North West Finalists Announced

The Enterprise Vision Awards has announced the finalists for the 10th Anniversary business awards. The EVAS recognise exceptional female entrepreneurship in the North West and this year attracted a record number of nominations and entries.

From start-ups, young entrepreneurs and family businesses to global organisations and third sector businesses. The finalists include a diverse range of businesses showcasing the crème de la crème of businesswomen in the region. From boerewors, female health supplements, post breast cancer lingerie to luxury cat hotels serving pawsome afternoon tea, camper van hire, whistle blowers and game changers, the innovation, creativity and professionalism of these women is truly impressive.

Coral Horn, founder of the EVAS said: “Women have faced huge economic, logistical and emotional challenges as a result of the pandemic. It’s been an absolute joy to see the resilience and strength of these remarkable entrepreneurs who have adapted and flourished. Every nomination and entry deserves a huge round of applause and our thirty seven judges concur that the high quality of entries made their decisions exceptionally difficult – it’s interviews and voting next, then we’re ready for the celebration of the decade!”

Heather Waters, regional enterprise manager for NatWest, headline sponsor of the EVAS since 2013, said: “The calibre of the entries this year is out of this world! This has made the judging process very challenging. I want to congratulate every woman who is short-listed; they are all outstanding and amazing role models.”

Victoria Corcoran owner of the Pets Country Manor luxury hotel for cats in Liverpool is short-listed for the customer service award. After scooping the title in 2015 for customer service and the previous year Victoria won the young entrepreneur category Victoria says “I’m thrilled to have been short-listed a third time for the enterprise vision awards after what has been an awful 18 months for our business. To help make it through the pandemic we’ve introduced luxury upgrades for our guests holidays such as pawsome afternoon tea, kitty catacinnos, meowtinis, kitty tapas meals and orthopaedic four poster beds are to name just a few. We’re really looking forward to attending the award ceremony in the winter gardens its always such an amazing event”

The winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony on Friday, September 24 at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

For the full list of finalists and tickets for the EVAS10 awards ceremony visit: www.enterprisevisionawards.co.uk

Tips for keeping your indoor cats entertained

By Victoria Corcoran, Pets Country Manor www.petscountrymanor.com | www.kittyhampurrs.com

My own five rescue cats are all indoor cats because we live on a really busy main road, I just cant take the chance in letting my babies out and I know I’m not alone.

Our cats have their own bedroom which is full of toys including an adventure wall playground which goes across the ceiling and along the walls. There are lots of platforms, beds and cosy wall caves for them to sleep on, plus they have large scratching posts in their room and in our living room. Cats love being up high and being able to look down on us mere humans it gives them confidence but you don’t need to plan or build anything elaborate for them. A few strategically placed shelves around your home will work great, maybe some shelves at different levels next to a wardrobe or wall cupboard so your cats can use them as steps to get up on top? Or if you don’t mind cutting a few circular holes into your bookcase or shelving unit then your cats can use this to explore? TIP 1

Our cat hotel is in our back garden so we’re luckily enough to sort of work from home and can pop back into the house when we’re not in the cattery or our on-site cat lovers gift shop. However we always leave a radio on in the house playing classical music just like we do during the daytime in the cattery. Studies have shown that cats have lower values for respiratory rates and pupil diameters when listening to classical music, resulting in cats stress levels being lower which helps them remain calm and relaxed.

TIP 2

Interactive toys are great too! We have lots of various battery operated toys, such as window sucker toys that flick a string back and forth, fly n feather toys which are one of our best sellers in our store kitty hampurrs and illuminated ball race tracks – the list is endless. Leaving a different toy switched on before you leave will help keep them entertained if they’re bored, just make sure you have rechargeable batteries otherwise it could get a bit pricey! TIP 3

You can also leave your iPad on and put cat TV on from youtube, we offer this at the pets country manor and have downloaded dozens of different cat shows from birds, squirrels, fish and butterflies to laser dot and string, some cats ignore it but most of our guests love it and have great fun chasing the string on screen! TIP 4

A simple other game that one of our cats called Havana loves is a simple ping pong ball in the bath, the ball cant get out and he pats it about as it flicks up the sides of the bath, keeping him entertained a few times each day. TIP 5

Instead of hand feeding your cat some treats you could try hiding them in scrunched up bits of paper or in the inside of empty toilet rolls and fold the ends over, then leave them in different places in the house each day before you leave. (with your cat being an indoor cat they’re likely to be less active than outdoor cats so you’ll need to monitor their weight and not give too many treats) TIP 6

The last tip I wanted to mention was an enclosed outdoor space. Ideally if you have the space for it then a catio is great for them, there are lots of companies who can fit cat flaps into doors or windows then you can attach a wire mesh outdoor run onto the side of your house or even just a wire mesh tunnel leading to the bottom of your garden into a catio. This way your cats are still able to experience the outdoors, fresh air, sunbathe and listen to the birds.

NAME:

Doris Dearden

BREED:

Border Terrier

DATE OF BIRTH:

18/07/2010

PLACE OF BIRTH:

Doncaster

CURRENT TOWN:

Preston

HUMAN DAD’S NAMES:

Lee Dearden & Lee Gethings

OFFICIAL FACEBOOK FAN PAGE:

Doris Dearden (The Border Terrier) Fan Page. I have over 1,400 members!

CHARACTERISTICS:

I sing to certain TV show theme tunes, ‘The One Show’ for example, I have many, guises (see photos below), I’ve been on many adventures and I love having my photo taken

DORIS

& Friends

Hi, my name’s Doris, howl you all doing? I’m a very pup-ular girl with my very own Facebook Fan Page and this is my column of me and my friends adventures. So take a paws from your busy schedule, grab yourself some pup-corn, get yourself com-fur-table and enjoy my tails!

HERE ARE A FEW OF MY FRIENDS:

Eddie is a Jackapoo and is 18 months old. He loves people and other dogs, so when we go for a walk, it’s his social outing. He loves to dance and is always showing off. He is my best friend, is always happy to see me and has kept me sane over the last 12 months.

Lola is a black & white Shitzu. She loves her mum and dad, they love to spoil her. Lola’s favourite snack is Mini Cheddars, her favourite toy is a furry dolphin and she loves sitting in the sun and going for little walks.

Daisy is a 2 years old long-hair floppyeared Chihuahua who loves to go walks with her doggy friends at it’s simply the pets. Her mummy is her fave hooman and loves to eat cheese and chase her cat sister and her best doofy friend is her big bro, Charlie.

Eddie

Lola

Scamp joined the family when he was 4, as an anxious little scruff bag. He’s his human’s little fur baby, and talk about small man syndrome, he will try and take on any dog twice the size of him! He’s a little softie though, won’t go to sleep without a blanket on and loves any form of attention and cuddles. A little shadow, he follows his humans everywhere, until it’s his bed time when he takes himself off to bed. He has just moved to his forever home and Scamp has had a new lease of life, you’d never believe he was 11, with all his zoomies and always wants to play, but all his grey features gives his age away like a fine wine he just keeps getting better with age.

Daisy

Scamp