Five Local Action Groups across Norfolk and north Suffolk (Brecks, Broads, Waveney Valley, Wensum & Coast and West Norfolk) are pleased to announce that they are open for business, and invite applications for their funding scheme. The funding is to achieve jobs and growth in the rural economy, anddelivered under the Rural Development Progromme for England under six priorities:
Increase farm productivity
support micro and small businesses and farm diversification
boost rural tourism
provide rural services
provide cultural and heritage activities, and
increase forestry productivity
The emphasis is that projects create jobs and economic growth in the rural economy.Applicants are advised to check the handbook to see if proposed activities are eligibile, and to reviewaction group funding priorities which are unique to their area. these can be found at www.norfolklags.co.uk, by clicking of the relevant local action group tab.
The fund is open until 2020, or until budgets have been assigned to projects.
Profit hunter Freddie Bennett talks about comfort zones, rejecting the corporate grind and how to dream, disrupt and deliver!
Freddie’s baaaack! Series 2 of Leadership & Life Chat kicks off with a former guest, professional adventurer and profit hunter, Freddie Bennett!
Freddie first joined James and Mark back in early 2021 on Impromptu Business Chat, chatting about how he uses the lessons he’s learnt in life to advise and inspire businesses on how to motivate their teams and embrace change. Since then, Freddie has had some major life changes, including packing up and moving his family to New Zealand, so the team invited him back to find out why, and talk about his new book and career change – tapping into customer bases to discover new lines of profit.
Freddie has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world and conquered some mammoth personal demons along the way, having left the corporate grind behind him. He speaks passionately about choosing your battles, whether we really need to smash our comfort zones, his own theory on the relativity of time, and how we should all be more aware of our own waypoints! He also discusses how we should embrace the seasons of change in our lives and businesses, and how we can reject hustle culture.
Thank you to our sponsors Larking Gowen, Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors – check out their website to see how they could help your business www.larking-gowen.co.uk
Cloud, connectivity and data centre experts MIGSOLV have announced the Benjamin Foundation as their chosen charity for 2019 and beyond.
The Benjamin Foundation supports children, young people and families in Norfolk and Suffolk who are dealing with serious life challenges. They provide help with housing and homelessness, childcare, youth support and emotional wellbeing.
MIGSOLV are beginning their support of the Benjamin Foundation by purchasing ceramic butterflies for the charity’s ‘Flight for Youth’ campaign. MIGSOLV’s staff and their families, will paint the butterflies before they are displaced around the grounds of their Norwich data centre. They will then go on to feature in a larger art installation arranged by the Benjamin Foundation themselves.
“We’re really pleased to be able to support this fantastic charity in our small way” says David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV. “Each year or so, we choose a charity to sponsor and fundraise for. As they’ve delivered support for twenty-five years this year, it seems a great time to help raise funds and awareness for the important work they do.”
Money donated to the Benjamin Foundation goes to range of projects including youth clubs, safe night accommodation, counselling and childcare for vulnerable families. The charity’s current ‘Flight for Youth’ campaign has been established to help them celebrate a quarter-century supporting children and young people in Norfolk and Suffolk.
MIGSOLV provide cloud, connectivity and data centre services which help businesses with every aspect of storing, managing and protecting their IT and data. Best known for providing East Anglia’s only world-class commercial data centre, they’ve recently announced a number of new services including multi-cloud storage solutions, infrastructure technical support and advanced cyber security.
TaxAssist Accountants is pleased to announce it has now reached the milestone figure of 200 franchises in the UK.
The franchise which is this year celebrating its 20th Anniversary, continues to successfully recruit new franchisees, and has finished off the year with a flourish, taking on 6 new franchisees on its last course of the year.
There are now over 250 modern, welcoming TaxAssist shops and offices around the UK, and 24 in Southern Ireland. TaxAssist has seen huge interest in its franchise model in Australia and is hopeful the first franchisee will sign up shortly.
Karl Sandall CEO of The TaxAssist Group comments “I am very pleased with the way the franchise network has grown. TaxAssist has a good track record and a solid, successful business model which means we have always outperformed many other franchises and accountancy networks in terms of growth. We already have a lot of interest in our next course in February 2016, and I would urge anyone interested in the franchise to get in contact to see if their preferred territory is currently available.”
TaxAssist has franchise opportunities available all over the country, and has recently opened up new territories in Central London. Anyone interested in finding out more should contact Jody Fiveash on 0800 0188297 for a confidential chat, before booking onto a discovery day.
This signals the start of a new era where the full strengths of our group can be accessed by all our local customers, demonstrating we truly are stronger together.
Credo Asset Finance, based in Norwich with offices in both Norwich and Ipswich, is building on more than two decades as one of the most successful and trusted financial services providers in their region and are proud to be a part of the STAR Asset Finance family of experts.
The group-wide rebrand reflects a closer alignment of the group’s businesses and new specialist divisions – ready to serve UK SMEs better than ever.
In a challenging time for many small businesses, STAR Asset Finance Group are confident they’re building a group that serves their financing needs better than many other independent asset finance providers.
STAR Asset Finance Group have a bold ambition to be the most recommended asset finance provider in the UK and believe they can achieve this by offering more to customers, without taking away what they have come to expect – great personal and local service.
Stronger together
This re-brand across all group businesses, inspired by the new leadership team of Jim Higginbotham (CEO) and Paul Slapa (Commercial Director), reflects a closer alignment and even greater collaboration within the group, with more shared resources, expertise and investment in improved back-room systems.
They have also created new specialist divisions – STAR Stocking and STAR Professions – backed up by expert hires and a new STAR Loans product providing unsecured ‘own-book’ lending with greater decision speed and flexibility.
National business benefits with a local touch
The result is a nationwide group able to offer more financial options, more choice, more flexibility and more value to their customers. And because they still operate through local businesses, they are able to retain the local touch and understanding that their customers expect and value so much.
A model that’s working for UK SMEs
This year, the group will exceed a landmark of £1.5 Billion of funding since the group formed in 2015, supporting over 100,000 UK SMEs. Their 2022 funding growth is already currently double the market rate.
“The STAR Asset Finance Group has always been a great collection of local businesses, but this latest brand refresh signals the start of a new era where the full strengths of the group can be accessed by all our local customers, demonstrating we truly are stronger together.
“I’m really excited about driving the STAR Asset Finance Group forward into its next chapter of growth. We have a great team, fantastic customers and a world of opportunity.”
Greater Anglia is advising rail passengers, including football fans and people travelling to work and school or college, to avoid travelling by train on Saturday 1 and Wednesday 5 October as national rail strikes are set to cause widespread disruption.
People travelling to the London Marathon on Sunday 2 October will also be affected, as the 24-hour strikes have a knock-on effect the following day, with first trains affected and no services before 7/7.30am.
Rail unions ASLEF and RMT have rescheduled strikes postponed due to the death of Her Majesty The Queen, to next month.
Members of the train drivers’ union ASLEF are striking on Saturday 1 and Wednesday 5 October.
They will be joined by RMT union members, including Greater Anglia’s conductors, train cleaners and station staff and Network Rail’s signallers and maintenance teams, in their national rail strike on Saturday 1 October.
As a result, Greater Anglia services will be severely disrupted, with the company only able to run a fraction of its services – and no services at all between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street or on regional or branch lines.
A heavily reduced service will run between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria and on the Stansted Express service between Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street.
On Saturday 1 October, services will only operate from 7.30am and with all last trains setting off before the end of the working day and final whistle in most cases in order to be at their final destination by 6.30pm.
All of East Anglia’s top football teams – Norwich, Ipswich Town, Cambridge United, Peterborough United and Colchester United – have fixtures on Saturday 1 October, as do Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Arsenal.
Fans are strongly advised to make alternative arrangements, as are students travelling to school or college and people commuting to work, because Greater Anglia is only able to run a heavily reduced service.
On Saturday 1 October, due to engineering work there is a rail replacement bus service between Colchester and Ingatestone connecting with the heavily reduced train service.
There will be no rail replacement buses to replace trains not running due to the strike.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We are very sorry that once again our customers will be disrupted by strikes, which this time will affect football fans and some people from our region competing in the London Marathon, as well as school or college students, commuters and business travellers.
“We’re only able to run a fraction of our usual services, so our advice again is to avoid using our trains on strike days.
“The rail industry is working hard to resolve these disputes and talks will continue with ASLEF and RMT in an effort to avert the strike.”
Anyone who has pre-booked tickets to travel on 1 or 5 October can change them, use them to travel on either the day before or up to two days later, or apply for a refund by going back to their original retailer.
Passenger assistance will be available as usual for all trains which are running. Anyone requiring assistance who cannot avoid travelling by train on strike days should plan their journey and book assistance in advance if possible.
Greater Anglia is currently finalising details of the strike day timetables and will publish them on its website when are they are ready, which is expected to be early next week.
Further information is available from greateranglia.co.uk/strikes which will be updated as details are finalised.
Other train companies affected by strikes on both days are Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry Trains, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, GWR, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains, Hull Trains and London Overground.
Network Rail, Southwestern and GTR – which includes Great Northern, Thameslink and the Heathrow Express – and will be affected by strikes on Saturday 1 October.
We are delighted to announce our Summer Programme of events for families and children is now available on our website, and the printed brochures will soon be available.
For our special and very full Easter programme, do have a look at our special Norfolk Chamber Members’ Events Page
For more details about Easter opportunities to bring the family, check out
Family Combination: Petite Puppets: See Garlic Theatre’s fun French take on the classic story of the Little Pigs, then make a mini puppet troupe of your own. A wonderful opportunity to spend the day at the Theatre together and a chance to extend the magic of puppetry beyond the show. 11am
Residents to the west of Norwich are being asked their views on a series of proposals to improve safety on Mayfly Way in Bowthorpe, a popular walking and cycling route, linking the Bowthorpe employment area with the city centre and beyond.
Norfolk County Council and the Transport for Norwich (TfN) partnership are seeking to improve safety for those travelling through the area by bike or on foot by widening the existing shared use pavement to provide separate facilities for cycles and pedestrians across a 550m off road route which connects to the existing pedalway network.
The proposals include a number of safety improvements to crossing facilities on Harpsfield, Chapel Break Road and Barnard Road, where a small section of double yellow lines would also be introduced to improve visibility around a new pedestrian and cycle crossing.
Councillor Martin Wilby, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport said: “All our Transforming Cities Programme is focused on improving sustainable transport connections between homes and areas of retail, employment and education.
“We have already successfully delivered a similar scheme on Marriotts Way, which was the first in the country to be constructed through this central government fund and this latest proposal would also tie in with further improvements being developed for Dereham Road, which we hope to consult the public on later this year”.
The proposed improvements on Mayfly Way would be funded through part of the £32m awarded to Greater Norwich through the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund.
Councillor Mike Sands, representing Bowthorpe on the county council said: “I broadly support the proposals for Mayfly Way and have been working with local residents to bring about further improvements across the wider area.”
Further information is available on the council’s website at www.norfolk.gov.uk/mayflyway where you can also take part in a brief online survey.
The consultation is live until Wednesday 5 October and alternative formats can also be provided on request
Classic cars and vintage vehicles proved a real crowd-puller during a popular charity event in north Norfolk.
Broads Motor Mania took place at the Sutton Staithe Hotel, in Stalham, and raised more than £1,800 for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH).
The event was organised by Sue and Rob Goreham, who set up Jessica’s Wish in 2014 in memory of their daughter, who was stillborn in 2006.
Since then, they have been organising regular fundraising events for charities close to their hearts, including EACH.
In 2019 they held an event to raise money for The Nook Appeal and the following year they staged a Valentine’s Ball, at Sutton Staithe Hotel.
Broads Motor Mania, their latest brainchild, featured 130 vehicles, as well as drawing a bumper crowd of between 400 and 500 people.
“This was our first car show and, although a steep learning curve, we were delighted with the way it went,” said Sue, who lives in Salhouse.
“It was great to see people coming along and supporting us, paying to get in and also making generous donations.
“We even had a park-and-ride service from Stalham High School, with regular coaches bringing visitors to the main event.
“It was very busy and we were constantly on our feet, but I think the adrenaline kept us going. We got home that night and said ‘wow’.
“It was worth all the hard work and we were indebted to so many people and businesses who helped make the day such a success.
“Car shows are definitely the way forward and we have a date in the diary for next year (29th July, 2023).
“We already have a sponsor and several stalls booked, plus bands, so are hoping it proves even bigger and better.
“When things go well, it inspires us to carry on and we already have lots of ideas for the future. Things are going round in our heads all the time.”
Sue and Rob initially started fundraising to buy cuddle cots – a cooling mattress that stop a baby’s body deteriorating, and can be placed in a cot or pram. It allows parents to stay with them for a period of time before their funeral, hugging them, dressing them and taking them for walks.
Sue, 49, and Rob, 47, who have two sons, Joshua, 17, and Ethan, 14, bought one for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
“Anything to do with children is important to us,” said Sue.
“They’re our world and we’re happy to do our bit to help.
“EACH is such a special and important charity that does so much amazing work. I’m in awe.
“We visited Quidenham (the charity’s former hospice) and have also been fortunate enough to be shown around The Nook, in Framingham Earl.
“It’s an incredible place but also one that pulls on your heartstrings. I had to step outside at one point because I felt so emotional.”
In addition to vintage vehicles, Broads Motor Mania also featured a children’s petting zoo, live bands, a beer festival and street food. It took place on 30th July.
EACH supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Norfolk and the rest of East Anglia.
In addition to The Nook, it has two other hospices at Milton, near Cambridge, and The Treehouse, in Ipswich.
Emily Jupp of Milly J Shoes has delivered her special ‘Easter’ Shoe to the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich. The shoe will be on display in hotel reception throughout the Easter period.
Emily is a shoe artist and is creating a series of shoes, linked to key events in the Norwich and Norfolk calendar, for display at the hotel. She crafts her handmade shoes and clips in her shop and studio in Tombland, just across the road from the Maids Head.
Winner of the EDP Bride Awards Innovation Award 2018 and Footwear Designer of the Year 2015, Emily has launched a campaign to get people to bring their unwanted shoes to her shop, so they can be upcycled into one of her colourful creations.
Guests enjoying hen party and birthday party afternoon teas at the Maids Head, can also book Emily for a fun workshop to design an create their own pair of shoe clips, which they take home in a presentation box.
An Afternoon Tea with Milly J Shoes event, including a shoe clips workshop has been arranged for Sunday 17 November. For more information, click here.
Christine Malcolm, General Manager, the Maids Head Hotel said: “We are so pleased to have embarked on this new partnership with Emily, whose work has been endorsed by the likes of Boy George and Kylie Minogue. Her shoes are proving an excellent talking point for our guests.”
Village bowlers scored a notable success after raising more than £1,800 for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH).
In addition to collecting funds throughout the season, Bintree Bowls Club held a charity tournament on their green next to Bawdeswell Village Hall.
They are one of ten teams in the Cawston Bowls League and, every year, clubs take it in turns to raise funds for a charity of their choice. This time it was the turn of Bintree and president Richard Johnson.
Members chose to support EACH, which supports families and cares for children with life-threatening conditions across Norfolk and the rest of East Anglia.
Treasurer Alistair Hunter said: “The season always finishes with our President’s Day and that’s when we held our fundraiser for EACH.
“The afternoon started with a ‘spider’ competition and we had a round-robin tournament for 28 teams. Trophies were then presented to eventual winners North Walsham and runners-up Horsford.
“We also presented cups to the Cawston League winners, Bawdeswell, and runners-up, Lakeside Pilgrims, in addition to handing out silverware to the Knockout Shield winners, North Walsham, and runners-up, Swanton Abbott.
“In addition to the players, who all paid an entry fee, there were also lots of spectators and we had raffles, a tombola and food and drink sales to try and raise as much as possible.
“Our thanks go to Arthur Mobbs, the Cawston League secretary, for organising the competition, his grandson, Matthew Neave, for sponsoring the league and presenting the trophies and to all members for their great efforts in supporting President’s Day and EACH.
“We were thrilled to raise so much and my personal goal had been to raise £1,200. I was amazed and surprised and people were very generous.
“The raffle alone raised £361 and the tombola a further £127. The Cawston Bowls League also made a wonderful donation of £250.”
EACH was selected as Bintree’s chosen charity after a vote among the club’s 35 members. They were given a shortlist of three worthy causes.
“Obviously I can’t speak for all members but, for me, the word ‘children’ really resonates and that’s why people voted for EACH.
“It’s a lovely, local charity and it felt like a very worthy cause to support.”
Bintree’s President’s Day took place on Saturday, 3rd September.
The event raised £1,862 and president Richard Johnson (right) is pictured handing over the cheque to Nook Friends Group volunteer Roy Grage.
EACH Community Fundraising Assistant Megan Kemp said: “We were truly bowled over to receive this wonderful and very generous donation.
“It’s an incredible amount and our sincere thanks go to the members, players and spectators who helped make it such a special and memorable day.”
Green-fingered volunteers are being encouraged to step forward and help families caring for children with life-threatening conditions.
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) runs a successful Help at Home service and is on the lookout for extra support in the Diss area.
The service provides vital assistance with jobs like cooking, cleaning, shopping, sibling support, decorating and DIY.
Any extra help is appreciated but the charity is especially keen to hear from anyone interested in gardening.
EACH volunteer co-ordinator Anne Rayner said: “We know that some of our families struggle to keep on top of everything.
“They have enough on their plates caring for their child or children, dealing with complex medications and feed times.
“That’s not to mention cooking, cleaning and maintaining things indoors.
“With the best will in the world, the garden isn’t high on their list of priorities and that’s why we’re keen to hear from anyone able to help.
“You don’t have to be knowledgeable or a gardening expert. Just being on hand to cut the grass or do a bit of weeding will make a huge difference.”
Volunteers do not need to commit to a regular time slot and training and support is providing.
“All you need to give up is your time, either to help regularly or as a one-off project,” added Anne.
“Whether you can spare two hours a week or two a month, it’ll have a real impact on the families we support.
“Sometimes they feel isolated and it can be hard looking out of the window at an unkempt garden.”
For more information about EACH’s Help at Home service, head to each.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering, email volunteerservices@each.org.uk or call 01223 800800 (select option four).
The charity is also keen to find more Help at Home volunteers in the Norwich and Great Yarmouth areas.