what’s insideCleobury Country News

Networking NewsArticles & Features

Local JobsDates for your Diary

THE

November Issue 2014

CLEOBURY COUNTRY BU

LLET

IN

www.cleoburycountry.com

THE

by local business people for local business people

Next Cleobury Networking meeting date: Wednesday 17th December

1

CleoburyCountry

Not quite sure whereNovember is goingbut it feels like we’d nosooner started it andsuddenly, it’s ending! As I write it’s the 20th and I sawa house in Cleobury with itsChristmas tree up in itswindow!!!! What on earth isthat all about!

It’s been a steady month at thecentre in many ways….

The courses have trundledalong nicely, and we launcheda new course in FoodLabelling, which was well takenup. This follows new foodregulations which come intoeffect on 13th December 2014whereby all food labels mustcontain a list of all the allergenspresent in the product. Thiscould be quite a problem forsome, so the course was aimedat those retailers who might beaffected, and it was wellreceived and hopefully mademore people aware of the newlaws.

We also launched “Into Work”Transformation Challenge, inassociation with ShropshireHousing. On a Friday morning,those that are 52 weeks or lessout of work can drop into thecentre and get help accessinglocal vacancies via our LocalJobs board, get helpnavigating the Universal Jobswebsite, and help with things

like CV’s and interviewtechniques. This is a freeservice aimed at helpingindividuals get back intoemployment and increase theirpersonal and social wellbeing.Call the centre for moreinformation 01299 272 300.

Sue has nearly finishedcontacting everyone regardingthe Cleobury Country TradeCard and new website, so ifyou’ve not spoken to her yet,get in quick because by the21st November, it’ll be too late!Having said that, the TradeCard is looking really goodwith more businesses than evertaking up the opportunity tohave a listing and/or an advert.William at Crystal Thought willthen move heaven and earth,to get it printed and ready forrelease on the 5th January2015!!

The Cleobury Country FarmersMarket cranked itself up for thebuild up to Christmas thismonth, with a record numberof stalls attending (21) and thechurch looked fab with all thestalls displaying their wares!

We offered local new business“Sensu Teas” the opportunity toshow off their product via oursponsored business stall, andthey offered free tea tastings allmorning, which was just whatwas needed on a chillymorning! We saw 199 visitorsduring the morning and this isbecoming the average now butwe are hoping that next month

(December 20th) might bring abumper number of visitors!

Finally, I’d like to thank GaryDimmock fromWovlerhampton University,who came to our BusinessNetworking evening to explainabout The Eureka MomentProject, and how it can helpnew and existing businesses.Its great to be able to showbusinesses that there is helpout there! If you’d like anyinformation from the eveningplease get in touch and we canforward his presentation.

I currently have my thinkingcap on to try to think of a “jolly”for the christmas meeting,which is on 17th December. I’dbe grateful of any suggestions,as it’s nice to get out an visit alocal business! Let me know ifyou have any brain waves,otherwise wait for thenetworking reminder email!

Clare Todd

November at the Cleobury Country Centre

2

A great meeting this monthwith grants as the theme.

Much discussion took placeamongst the attendees andwe are all aware that thereare many grants available tobusinesses currently,particularly Revenue basedand match funded.

Outwardly this looks fantasticespecially for all those grantswhich are ERDF based (i.e.European money). But on thehorizon looks the finish ofthese certainly for all by mid-2015...

New programmes willbecome available but notuntil 2016 and beyond.

In short if you think yourbusiness may qualify for agrant that makes sense to you

- GET IN QUICK!

If you are unsure of what isavailable talk to the team atCleobury Country who workvery hard at knowing what isavailable for all types ofbusiness.

In the meantime GrowthAccelerator and GrowthVouchers are going strongand certainly many of myclients are taking advantageof a good scheme - if youwant to know more let meknow and I will do my best tohelp.

We are agreed that we arehaving a Christmas do asusual and Clare is concoctinganother bit of fun, so get thedate in your diary and let'shope to see you there...

Until next time...

The Family Business Man

p.s. “And Remember… If I CanHelp You In Any Way Just LetMe Know!”

next networking: 17th December

Best Selling Author,Award Winning Speaker

Business Development Consultant

www.familybusinessman.com

Peter Roper

Grants Grants and More Grants!

3

Calling all women in business -The Women & BroadbandChallenge is aimed atequipping women inShropshire with the skills andknowledge to make theirbusiness flourish in the digitalage. From now until March2015 there will be 15 full andhalf day workshops in subjectssuch as Pinterest, Twitter andInstagram as well as filmingonline videos for business, andmaking the most of cloudtechnology plus women can bematched with a mentor for on-going support. Events are beingrun all across Shropshire inSuperfast Broadbandcommunity locations. CleoburyCountry Centre is hosting anevent in February called CloudComputing Masterclass whichwill help you to understand howyou can improve and simplifyyour business processes byusing a selection of low-cost orsometimes free applications.This can help your business tosave time, money, andresources. There will be an in-depth session on choosing,setting up and integratingCloud apps which will give youthe freedom to work from

anywhere that you can get aninternet connectionhttp://www.wirechallenge.org/events/cloud-computing-for-business-2/

All the workshops are free andwe guarantee that they will bewelcoming, friendly andsupportive and we will beencouraging everyone to askthose niggling questions. Youdon't have to be a businessowner, you might beconsidering starting a business,thinking about returning towork or simply wishing toimprove your skills and it's notlimited to WiRE Members, soplease let your colleagues,friends and family know.www.wirechallenge.org

The Shropshire Women andBroadband Challenge isdelivered by WiRE (Women inRural Enterprise) and isavailable thanks to fundingsecured by Shropshire Counciland Connecting Shropshirefrom Broadband Delivery UKand the Government EqualitiesOffice

WiRE is a national organisationof over 1000 Women runningsmall and rural businesses. It isbased at Harper AdamsUniversity and helps women inrural areas either to start up orexpand a business. Annualmembership is just £50 andincludes access to localnetworks, member noticeboard, virtual network, freelisting on the rural marketplace,business resources and PR andmedia opportunities. WiRE alsooffers a package of benefitsthrough business sponsorswhich include insurance andlegal advice www.wireuk.org

Connecting Shropshire is theprogramme bringing fibrebased broadband to areaswhere it isn't economicallyviable for commercialcompanies to provide it. It is apartnership betweenShropshire Council, BT andBroadband Delivery UK (BDUK)and will enable more than62,000 homes and businessesin Shropshire (excluding Telford& Wrekin) to access fasterbroadband by the end of 2016.www.connectingshropshire.co.uk

Cleobury Style: 19th November

4

What’s On?

Health & Safety Level 2 course 9am - 4pm

“Into Work” Transformation Challenge

10am - 1pm

LinkedIn & Twitter course 9pm-4pm

“Into Work” Transformation Challenge

10am - 1pm

Centre closes for Christmas

Christmas Cleobury Country Farmers

Market 9.30am - 12.30pm

Back to Work !

Where is it

Cleobury Country Centre

Cleobury Country Centre

Cleobury Country Centre

Cleobury Country Centre

Cleobury Country Centre

in & around St Mary’s church

Cleobury Country Centre

When is it?

3,4,5th December

5th December

10th December

12th December

19th December

20th December

5th January

Information on Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council can be found on their website:www.cleobury.org.uk, by ‘Liking’ their facebook page or following them on Twitter.

This month we welcomedanother newbie! StuartMorgan for Gen Volt Ltd.

The usual suspects were:-

William from CrystalThought, Iain McIntyrefrom McIntyrePhotography, Bill White

from Bill White Nurseries,Jonathan Wells from JWSBusiness Solutions, BillCooper from LMS Skips,Paul Steadman fromCognet, Lulu West fromAnimal AuPair, PeteAndrews from Ultimate

Glazing, Tom Stanhopefrom Jovian Media andPeter Chatterley fromBabbage Lovelace.

Hope you all enjoyed theevening!

CHIPS SPONSORED BYWe’re very grateful to Peter Chatterley from BabbageLovelace who sponsored the chips this month.

5

Reuben Crouch,General Manager atLudlow Food Centrefor the past seven anda half years, has joinedHobsons Brewery astheir new CommercialDirector, swappingaward winning localfood for awardwinning local beer. Hobsons believe insourcing locally, they usehops that are grown sevenmiles from the brewery andinstigated a programme forlocal farmers to grow MarisOtter barley for their brews,so it made sense to hirelocally as well.

The new boy is getting togrips with the brewery, butwasn’t quite expecting hisinduction to include thechallenge of running towork after his company cargot delayed. In his firstweek he has alsoexperienced the role of abrewer, drayman and ‘dogsbody’, with a day’s brewing,weighing out the hops todigging out a very steamymash tun, delivering caskbeer to pubs inHerefordshire and helpingto assemble the new GreenHop Beer gift packs.

Reuben commented “Ibelieve in mucking in, andthere’s no better way ofgetting to know a businessthan completely immersingyourself in it. Hobsons has asmall friendly team and it’sbeen a fantastic first week, Iparticularly enjoyed puttingmy swimming trunks on toclean out the copper!”

Reuben frequently ran thethree mile commute towork at Ludlow FoodCentre but the brewery is inCleobury Mortimer, 16miles from his home inBromfield and with thedaunting ascent ofTitterstone Clee hill enroute. At 1,749 ft above sealevel this makes itShropshire’s 3rd highestpeak and a challenge forany regular runner.

“I gave myself 2 hours to dothe run and not wanting tobe late for work it was anearly start. At around milefive my knee flared up andthe pain slowed my pace.Not wanting to give up Istopped for a drink andIbuprofen at Clee HillStores. In the end I wasabout half an hour late. Ona positive note the carbonfootprint of my commutemust have been prettyminimal, which fits well withthe environmental

sustainabilitypolicy we have atHobsons.” said Reuben.

Hobsons Brewery ispassionate aboutsustainability and is achampion of greentechnologies and localsourcing. A wind turbineprovides about a third oftheir power requirementsand a ground source heatpump utilises naturalenergy to keep the bottleconditioning room andcold store at the righttemperatures.

Asked whether this wouldbecome a regular means ofgetting to work Reubenreplied. “I don’t think I’ll bedoing it every day, but I’lldefinitely do it again,reaching the top of Clee Hillwas really rewarding and afew of the Team havesuggested they might joinme next time!

“Currency. The exchangerate of eight Ningis to one Puis very easy to understand,but as one Ningis is atriangular rubber coin sixthousand eight hundredmiles on one side, nobodyhas ever collected enoughNingis to own one Pu”.

Douglas Adams, The Restaurant atthe end of the Universe.

There was a near real-worldequivalent to the Ningis. It couldhave been found on the island ofYap, in Micronesia in the WestPacific. Their coins, the rai, are stonewheels with a hole in the middle.Some were fairly portable, a hands-pan or less across, and weighing, acouple of bags of sugar. But themost valued stones were muchbigger. One British sailor wrote inthe late nineteenth century of astone wheel that weighed four and

a half tons and was over nine feet indiameter. In other words, it wascompletely immovable.

Yap’s stone money was a seriousbusiness. The stones were quarriedand carved on the island of Palau,250 miles away. One Victoriannaturalist witnessed four hundredmen from Yap, a tenth of the adultpopulation, at work in the quarriesof Palau. Getting the stones fromPalau to Yap on a little bamboo boatwas a difficult and sometimes lethalaffair. Some of them weighed asmuch as two cars. The Bigger stonesmight have been used for majortransactions such as buying land orwives, whilst more modest sizedstones, a couple of feet across,might have been the exchange fora pig. Even then it would be a loteasier to move the pig than to movethe stone. All this meant that forpurely practical reasons, the Yapislanders had to develop animportant monetary innovation.

They divorced ownership of thestone from physical control of theobject. If you wanted to buy my pig,that transaction was publiclywitnessed; I’d give you the pig and inexchange, you’d transfer ownershipof one of your stones, i.e. the oneleaning against the tree, second onthe left behind your hut to me.

Now everybody would know that thatparticular stone was John’s stone. Wewould not have to go through thetrouble of moving the stone. A prettyinsane monetary system?

For many years the monetary systemof the developed world was based

on gold. The gold itself was held iningots, would be left in the bankvaults, after having been mined atgreat cost and risks in far-off lands.

In large cities like London andVenice, the gold was like the rai, itnever moved. It stayed in the bankvaults. People would carry aroundpieces of paper recording the factthat they owned the gold. Banknotes like Sterling and the US Dollarwere descendants of this system.

Paper money has a much longerhistory. Kublai Khan, a ChineseEmperor in the thirteenth century,introduced a system of purely papermoney that astounded the visitingItalian merchant Marco Polo.Modern British and old AmericanDollar notes promise to pay thebearer on demand, a promise thatonce referred to redeeming thebanknote for gold. But moderncurrency is no longer linked to gold.Most countries broke the link togold in the early 1930’s.

Now it merely means that you cango to the Bank of England andexchange a £10 note for two fivers.

That sums up the differencebetween the Yap islanders and themonetary system of moderneconomics. In the Yap system thestone remained a currency even if itwas at the bottom of the sea. Todaywe have an even crazier system. Wejust circulate bits of paper, with nodsand winks towards the old dayswhen they were claims on gold in avault. Now they are claims onnothing, and yet on anything at all.Whose system is crazier?

6

Money, Money Money...

7

Keeping it Local!I would like to extend a warm hand offriendship to anyone who would like toattend the Teme Valley Business Groupnetworking meetings that meet inTenbury Wells once a fortnight.

We have 12 members that meetregularly on the second and fourthTuesday mornings at 7.00am.

YES, I said 7.00am!Somehow I manage to get up earlyenough to attend. Perhaps it’s the fullEnglish breakfast, maybe it’s the freshlybrewed coffee...

I would like to think it is the greatcompany and conversation, as well asopportunities to network and discussways to help you and your business.

We meet at the Spotty Dog Tea Roomson Teme Street, next door to the RegalTheatre.

Parking is allowed in Teme Street until9am when we finish our meeting.

If you would like to come along, pleaseemail me atwilliam.withers@crystalthought.co.ukand I will add you to the guest list.

It costs just £10, and your breakfast anddrinks are included.

If you like and want to attend regularlythen we encourage people to becomea member of the group, which hasfurther benefits.

@WilliamWithers

SPECIALISTS IN HELPING YOUR BUSINESS TO: • DEVELOP A VISUAL IDENTITY TO ENHANCE YOUR REPUTATION

• BUILD A WEBSITE THAT COMPETES IN YOUR MARKETPLACE• DEVELOP AN ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY THAT DELIVERS RESULTS

www.crystalthought.co.uk

William

Our supportive group meets every 2nd and 4thTuesday of the month, here atSpotty Dog Tea Rooms.Meetings start at 7.00am and finish at 9.00am.

Parking in Teme Street is allowedduring these times.Come and meet other local businesses,for networking, support and referrals.

A full English breakfast is included !If you have any questions, please call David Winter07789 686 835 or email davidwinter@tvbg.co.uk

www.cleoburycountry.com

Next Cleobury Networking meeting date: Wednesday 17th December

CleoburyCountry

Cleobury Countrypresents...

FarmersMarket 2014

Market Dates for 2014Saturday February 15thSaturday March 15thSaturday April 19th Saturday May 17th Saturday June 21stSaturday July 19thSaturday August 16thSaturday September 20thSaturday October 18thSaturday November 15thSaturday December 20th

ALL MARKETS HELD ON SATURDAY’S FROM 9.30am to 12.30pm

www.cleoburycountry.com

CLEOBURY COUNTRY

TRADE CARD 2014

THE

AVAILABLE FREE NOW in the Cleobury Country Area

Contains Useful Telephone Numbers andAlphabetical Trade Listings for Local Businessses