Business

£354k invested in creative learning

By Miranda Robertson

Dorset’s Arts University is set to offer students –particularly those in rural areas – vastly improved resources in such subjects as clothing design, film and video game production, and the manufacturing, product design, engineering and health technology after scooping a £354,400 grant. Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has invested £354,400 in the creation of pioneering accessible digital resources and new research and development space for the creative industries at Arts University Bournemouth. The cash comes from the

Shop goes online Paula de Reucke, who has traded as Moonfleet in Salisbury Street, Blandford, for 15 years, has announced that on January 25 she will be moving her business online as Paula de Reucke Designs, and has been holding a closing down sale with plenty of bargains in the run up to Christmas. Thanking all her customers for their support and friendship over the years, she said: “With the massive changes over the years to high street trading, the time has finally come to step down from the traditional high street shop-keeper role and take my creative business online. But I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be a click away online.”

Local Growth Fund and is in addition to £1.5 million of Dorset LEP investment in the arts university’s new entrepreneurial space, the Innovation Studio. The new accessible digital Innovation Resources project, the only one of its kind in the south west, will provide remote access to a suite of digital and physical fabrication equipment. Funding will also be used to refurbish an existing administrative space to create a 280m2 Innovation Suite for collaborative work/social space and specialist digital fabrication equipment. Lorna Carver, Director Dorset LEP says: “Building Dorset Business Mentors are holding an online taster session on Thursday, January 14 at 8.30am. The session offers a chance to discover how a funded mentor can help you achieve your business goals. Limited places are available read-insights/webinardiscover-the-benefits-of-busi ness-mentoring Dorset Business Mentors is an established programme funded by Dorset’s councils and sponsored by Investec. With over 130 trained, veteran businesspeople volunteering their time, business owners are linked to a mentor whose particular experience offers valuable insights.

Need a mentor?

on an innovation studio to support local businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs, remote access to specialist resources addresses the challenge of supporting rural businesses in Dorset and those in our more deprived areas. It will also support students and businesses during covid-19 which restricts physical gathering.” Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government, Luke Hall MP said: “Dorset is one the fastest growing creative and digital hubs in Europe and a destination of choice for digital entrepreneurs. “This funding will support local businesses to get back on their feet, while also

SUPPORTING BUSINESS: MP Luke Hall helping to harness local creative talent and translate this into high quality jobs.” The Innovation Suite is expected to open in June. Go to the Dorset LEP website’s Innovation Resources and Innovation Suite project pages for more

at dorsetbusinessmentors.uk/ information.

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Business The 50km Kid puts down new routes

By Karen Bate newsdesk@blackmorevale.net

In the age of the coronavirus, starting a new business venture has never been riskier, but for Blandford bus driver Jamie Burrows, the pandemic was the driving force behind the launch of Burrows Coaches – Dorset’s newest bus and coach operator. Jamie, 30, operates a 35-seat, low floor bus, which he lovingly named Lou. Lou is available for driver hire and bus hire for school transport, park and ride, company transport, railway replacement, community transport, special events and for summer specials and shopping trips to places which may not feature on Dorset’s bus network when the coronavirus restrictions eventually come to an end. As a child growing up in Child Okeford, Jamie dreamt of driving a bus. He shunned the idea of university, much to the surprise of his teachers at Sturminster Newton High School. At the tender age of 19, Jamie gained his Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence, which he funded himself, and was dubbed The 50km Kid by his family and friends. He started work at Damory Coaches, driving the local Blandford routes. Jamie said: “When I turned 21, my colleagues placed an announcement in the former BVM stating – ‘The 50km Kid comes of age’. My driving restrictions were relaxed and I could travel further afield.” When Jamie was 23, he started driving for North Dorset Travel, a family business based in Hazelbury Bryan dating back to 1921 50

TICKETS PLEASE: Jamie Burrows with his bus, ‘Lou’

owned by Sue and Richard Green. Jamie said: “North Dorset Travel run a fleet of executive coaches and with their expertise and tuition, I soon covered many miles across the UK and the continent. By 24 years of age, I had successfully passed my Operators CPC, a transport workers’ equivalent to a degree.” At 24, Jamie became the transport manager, a job he loved and remained in, that is until the pandemic struck. North Dorset Travel, like all travel operators, lost bookings while beautiful coaches worth as much as £250,000 were parked, idle. “It was during my time on furlough that I suppose I ‘came of age’,” said Jamie. “For months on end I sat at home without work until October, when I made the bold decision to ‘just apply for a bank loan’. The application was accepted so I thought I would just see if can get my own operator’s licence, and the application was granted by the Traffic Commissioner. “Amazed at the success of my progress, I went to view a bus which needed a lot of work to get it presentable for an MOT. Luckily I had lots of time on furlough to spend my time on my hands and knees scrubbing the coach with a toothbrush and help from Ian and Jay Hobbs and their team at Agri-Comm Ltd, who helped prepare the mechanics for MOT, some great friends who travelled down from Farnborough who donned their overalls and scrubbed the barnacles off and to Cliff at the test centre, who calmed my nerves during my first solo MOT test on a bus!” Jamie added: “I named the coach Lou, after the driver at Damory Coaches who encouraged me to follow my dreams. “Hopefully my sapling company that has emerged amongst the troubles of the coronavirus pandemic may one day flourish into a strong and well known company well rooted in Dorset.” Socials: @Burrowscoaches Jamie Burrows 07951 373089

Business Retirement village builders enjoy a distanced hog roast

By Karen Bate A socially-distanced hog roast was held by The Affordable Housing and Healthcare Group (AHH) in Sherborne to lift the spirits of the construction team who have worked throughout lockdown. Builders constructing the new Platinum Skies Sherborne retirement living village at the top of Horsecastles Road and the A30 have been working safely during the pandemic. Oliver Hunter, head of construction for AHH, said: “It’s a gesture of our gratitude that we were able to safely host this Christmas event. We’re proud and excited to be in Sherborne. Alongside our G K Chesterton once quipped: “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” This was memorably quoted by a headmaster of Oundle School, after a diabolical choral performance of Handel’s Messiah sung by every pupil in the school. Often we need to judge things by more than one criteria. Ice dancing is judged on technical merit and artistic impression, each carrying a maximum of six points; you need high scores in both to win Olympic Gold. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean did this most memorably with their dances to Barnum and Bolero, achieving the world’s first perfect double-sixes. Why do we still remember them? They went so much further than mere ice-skating perfection. They created imaginative experiences, each with a compelling storyline, conveyed with an exquisite choice of music and costumes. They brought partners, Homes England, we are delivering the multimillion pound provision of affordable housing with our retirement living development. “This is a huge investment into the local economy. Our team have worked hard to maintain construction progress, despite the challenges of lockdown and covid-driven operating constraints.” Platinum Skies Sherborne is aimed at the over 55s. The first phase of Georgian-style two and three-bedroom detached, semi-detached and terraced houses were released onto the market earlier this year. The site will offer 37 in related expertise, most notably Michael Crawford who ‘taught them how to act’, and said of them: “I found them to be delightful young people, the kind you want to help if you can.” That’s why we fell in love with them. So perhaps we should add a third criteria for ice skating: Unleashing the human spirit, thus resulting in making our spirits soar. You need the first to achieve the second. When the Beatles went to the Star-Club in Hamburg, their spirit was unleashed. By the time they had done their detached, semi-detached and terraced houses and 82 apartments. Its facilities include a bistro and bar, residents’ lounge and activity and treatment rooms. A boutique hotel will also be on-site, with treatment rooms and restaurant that residents are able to enjoy. ‘10,000 hours’ as Malcolm Gladwell puts it, they came back, making our spirits soar. So which of these three criteria mattered most in that school performance of the Messiah? Not technical merit, not artistic impression, but unleashing the human spirit. “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly... than not at all”. What mattered was that every pupil took part. When we unleash such spirits, we have to let go, as every parent knows. The first faltering attempts at unfettered freedom is messy,

AHH workers enjoy the hog roast

David Hines, COO at Platinum Skies, said: “We will create an environment that feels less like retirement and more of a lifestyle choice.” For more information and to book a place at the open week from January 22 to 31, visit platinumskies.co.uk or

Time to unleash your human spirit

52 call 01202 088051. chaotic and not the way the old order tends to do things. But unless the spirit is unleashed, we will find spirits take off less often, let alone soar. Dorset produces superb cheeses, olives, film and games animation, and worldclass aircraft hangers. It is the narrative and storyline that excites our customers to buy – from the Henshaw’s collecting of olive recipes whilst honeymooning by motorbike, to Bournemouth University graduates creating the special effects for the film Avatar. By inspiring our customers, let Dorset export to the world! n Adrian Fisher is an awardwinning maze designer in Durweston, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours, for services to International Trade and the Creative Industries.

Recruitment Recruitment starts for 32 new roles

By Karen Bate

A family dairy in Shaftesbury which has been selling cream and cheese since the 1930s is starting the search for candidates for more than 32 high-skilled jobs as part of its £2million expansion. As reported in the NBV previously, BV Dairies has secured £750,000 in funding from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which will create a major new facility at its Wincombe Lane site with work expected to start this month. Managing director Jim Highnam said: “We need a wide range of skills across the varied functions and want to recruit people with the potential to learn, develop and ultimately progress within the business. There have been challenges for everyone during 2020, but we hope that we will be able to support the local community by offering longerterm skilled jobs. “The apprenticeship scheme has been a great success for us – we have recruited some top notch people into these roles and it’s been great to see them flourish.” BV Dairy was founded in 1958 by father-and-son team Jack and Christopher Highnam but the Highnam family had been producing and selling farmhouse cream and cheese for many decades prior to this at the family’s Old Rectory Farm in Kington Magna. It now employs 130 people. Mr Highnam said: “BV Dairy’s highly skilled people take pride in making top quality specialist dairy products for our customers, using top quality, local raw materials in a beautiful part of the world. “We’re a manufacturing company, so most people are employed in the production and logistics areas, closely assisted by the engineering and technical teams. The other functions that make the business work are finance, HR, sales, customer service and IT/planning. The ever-increasing demands from customers for better quality at lower prices mean that we need to be innovative and agile. Everyone in the business needs to understand their contribution and we need to ensure that they have the right skills and equipment to fulfil their role. “Sometimes that means external qualifications, but more often than not, it means in-house training and have a dedicated training co-ordinator, as part of the HR team, who assists with this. Many people have been able to move between departments in the business, building their skill base along the way.” BV Dairy buys £10million of milk every year from 30 farmers from small family farms or larger tenanted farms in the Blackmore Vale, all within a 30mile radius of Shaftesbury. “We aim to be a respected and trusted trading partner,” said Jim. “It’s one of our core values. This means that we liaise closely with customers and work closely with our direct milk suppliers to ensure that the day-to-day runs smoothly and also that we are supporting the longer term progression of dairy farms – this could be investment on the farm, reducing the use of antibiotics or continuing to improve animal welfare. “The 30 farms produce, collectively, 40-45M litres of milk per year. We contract Wincanton Transport to collect the milk and it is processed within hours of reaching the dairy. All the farms are certified to the Red Tractor Assurance Dairy Scheme, which covers food safety, animal welfare, hygiene and environmental protection through every part of the food chain. We know each of the farms and their families and employees personally and we always make ourselves available to them.” n bvdairy.co.uk 01747 851855

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGISTS

Established in Yeovil in 1826, Pittards is a market-leader in the manufacture of high performance leather for some of the world’s biggest brands. We are now recruiting for a number of technologist positions to work as part of our fast-paced operations team within the speci昀c sectors of innovation and product development, environmental, compliance, plus laboratory testing and research. It’s a great opportunity to begin a rewarding career in the leather industry with a company that has been manufacturing in England since 1826 and is a world leader in the development of performance leathers.

Skill & Qualities A science-based quali昀cation at A-Level, (or equivalent) or degree. Chemistry, chemical engineering and environmental science are particularly relevant. An enquiring mind and a real enthusiasm to make a difference in an innovation-led manufacturing company that has environmental responsibility and sustainable practice at its core. A willingness to take a hands-on approach as part of a small team.

Hours and Location Full-time, permanent positions based at Pittards Yeovil tannery

Closing Date & Application Closing date: 31st January 2021 To apply please send a CV together with a covering letter to Mike Fear, HR Manager Email: MFear@pittards.com Pittards PLC, Sherborne Road, Yeovil BA21 5BA