that all safety, health, and environmental incidents are preventable and strive for a goal of ‘No Life at Risk’.

Environment and Quality (SHEQ) Manager said:

“For the 2nd year we have been awarded the prestigious ‘Presidents Award’ for consistent performance in Occupational Health & Safety for the past 11 years.

Storengy UK the largest onshore gas storage facility, is fully committed to protecting the safety and occupational health of employees, visitors to site, and neighbours in the wider community. Whilst guaranteeing industrial safety, ensuring site security, managing major risks, and protecting the environment. To that end, Storengy UK actively promotes a positive safety culture across the site that encompasses both permanent staff and

Safety is embedded within their culture and is the number one priority. They adopt shared vigilance (everyone is responsible for safety), last-minute checks, reporting unsafe practices, stop work authority for all and abiding by the safety rules.

Recognised by RoSPA for the 11th year for their continuous safety performance and being awarded the ‘President’s Award’ for gold-level status is a testament to the work, and culture they have built on at Storengy UK.

Shaun Sagar The Safety, Health,

Can hybrid working attract and retain key talent?

With nearly 66% of all employers now operating a version of hybrid working and jobseekers seeing it as a key differentiator when they’re looking for their next career step, JVP Group have looked at some of the best practice methodology to ensure that hybrid working employees are productive and fully engaged.

The route to a hybrid working model for many companies was driven by the necessity of working from home during the pandemic, rather than a structured response to employees seeking more flexibility to improve their work-life balance.

Therefore, the rapid transition to a hybrid workforce means that many employees are not set up to be efficient when working out of the office and companies don’t have the necessary policies, procedures, or best practices in place to ensure it works for both parties. For example, how many companies have

managed to put in place a workstation assessment for hybrid employees?

So, moving forward how can employers ensure that hybrid or work-from-home employees are productive and engaged?

• Ensure that employees are initially set up correctly using the right equipment and have a workable internet connection. Is there an essential company equipment checklist? e.g., headsets.

• Set an expectation that all employees have responsibility to ensure they are working in an environment that is safe, healthy and has minimal distractions.

• Put in place daily or weekly check-in meetings where appropriate with the entire team so that hybrid employees feel connected.

• Manage hybrid and office-based employees consistently by ensuring you have regular conversations and structured check-in meetings.

This is a fantastic milestone and not an easy achievement by any means. It requires everyone to get up, go to work, work safely, look out for one another and make sure we all get to go home safe again each day.

These awards are recognition for our safe systems, site and competency and behaviours of everyone who has been involved with Storengy UK over the last 12 months and everyone should be very proud of this achievement.”

• Think about how you recognise performance in a hybrid world and don’t forget about the impact that recognition can have wherever you work.

• Flexibility can foster innovation, so encourage employees to contribute their ideas on how the company can be more efficient and make hybrid working more productive, based on their experiences.

• Enable the core workplace values for hybrid employees of respect, well-being, equality, and the opportunity for personal growth.

Providing a positive, fulfilling flexible working environment for employees is now a core business value that will attract and retain exceptional talent.

Simon Whitehead, Anglesey Carpet Care

An overview of yourself and your current role.

We took the decision to move our family from Altrincham in 2018. At the time (pre pandemic) my plan was to continue to work in Manchester and travel every day. Since then, however it became clear the time and money spent travelling was better put towards working on building a similar business closer to home. We also decided that because of our skill set and location, we were better suited working with other businesses and so started pushing our commercial cleaning services above the domestic side of the business.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love meeting new people and seeing their work environments. I love to help people when possible and one of the projects I have been working on recently is, restore don’t replace. It’s great to see reactions from people to some of the things we can do while saving them (sometimes vast amounts of) money.

Was a role like this always what you aspired to?

No. It is something that I found with some trial and error but love what I do now.

Tell us about your previous roles/business journey.

I trained originally as a Mechanical engineer in Manchester and worked for a few years within education. My aim at that point was to become a teacher. I got speaking to a friend who asked me to help him with a cleaning business he was setting up and saw an area in carpet cleaning that interested me. I started my own carpet cleaning business in 2012 and have taken it upon myself to find and undergo the best training from within the UK and around the world. During lockdown we were lucky enough that most training providers turned to online training which opened up doors to providers that had previously meant a trip overseas. I pride myself in the fact I am one of the best trained and skilled operators within the UK and I am looking to set up my own training school to help pass on the knowledge we’ve gained.

up with my family and 3 children. I am a local scout leader and because my kids are of the right ages I work with Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

When I have time (which doesn’t happen too often at the moment) I like to walk and hike along the coast and in the Snowdonia mountains. I also have a keen interest in photography and like to visit RAF Valley and the hills around Machynlleth to photograph military aircraft in training.

In an ideal world, what else would you like to be?

I would like to be training new comers to the industry. I love my business and in the most part the industry is full of great people so wouldn’t really want to be doing anything else (apart from sitting on a beach somewhere)

What advice would you give to anyone else in business?

Tell

us a bit about what you do outside of work to relax.

Outside of work much of my time is taken

Be tenacious and willing to take risks. I have found that taking calculated risks from time to time can really pay off and help your business grow but you’ve got to be willing and prepared to lose sometimes. After all its your failures you learn the most from.

CONTRACT PACKING

by Staeger Clear Packaging, Coventry

Staeger Clear Packaging Ltd, are an Award-winning, professional packaging company based in Coventry, offering contract packing with cost-effective, innovative & timely solutions to your contract packing needs.

We pride ourselves on having expertise and flexibility to manage a wide range of products from small sampling jobs to high volume production runs.

Our contract packing area is designed to provide you with confidence that our team will manage your company’s item assortment, ensuring that all hand assembly, disassembly, and hand packing requests are carried out with speed, efficiency, and accuracy.

Our experienced and dedicated team are on hand to support you at every stage of your project.

STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Staeger Clear Packaging Ltd, based in Coventry, we provide secure storage for a wide range of products, whether it be: documentation, packaging, raw materials or finished goods, whether you are a large blue chip company, a public sector organisation or a small local business, we can securely manage and store your product.

We pride ourselves on having expertise and flexibility to manage a wide range of products.

Our experienced and dedicated team are on hand to support you at every stage of your storage needs.

For further details please contact our office: Staeger Clear Packaging Ltd

Unit 1, Swallowgate Business Park, Coventry. CV6 4BL

Office: +44 2476 58 11 97

https://www.staegerclear.co.uk/

https://staeger.eu/en/#