Bradford Economic Strategy Launch 2018 by Festival Publications

Your Hosts: Kala Sangam Kala Sangam are delighted to welcome and host the Bradford Economic Partnership, local and regional businesses and organisations to our venue for the Bradford Economic Strategy Launch. In Sanskrit, ‘Kala’ is arts and ‘Sangam’, a meeting point which reflects the coming together of people through artistic ventures. Kala Sangam is a leading intercultural arts organisation. Whilst most of our work takes place in our Arts Centre in Bradford, our touring programme and outreach activities extend nationally and internationally. Our mission is to deliver outstanding south Asian and intercultural arts in contemporary Britain and beyond and our vision is to be a dynamic intercultural arts organisation valued by communities, artists and audiences everywhere. We aim to increase understanding and appreciation of the cultural traditions of South Asia, whilst simultaneously improving awareness of racial, cultural and social issues and addressing them through artistic interventions that bring communities together to create mutual inter-cultural and inter-communal respect and harmony. We support the cultural vision for Bradford, which embraces the city’s rich cultural heritage as a legacy for the future generations, and seeks to develop cultural industries locally. We value diversity, ensuring fair access to services so that people of all ages and abilities can enjoy and participate in the arts.

Note from the Bradford Review Festival Publications are delighted to have been asked to produce the programme for the launch of The Bradford Economic Strategy. The Bradford Review brand is all about promoting positive cultural and economic developments in the city and we fully support the ambitions and principles behind this strategy. We are a Bradford-based business working with a network of young, creative Bradford people to help deliver our magazines and other creative products. So we hope to be a beneficiary of this strategy as well as a good example to Bradford’s young and enterprising population. Our experience is that Bradford is indeed a good place to start a new business and it’s encouraging to see that a strategy is in place to capitalise on our unique offer.

Welcome

Timetable

As chair of the Bradford Economic Partnership I am happy to welcome you to the launch of our Economic Strategy. It sets out a clear and ambitious plan to grow our economy by unlocking the growth potential of four key opportunities; turbo-charging business growth that everyone can contribute to and benefit from.

5.00 -5.30

Getting this right will add more than ÂŁ4bn to the district economy, get 20,000 more people into work and improve the skills of 48,000 residents.

6.00

Bradford is a great northern city, a beautiful place that is home to pioneering and creative people, innovative and productive businesses and fantastic places. In my role as chair I am determined to build on our undoubted strengths to make Bradford a brilliant place to grow up, the best place to run a business and a great place to live.

6.20

Bradford has seen great progress in recent years with the regeneration of our city centre, the growth of world class businesses and ground breaking employment initiatives but we can, and have to, go much further. Today is another step on that journey, an opportunity to celebrate our pioneering, confident and connected city and district. Bradford has played a good game up to now but like all teams, by working harder and working together, we can get the best of out of all our players to get the result we all want.

David Baldwin

Reception, refreshments and networking

5.30 Welcome and opening address by David Baldwin (Chair Bradford Economic Partnership)

5.40 Keynote Sir Richard Leese (Chief Executive, Manchester City Council)

Business Panel Led by Bernard Ginns

Q and A session with panel members and key economic partners Thank you and Closing words from Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe and David Baldwin

6.30-7.30 Networking continues in Indus Room and Reception

Speaker Profile

Bradford Economic Growth Strategy

Dave Baldwin

Roses rivalry runs deep in sport, wherever and whenever the white of Yorkshire and red of Lancashire do battle. But one man who has bridged that divide and successfully crossed the county boundary is Dave Baldwin, formerly the chief executive of Bradford City Football Club who now fills the same role in the Premier League with Burnley. Bradford born Dave is to become the new ambassador for the district and hopes to help lead Bradford into the big time as he done for Burnley Football Club.

“I genuinely believe there are a lot of good things going on in Bradford and you just need to have everyone’s noses pointing in the same direction,” Baldwin added.

Originally recruited as Burnley’s chief operating officer in November, 2014, Baldwin became chief executive six months later – a role he now combines with a position as chair of Bradford’s Bradford Economic Partnership.

David said: “Being a proud Bradfordian who was born, educated and worked in the Bradford district, I have a passion for wanting the best for the place I live and to help make Bradford a better place for everyone who lives and works here.

On the back of a new economic strategy put together by Bradford Council, the University of Bradford, Bradford Chamber of Commerce and other economic partners, the economic partnership provides a focus for building on the city’s strengths and assets – with Baldwin the figurehead at the helm. He is a familiar face with strong connections and a huge passion for the district. His previous experience as an entrepreneur in retail, hotels, working with the community and in sport have meant he is used to success and will accept nothing less for Bradford.

“Part of it is creating a movement and getting behind something - a bit like the seasonticket initiative we introduced at the football club. We felt we could do something good and change the fortunes of the club. But we needed people to get behind it and Bradford folk are people who will be driven to action. Give them a challenge and they will step up to the challenge.” The Bantams were struggling in 2007 after being relegated to the Football League’s bottom division and still trying to re-build following a second spell in administration.

He aims to help Bradford maximise the potential of its growing population, youthful demographic and £10 billion economy and sees parallels with the way he led the city’s football club to a position of strength before his own transfer market move.

Baldwin set about re-vitalising City’s commercial operation, with one of his early initiatives the introduction of a season-ticket pledge scheme which saw prices fixed at a low level in return for a commitment to buy from a set number of fans.

Under the management of Phil Parkinson, the Bantams reached the final of the League Cup in 2013 – the first team from the bottom division to reach the final since 1962 and the first to reach a major Wembley final. Three months later they were back, winning promotion via the play-off final, and since then City have established themselves as a force in League One, playing in front of crowds of close to 20,000 at the Northern Commercials Stadium. Bradford also sold their first in a long-time £1m-plus player in Nahki Wells, a product of the Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy which Baldwin helped bring into a partnership with the football club, with the striker moving on to Huddersfield and then, last summer, following Baldwin to Burnley for his first taste of the Premier League. Baldwin is currently in his second season in the top tier, his first season as chief executive at Turf Moor coinciding with Sean Dyche’s team winning the Championship title to secure an immediate return to the Premier League in 2016 , followed by retaining Premier League status for the first time in the 16/17 season.

The 46-year-old is now responsible for over-seeing a business that employs more than 500 people with a payroll in excess of £50m and a turnover of more than double that – an ideal background for his position as Bradford’s new economic tsar. Launching the strategy in Bradford today is a key moment for Dave as he seeks to galvanise business, public sector and local community action to create the UK’s next major economic success story.

Bradford Economic Growth Strategy

“ I genuinely believe there are a lot of good things going on in Bradford and you just need to have everyone’s noses pointing in the same direction,”

Speaker Profile

Susan Hinchcliffe

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe was elected Leader of Bradford Council in May 2016. Born and bred in Bradford, she has served as councillor for Windhill & Wrose since 2011. In 2012 she became executive member for Employment, Skills and Culture across the Bradford District, overseeing the largest local authority jobs programme in the country - Get Bradford Working. In June 2015 she also assumed political responsibility for education in Bradford, using her determination to drive forward the District’s education improvement plan and help build new and stronger partnerships between schools. Susan is driven to achieve great things in the District by harnessing the enormous potential and energy of the District’s huge youth population. She is also passionate about ensuring that more decisions about Bradford are made closer to home. Susan works as an ambassador for the city and district to ensure Bradford’s voice is heard nationally. As Council Leader Susan is dedicated to the task of driving Bradford forward as an outward-looking, confident and thriving major city with an enterprising young population, a proud past and an exciting future. She spoke to the Bradford Review about the Economic Growth Strategy and unlocking Bradford’s growth potential. Could you explain what the Economic Partnership Strategy is and how it will benefit Bradford? In changing times we need to make sure we put our best foot forward as a district. We’ve

got a lot of potential and everybody is focused on achieving growth. The Economic Strategy is something that pulls everybody together to make the most of our unique opportunities to achieve our ambition to be the fastest growing economy in the UK over the coming decade. We were highlighted in a recent report for Barclays Bank as being the best place in the UK to set up in business. We know from our business start-up and survival rates that people are setting up good businesses here that last but it’s about making people realise what the opportunities there are. How do we capitalise on our distinctive architecture, heritage and cultural assets to create compelling investment propositions? Bradford is blessed with historic buildings that connect us to our past. My office in City Hall is a daily reminder of that, it was built by our forefathers as a symbol of the city’s wealth and prosperity. It’s our job to make sure that the future is as wealthy as our past was. Our historic

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The Economic Strategy is something that pulls everybody together to make the most of our unique opportunities to achieve our ambition to be the fastest growing economy in the UK over the coming decade.

buildings are a fantastic asset and we need to find new uses for them. Salts Mill and Lister Mill are two fantastic examples of this. Recently we’ve been part of a Leeds City Region study to see how we can use heritage buildings more effectively. Some of it has to be about residential, we need more people living in the city centre and our plans demonstrate that. Do you feel there is a sense of impatience from the public around Bradford’s long term plans? Yes absolutely, me as much as anybody. I’m very driven and I want everything to happen tomorrow and when it doesn’t I get frustrated. At the same time you never finish regenerating a place. It doesn’t have a start and an end, it’s a constant. It’s difficult because none of us are really creatures of change, we like things to stay the same. Yet if we don’t change things will change around

us. A retailer I shop with is closing all its stores nationwide and going online. But that’s just the nature of the changing consumer marketplace we are living in. Leisure will be a much bigger part of city centres in the future and obviously with the Odeon, St Georges Hall and City Park we have invested quite a lot in the city centre in recent years. Personally I think that will stand us in good stead. Also within the Bradford district we have this fantastic rural hinterland and we tend to underplay that. We need to talk ourselves up as a district a lot more. We need to be much more confident about our place in the world, what we have to contribute and the economic strategy articulates that. How do you balance the priorities of the suburbs with those of the city centre? What people don’t see is the amount of money we spend everywhere. So 50% of the

councils budget goes on adult and children’s social care and it’s spent all over the district. But it’s the big regeneration projects that people see. It’s easy to take for granted the millions we have put into places like Cliffe Castle or ongoing road projects around Keighley. We know there is lots for us to sort out but we are pushing on all fronts. At the same time we are pushing for Bradford to be included on the Northern Powerhouse railway line, we’re also pushing for the Skipton/Colne line to be restored. We cannot succeed unless all parts of the district are contributing to our economic success. Is there a need for people to re evaluate the role of a council? I’ve adjusted to that over the years but for people not involved in the council it is quite a culture shift. Councils have historically been the stakeholder in society that has always done everything for people. But given the fact that in 2020 we will be half the size we were in 2010 we have to change how we work. There is so much need that we can’t deliver everything for everybody, so we have to become a broker. I see my role as council leader as going out to London and other places to bring in investment and government support to Bradford. Investment such as Sport England, Community Led Local Development and Arts Council England funding goes directly into the community. I don’t need the council to be doing it all the time. I just want the city to be successful. I was born and bred in Bradford, I had a good education and good opportunities that my parents and grandparents never had. I want to make sure young people get the opportunity to succeed like my generation did.

What steps are being taken to build on business strengths, improve productivity and develop the conditions for more growth? I was looking at some data recently that showed Bradford workers are the most productive of any city in the North. We are a hardworking city and we deliver products that people want. But we need more of those jobs and more of those businesses. One of the barriers is connectivity, which is why we’re pushing so hard for Northern Powerhouse Rail. A major achievement for us was getting Bradford talked about as a stop on that and opens up all sorts of conversations and opportunities for us. It is also important we improve our skills base. Looking to the future there will be a lot of automation and we need to make sure people in Bradford are as skilled as ever so that whatever the future holds they can adjust. We have a massive young population and just imagine if every one of those were skilled. Everyone is going to want to come here and invest. We are a globally connected district, how do we capitalise on that? We have a lot of businesses that export and given our diverse makeup we already have those global links, but we do need to do more and further capitalise on that. I’m keen that our businesses get more from the Department of Trade and Industry. They organise trade missions abroad and it’s easier than you might think you be part of that. It’s amazing where some of the products made in Bradford end up and there are some hugely successful companies exporting the Bradford brand abroad. We need to shout about them more to give people the confidence to do likewise.

Speaker Profile

Sir Richard Leese

Sir Richard Leese is recognised as one of the most successful leaders in local government. He has led Manchester City Council through an unprecedented period of regeneration and economic growth, and he was a key architect in putting together the Manchester City Region devolution deal. In May 2017, he was appointed Deputy Mayor for Business and Economy by Greater Manchester Combined Authority Mayor, Andy Burnham. Richard was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. After graduating from the University of Warwick, he worked as a teacher in Coventry and as an exchange teacher in the USA before moving to Manchester to take up a post as a youth worker. He was employed variously in youth work, community work, and education research between 1979 and 1988, and was elected to Manchester City Council in 1984. He became Leader of the Council in 1996, having previously served as Deputy Leader (1990 – 1996), Chair of the Education Committee (1986 - 1990) and Chair of the Finance Committee (1990 - 1995). He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2006 List after overseeing the 10-year regeneration of the city after the IRA bomb of 1996. He was awarded a Knighthood for services to local government.

Richard’s political interests include devolution, place-based budgets and the links between economic development and social policy, developing open democracy and the community leadership role of local authorities; and the role

of cities in creating a sustainable future. He has a number of additional responsibilities including Director of Manchester Airport Holdings Ltd, Deputy Mayor and Vice Chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Chair of the LGA City Regions Board. Sir Richard is clear on the importance of continuing work on building intercity relationships. “When we talk about the Northern Powerhouse, we need to be really clear that it isn’t about any one individual city. Indeed the whole thinking behind the concept is that by getting Northern cities better connected we can grow a single labour market, a virtual city of 10million people, in a region of 15million people, and through that get the benefits of conglomeration from specialisation and from scale.”

“ When we talk about the Northern Powerhouse, we need to be really clear that it isn’t about any one individual city.”

Bradford Economic Growth Strategy

Discussion Panellists

Facilitator: Bernard Ginns

Host: Kersten England

Bernard Ginns is the founding director of Branksome Partners Ltd. The company provides specialist communications advice and services to a growing base of individuals, businesses and organisations in the UK, Europe and the United States.

Kersten is Chief Executive of Bradford Council with responsibility for over 17,000 staff and a multi-million pound budget across one of the largest local authorities in the country. Her main challenge is to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth and in particular to strengthen the skills base of the District.

He was formerly Business Editor of The Yorkshire Post (2008-16), editor of the award-winning new media start-up Kent on Sunday (2005-08) and a general reporter at The Mail on Sunday (200205). Bernard started his journalism career at the London Newspaper Group and is a philosophy graduate of the University of Manchester. He lives in the Bradford district and supports Norwich City Football Club.

Kersten is the lead Chief Executive for innovation and growth in the Leeds City Region. In addition she is a member of a number of Boards in and beyond the City including - Nesta, Bradford Economic Partnership, University of Bradford Council, Science Media Museum, Bradford Literature Festival and the Digital Health Enterprise Zone. She is a lay Canon of Bradford Cathedral. Kerstenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career has included work in the voluntary sector, higher education, central government as well as 26 years in local government. She is passionate about building resilient and confident communities, supporting local democracy and sustainable urban growth.

Barclays Bank Caroline Pullich leads the Yorkshire Business Banking Team, serving the diverse needs of over 6000 clients and managing a team of around 55 staff. Caroline is now an active member across various boards and groups including Leeds Chamber of Commerce Leadership Group, Bradford Producer City, Bradford Breakthrough, the Institute of Directors and also a board member of Maggie’s.

Amir Hussain Yeme Architects Entrepreneur Amir Hussain founded YEME Architects in Bradford city centre in 2011. The business started doing home extensions but quickly grew its client base and now acts for property owners of all sizes across the UK, including Yorkshire’s Parklane Properties.

Roger Marsh Leeds City Region Roger is the former senior partner at PWC Leeds and a member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Board. Since becoming Chair of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Roger has led the LEP through a period of significant transformation, securing the country’s largest Local Growth Deal settlement and bringing £1 billion of investment to the region.

Kamran Rashid Young Social Entrepreneur Kamran runs two Social Enterprises, The Socially Conscious Company - which has worked with over 5,500 young people and number of leading national organisations - as well as 30 Chapel Street Ltd, a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Little Germany, Bradford. Set up in May 2017 it leads on Social Innovation in the City and aspires to develop a 10,000 sq ft Listed building into an Impact Hub Co-working space.

Bradford Economic Growth Strategy

Caroline Pullich

Made in Bradford Bradford is a great northern city, a beautiful place that is home to enterprising and creative people and strong and productive businesses. In the following pages we highlight just a few of the people who are doing great things across the district to make Bradford a fantastic place to live, work, learn and play.

Sandy Needham

Nick Garthwaite

Joanna Robinson

(Chamber of Commerce)

(Christeyns UK)

(Mansfield Pollard)

Sandy Needham is the Chief Executive of the West and North Yorkshire Chamber, the leading business organisation for the Bradford, Leeds, York and North Yorkshire, offering lobbying and a large range of business services. In the last ten years the Chamber has created a fund to lend to companies, built managed offices and industrial units for growing businesses and created networks for specific sectors and areas of work e.g. manufacturing alliances.

Nick Garthwaite is Managing Director at Christeyns UK and very much at the heart of all that goes on at the company. Born in London in 1957, he has spent most of his life to date in Yorkshire, and thus would like to be considered an honorary Yorkshireman!

Joanna Robinson is the managing director of Mansfield Pollard, one of the UK’s foremost designer and manufacturer of air management and ventilation systems. Established in 1866 as General Sheet Metal Workers to serve the Bradford woollen industry, Mansfield Pollard has developed over decades to become one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke ventilation solutions.

Earlier roles include working as a Company Secretary in a small company, Regional Manager with TV-am and Yorkshire Television, Regional Manager with NCH/Action for Children, Regional Director of Common Purpose and Chief Executive of Chamber Management Services Ltd and the Bradford Chamber.

Nick started his working life as an Apprentice Engineer at David Brown Gear Industries in Huddersfield moving to Flender in 1984 where he worked his way up to become Managing Director. Flender was acquired by Siemens in 2005. In August 2010 he joined Christeyns in Bradford as Managing Director. During the last seven years Nick has been heavily involved in acquiring other companies in the UK for the Christeyns group. Nick was appointed President of Bradford Chamber of Commerce in July 2017 and also sits on the Bradford Economic Partnership.

Joanna, said: “Much of Mansfield Pollard’s success is due to our focus on innovation, customer service and the development of our people. Bradford is a vibrant city , based conveniently in the centre of the UK with great network links, Bradford has a rich heritage that provides employers like us with a diverse, forward thinking, and talented workforce”.

Kamal Kaan

Syima Aslam

Haigh Simpson

(Freedom Studios)

(Bradford Literature Festival)

Kamal is a writer and performer. He read Architecture at Cambridge University and awarded a scholarship to undertake an MA in TV Fiction Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University. His work for theatre has won Gold and Silver at World Stage Design in 2013 and 2017. He is an Associate Artist with Freedom Studios and currently developing work with The Bush Theatre and The West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Syima Aslam is Founder and Director of the Bradford Literature Festival (BLF). Hailed as one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK, BLF brings together literature from around the world and across all genres, promotes intercultural fluency and reflects the changing face of contemporary Britain. Prior to this, Syima has worked in the inward investment, automotive, data marketing and education sectors.

(Festival Publications & Assembly Bradford)

Kamal Kaan is a writer and performer and part of the BBC’s Drama Room 2017 Writer Development Scheme. His first Radio 4 Afternoon Drama was broadcast in August 2017. The play ‘Breaking up with Bradford’

Since its debut in 2014 the festival has grown rapidly; in 2017 over 200 events took place across 10 days, capturing the hearts and imaginations of more than 30,000 people. The festival’s schools initiative, which runs alongside the general programme, held free events at schools throughout the Bradford District, engaging with and inspiring more than 7,000 young people.

Kamal is currently appearing in The Chef Show by fellow Bradfordian writer Nick Ahad. It will be opening at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster and touring Cumbria, Northumberland and Lancashire.

Haigh is the founder and director of Festival Publications, a multi-media marketing agency specialising in print publications. Haigh manages several in-house magazine titles including The Bradford Review and the Eat:Drink Bradford book series. The publications have helped to promote leisure, culture and business across the Bradford district with a combined readership of over 80,000. He is also a director of Assembly Bradford, a creative co-working space in Bradford city centre set up to provide a collaborative working environment for freelancers and remote-based workers.

Lee Craven

Eric Hawthorn

Mary Dowson

(Bradford Live)

(Radio Design)

(BCB Radio)

Lee Craven is a director of Bradford Live, who are spearheading the bid to restore the former Odeon cinema building. With NEC Group International as the operating partner, Lee feels they are well on the way to creating a world class live event venue in the heart of Bradford, that will bring a £10m injection into the city economy, and attract national and international performers that will bring the Odeon back to life.

Eric Hawthorn is the managing director, and founder, of Radio Design which has become an award-winning market leader in the provision of wireless infrastructure sharing solutions and RF filter systems. The business employs 290 people in Bradford, as well as 160 in India and China, and received the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2015.

Mary is a director of local radio station Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB). Passionate about her adopted community, she serves on the board of Bradford City of Film, Manningham Mills Community Association, Yorkshire Culture, City Learning Centre and Bradford Peace Festival.

Lee’s day job is as director of the textile business Jessgrove Ltd. It has a turnover of around £28m and has operations across Europe and a Joint Venture in China. Lee was born in Bradford and raised in Bingley, attending Bradford Grammar School. He studied economics at Oxford and Warwick.

Radio Design’s headquarters are in Saltaire/Shipley and the company has already established a worldwide footprint, with additional facilities in the UK, India, Finland and China. Eric‘s background covers over 25 years in mobile communications systems, having worked in the UK, USA and Canada. Eric is now driving the strategy behind the next phase of Radio Design’s global expansion. Eric has been an Export Exchange patron since the programme launched in July 2017 and is helping other local businesses with free, practical advice that will enable them to begin selling overseas.

Mary studied Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and spent five years teaching at Bradford College Mary was instrumental in setting up BCB in the early nineties and started out as a presenter but then became a director in 1997. As an organisation BCB have been able to grow incrementally, bringing in different people of all ages and backgrounds, trying to respond to changes in Bradford and recognising everyone’s contribution and giving everyone a voice.

Jeremy Ridyard

Saeeda Ahmed

Diana Scholefield

(Produmax)

(Social Entrepreneur)

(GESIPA)

Jeremy Ridyard is the Managing Director of Produmax, a highly innovative aerospace engineering firm. Produmax have developed a brand new high tech £3.1m facility in Baildon where they design and manufacture high precision components for aircraft companies.

Saeeda Ahmed is one of country’s leading social entrepreneurs who has worked with business, public and community organisations to help them better engage with marginalised and disaffected groups and individuals.

Diana Scholefield, managing director of GESIPA, UK, has worked with GESIPA for 23 years having joined the company as a project engineer, and progressed to both quality and operations manager before being made managing director in 2014.

The company recently won a new national award which recognises how its staff and management have worked together and developed their skills to grow the business. The family-run firm has secured almost £20 million in contracts, won three new customers and grown its workforce by 40%. The Ikigai trophy was presented to Produmax managing director Jeremy Ridyard by Dr Bryan Jackson CBE, chairman of Sharing in Growth (SiG), the intensive government-backed programme designed by industry to raise the competitiveness of the UK aerospace supply chain. Produmax has invested in a second factory which will open later in 2018, supporting further growth and more jobs.

She is a Patron of the ExportExchange initiative, the peer-to-peer export knowledge, mentoring and connections network for the Leeds City Region. The ExportExchange network is a unique collaboration which aims to help businesses to increase exports, grow revenues and create employment in the region. Saeeda is providing consultancy and support to British businesses wanting to access international halal economies such as the Middle East and South East Asia. Saeeda has a degree in accountancy from the University of Huddersfield and completed a Master’s in community enterprise at Cambridge. She is a member of ‘The 2% Club’ which recognises over 700 of the most senior female business leaders in the UK.

GESIPA are the worldwide leading producer, innovator and distributor of blind rivet technology in the automotive, commercial vehicle, white goods and construction sectors. “Quality is key. We pride ourselves on the high-quality of our products” says Diana. GESIPA also works alongside local schools and colleges to encourage young people to visit its factory and demonstration centre. “We are keen to present a vision of engineering to the local community” adds Diana.

Manoj Joshi

Steve Shrimpton

Sam Keighley

(Bradford Academy School)

(JTS Cushion)

(Carlisle Business Centre)

Manoj Joshi is a Ugandan of Indian origin and became a British citizen after arriving in the U.K. in 1973 as a refugee during the infamous Idi Amin Crisis. As a Graduate of Pharmacy and Business Management, he began his career as a Laboratory Technician and then joined Imperial Chemical Industries in 1979. He retired after 27 years of service as a top Marketing and Business Development Manager for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Steve Shrimpton is the Managing Director of JTS Cushions, a soft furnishing manufacturer established in Keighley in 2001. Steve has been instrumental in developing a new Textile Academy at Keighley College and is one of several employers represented on the Textile Academy Board that oversees the Academy alongside community groups such as Keighley Association Women & Children’s Centre.

Chief Executive of Carlisle Business Centre, a social enterprise that donates its generated profit to the Action For Community Ltd charity.

Manoj has started and operated various businesses focused on providing services in deprived areas of the city to create value and employment. As a Founder, Sponsor, and Governor of the Bradford Academy School he is dedicated to improving the life opportunities for all children. He is currently involved active with several Bradford organisations including, Britannia Care Home, Bradford Breakthrough Ltd,, Bradford Academy and Bradford Courts Chaplaincy Service.

The Textile Academy provides elementary sewing machine training to help meet the skills shortages in the textile industry in Keighley and across the Aire Valley. The first Textile Academy recruits began training in spring 2017 and already JTS has employed three trainees from this cohort. The three new JTS employers are all Asian women who were previously unemployed and are now in jobs with potential to earn high wages as their machine skills improve.

Situated in a former textile mill, sporting a distinctive clock tower, Carlisle Business Centre is a landmark of Manningham. The building was extended and revived in 1991 to provide a runway for budding entrepreneurs to get off the ground. Over two decades later, it still provides un-compromised support for new businesses, offering office accommodation, meeting/training rooms and space to host business and social events. As Chief Executive it is Sam’s job to lead the organisation and support the staff to achieve Carlisle Business Centre’s aim to make Manningham a great place to be in business and to live and work.

Performers

Bradford Catholic Youth Choir Part of the internationally-acclaimed Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme, Bradford Catholic Youth Choir comprises over 100 young singers in four separate choirs for boys and girls, and is supported financially by St. Bede’s and St. Joseph’s Catholic College and St Joseph’s Church, Bradford. Overall the Singing Programme works with nearly 1000 children every week across the city. The Girls’ Choir have enjoyed considerable success, with regular broadcasts on BBC Radio including a live Radio 4 broadcast from Bradford in November to around 2 million listeners, and two forthcoming Radio 4 broadcasts this month. They have featured on BBC1 Songs of Praise and in 2014 they won two bronze medals in the Champions Category at the World Choir Games in Riga, where they were also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and performed for the British Ambassador. They have been invited to take part in a number of prestigious concert performances, including Paco Pena’s Requiem por la Terra at Leeds Town Hall and performed the Knabenchoir part in Mahler’s epic Symphony 8 with the Orchestra of Opera North. The choir are the only Northern choir to be part of the Gabrieli Consort’s youth choir training scheme, Gabrieli Roar, and as part of this have performed with the world-famous Consort in two concerts in inner-city Bradford.

Beckfoot Samba Skool Beckfoot Samba Skool are a Brazilian-style samba band whose members are all pupils at Beckfoot School at Bingley and are led by their charismatic drum teacher Mark Lewalski alongside Head of Music Matthew Stimpson who won the Classic FM Secondary School Music Teacher of the Year Award in 2010. The band features pupils of all ages and their exciting performances are a regular feature at events and performances at the school.

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