The future is bright, the future is Cornish!

As the thoughts of people up and down the country turn towards the summer holidays, inside this issue we shine a light on the tourism industry in Cornwall and meet Jon Hyatt, director of the family-run Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay.

Jon explains the importance of being a family-run business, how they’ve always resisted the temptation of selling to a big national operator, the challenges the sector currently faces and his hopes and ambitions for the future.

It has certainly been a rollercoaster last few years for the sector following the Covid pandemic. And now we’re faced with a cost-of-living crisis. Tom Roach, head of leisure and tourism at accountancy firm PKF Francis Clark, casts his eye over the tourism industry in Cornwall, analysing how it has been performing and its prospects for 2023.

Another sector facing its own set of challenges in the face of rising costs is the property market. But again, while there have been many stories of doom and gloom, the outlook is looking brighter than it was a few months ago.

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And on that positive note, also inside this month we have an uplifting Just a Thought from proud Cornishman and ‘cultural entrepreneur’ Will Coleman.

“An termyn a dheu yw splann, an termyn a dheu yw Kernewek,” he tells us. The future is bright, the future is Cornish!

AMANDA PENNINGTON Wildanet

International Women’s Day gives us a great opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and inspire future generations that they can be anything they want to be, and that nothing is out of their reach. By sharing positive stories from all over the world we can learn from one another and use this information to make the world a more equitable place for all girls and women.

NICHOLA CAIN Voice Communications

International Women’s Day provides a time to reflect and acknowledge the women before us who have created opportunity and hope as well as the women that continue to pave the way.

As a female leader, I look to continuously empower women inside and outside of my business whilst honouring the strong female role models that I grew up around. These are the women that have helped shape me into who I am today. My mum, my auntie, female managers and leaders I have had the privilege of working with and the amazing females on my team at Voice who consistently amaze me with their talent, resilience, drive and kindness.

The day also provides us with a platform to create conversations to make the world a safer and more inclusive place for women. Did you know that a quarter of women have taken time off of work because of their period? Did you know that 900,000 women in the UK have quit their job because of the menopause? I am

Will we ‘Bing it’ in the future, kissing goodbye to ‘Googling it’? Maybe not anytime soon, but a recent development has given Bing a big step forward in the search world.

Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president & consumer marketing office at Microsoft, announced that in 48 hours, over one million people had joined the waitlist for the new AIpowered Bing search engine.

One million. Yes, that is, one million people in 48 hours have signed up to try the new AI-powered Microsoft incredibly passionate about generating awareness around women’s health and menopause and menstruation in particular and I encourage other women to speak up during this time.

ELIZABETH STANSFIELD Handelsbanken

It’s a great chance to take a moment to appreciate the achievements and accomplishments of women in every walk of life. Here at Handelsbanken, we have an inclusive corporate culture and we actively look for ways to promote the values of equality and diversity. So naturally we are enthusiastic supporters of International Women’s Day. We will be celebrating the day by discussing the topic over fika, a popular Swedish tradition of enjoying coffee and cake.

ADAM PEARSON Newquay Hypnotherapy

International Women’s Day has a very interesting history, spanning political and national boundaries. It’s not owned by any one organisation. Like the issues, it’s complex. But where there is complexity there is opportunity, and dialogue can unlock it. For example: equity in healthcare - what are the opportunities? In employment, some positives. In access, some issues. We should talk about it.

KIRSTIE NEWTON (Freelance journalist)

I see International Women’s Day as an opportunity to celebrate and support my

Bing search engine. Yusuf Mehdi posted: “We’re humbled and energized by the number of people who want to test-drive the new AI-powered Bing! In 48 hours, more than 1 million people have joined the waitlist for our preview.”

Why we care. If Microsoft can pull away some market share from Google with this new Bing, then that might change how marketers and SEOs spend their days. In the old days of SEO, SEOs had to optimise for Google, Ask, Yahoo, MSN, Alta Vista, fellow females, while remembering that not all women and girls around the world share the same freedom and opportunities - lack of education, period poverty and restricted roles in society are still sadly common. Here, we have laws on our side. I have spoken at educational events in secondary schools in Cornwall, and I always tell girls the only people who can really stop them being anything they want to be is themselves. A few years ago, my daughter and I marked IWD by joining a gaggle of female swimmers from the Blue Tits groups at Perranporth. The water was glacial, but the atmosphere was one of real warmth. I wonder if they’re doing it again this year?

TOR AMRAN The Cornish Food Box Company

To me International Women’s Day is a day to recognise the incredible achievements of women just like me all over the world who are striving to make their voices heard, be represented, listened to and taken seriously. It’s a day to celebrate how far we have come in so many ways but also a recognition of how much more is needed to be done around the world. IWD is a day of reflection and poses some interesting questions. For me the day is not about women being better than men - it’s about equality and about being seen as a person with skills that are considered fairly. As a woman in business in Cornwall I am constantly inspired by all the incredible women here putting people and purpose first, and doing it SO well. On an international level IWD highlights that we should never take equality for granted - this is not just a luxury that I enjoy but should be one for every women (and man) across the world.

and several other search engines.

Right now, SEOs and PPCers are pretty much focused on Google Search and Google Ads. But will this new search experience help Microsoft gain share? If so, your focus as a marketer may need to change.

A weekly podcast from a Cornwall-based business consultant has reached a lofty milestone. The 250th episode of Trevor Lee’s Better Presentations More Sales podcast went live recently, leaving him to say: “Given that around 90% of podcasts don’t get past episode seven, I am delighted and somewhat amazed to have reached the 250 episode mark.”

Cornish clothing brand Seasalt has announced a new partnership with Reskinned, the sustainable pre-loved clothing repair and resale specialist. The partnership will enable customers to return pre-loved clothing, in any condition, to be rehomed or otherwise responsibly recycled, and receive a voucher for money off their next Seasalt purchase.

Cornish furniture design company, Out of Wood, has received over £80k through SWIG Finance to support its growth plans under new ownership. The funding was made up of a Start Up Loan, plus a SWIG Business Loan backed by British Business Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme. Business owners Adam and Sophie Simmons purchased the business, which designs bespoke kitchens, last year.

Lizard Yacht Service is opening a new office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to service superyacht customers in the USA and the Caribbean. This is the latest business expansion from the Falmouth-based company, which opened an office in Mallorca last year to service superyacht customers in the Mediterranean.

Cornish Lithium has announced plans for a new exploration project to assess the potential for producing lithium from geothermal waters in Blackwater. A General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) has been submitted for the relevant permissions to drill an initial research borehole to a depth of 2,000m and test the lithium potential of the geothermal waters that flow through its underlying permeable geological structures.

The number of businesses taking on apprentices in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly increased by more than 10% last year, with 3,750 new starts. The latest available figures show that there were 360 more new starts in the year to July 2022 compared with the year previously. The number of apprentices being taken on now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.