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Helping local companies benefit from Northern Gateway development

Local companies are being invited to a Meet the Buyer event to find out how to tender for work connected to the ongoing regeneration of Chesterfield.

The construction of the new Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre on part of the Holywell Cross car park is due to start in April. Main contractors Robert Woodhead Limited are interested to speak to local companies to form part of their supply chain on this project and other local projects in their pipeline.

The event will take place on 27 March 2020 between 8am – 12pm at Chesterfield Town Hall, Rose Hill, Chesterfield S40 1LP in committee room one.

The Enterprise Centre will provide 32 high-quality Grade A offices in a range of sizes (26 to 120 square metres) over three floors.

As part of its commitment to supporting the local economy Chesterfield Borough Council, as the planning authority, includes local labour clauses within developments of this kind to ensure developers use local suppliers, have apprenticeships and allocate as many jobs as possible to local people.

To maximise the opportunities for local companies, main contractors Robert Woodhead Limited and Chesterfield Borough Council will hold the event to provide details of a range of sub-contractor packages available during the project.

Other main contractors including Fortem will join the event to maximise the opportunities available to local businesses on the schemes they are developing across the Borough. Light refreshments will be provided, and companies are requested to bring plenty of business cards for what promises to be a valuable morning of networking.

Opportunities include:

• Brickwork
• Plastering
• Screeds
• Joinery and kitchen fitting
• Floor finishes
• Fencing
• Landscaping
• Painting and decorating
• Wall tiling
• Mastic and sealants
• Cleaners
• Roof Tiling
• Local labour recruitment agencies
• Rendering
• uPVC windows and doors
• Fire stopping
• Fire door set installation
• Kitchen and bathroom installation
• Suspended ceilings
• Electrical
• Plumbing and heating systems/gas
• Scaffolding
• Pitched and flat roofing

Councillor Terry Gilby, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for economic growth, said: “There is more than £1 billion of investment currently underway in Chesterfield and one of the key priorities of the council is that Chesterfield residents directly benefit from this by getting new jobs, training, business and skills opportunities.

“Robert Woodhead Limited has worked closely with the council to ensure that our borough benefits as much as possible from the opportunities that building this new Enterprise Centre will bring.

“I would encourage all local businesses to attend the Meet the Buyer event and see what opportunities are available for them and their workforces.”

In addition to the Meet the Buyer event, CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) and Chesterfield College will be in attendance to guide local business on how to access training and assist in the recruitment of apprentices.

To find out more about the Meet the Buyer event please contact Emily Williams on 01246 345254 or email emily.williams@chesterfield.gov.uk.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Chesterfield Food and Drink Awards, Chesterfield Retail Awards, Development, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield

D2N2 LEP seeks two new board members

The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has begun recruitment for two new board members who can help continue the growth of the region.

Local Enterprise Partnerships play a central role in deciding local economic priorities to drive economic growth and create local jobs.

D2N2 LEP are looking for new members who can help to shape the economic strategy across Derby Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Their goal is to improve the productivity of our economy through inclusive growth.

Board members represent the LEP’s interests to partners and stakeholders in the private and public sectors and work collaboratively with them to deliver a shared agenda for the economy.

Elizabeth Fagan CBE (right), Chair of the D2N2, said: “We’re keen to hear from business leaders with energy, creativity, and passion to help us shape and deliver our ambitions for the region.”

“This is an important time for our region as we drive forward work on our Local Industrial Strategy to develop a more prosperous and lower carbon economy, which creates better skilled and higher value jobs for our future generations”

“Our board members come from different backgrounds across our region and offer a breadth of sector knowledge and expertise. I am keen to hear from people that can build on this diversity.”

Applications are welcome from across the LEP area and from all sectors of the economy to reflect the diverse business community. The deadline for applications is Monday 20th April 2020.

To learn more about the position, download the Candidate Pack or visit the website here.

Over 200 delegates attended the 2019 D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership Annual Conference

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield, Development, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield

Chesterfield College launches Young Artists of the Year competition

Chesterfield College has launched the fourth annual competition to find Derbyshire’s talented Young Artists of the Year.

School children in Year 4 to Year 13 are encouraged to use their creative skills to produce an illustration, a painting or collage, photography or a 3D sculpture on the theme of “Modern day Britain”.

Finalists’ artwork, across a range of age and competition categories, will be exhibited as part of the college’s Art’s Festival taking place from 22 June – 3 July 2020. The young artists will be invited to a special ceremony where the winners will be announced and presented with prizes.

James Marples, Brand and Campaigns Manager at Chesterfield College said: “The Young Artist of the Year competition has gone from strength to strength and we are looking forward to seeing how local young artists interpret our theme this year. We were amazed by the number and the standard of the entries we received last summer. Our judges had a real challenge when it came to choosing winners. It is fantastic to be able to encourage and celebrate the talent and skills of young artists and we are really pleased to be able to incorporate their work into the college’s Arts Festival.”

Last year saw a huge range of different styles of stunning paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography submitted and exhibited in West Studios, Chesterfield College’s creative hub and exhibition space. Winners of the 2019 competition spoke about how it felt to be crowned as Young Artists of the Year.

Isobel Greene, winner of the Visual Arts Year 7-9 category in 2019 said; “I have chosen to do Art GCSE at school next year. If I could be an artist one day I would. It is really nice to win this competition.”

Harry Bell, Winner of the Visual Arts Year 4-6 category last year said;  “Winning this competition gives me a lot of confidence to paint a lot more.”

The closing date for the competition is 10 June 2020. More details, including terms and conditions of the competition can be found here www.chesterfield.ac.uk/yaoty

Isobel Greene, winner of the 2019 Young Artists of the Year Visual Arts Year 7-9 category

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Chesterfield Retail Awards, Featured, Home, Leisure

Student Pop-Up opens at Vicar Lane

Vicar Lane Shopping Centre is continuing its partnership with Derbyshire Adult Community Education (DACES), part of Derbyshire County Council, to support an education programme for young adults in Chesterfield.

The learners attend Full Time Study Programmes in Shirebrook and Clay Cross; the programmes are based around employment and enterprise and are aimed at young people aged 16-19 to help them gain the skills they need for the world of work. Vicar Lane is working with organisers on an ‘Employer Challenge’ within the programme, whereby the learners are set a task within a real-life employment environment.

In addition to this, Vicar Lane will be providing participants in the programme with a space within the centre to create their very own pop-up stall. The stall will be managed by the Shirebrook students with support from tutors.

The pop-up stall will appear in St. James Square at Vicar Lane on Friday 20th March between 10am and 2pm – just in time for Mothers’ Day. The stall will sell a range of crafts and jewellery, together with daffodil bulbs which have been grown by the students from their community allotment. There will also be tea and coffee available for customers to enjoy and a small seating area to relax and unwind.

All profits made on the day will go towards a team building activity for the students to enjoy at the end of term.

Shaun Brown, Centre Manager, Vicar Lane said, “We’re thrilled to be welcoming this team of ambitious young people to Vicar Lane this March. The learners we met last year proved to be fantastically creative team players so it will be great to see how this group gets on. If you’re passing Vicar Lane on the day, please come down and show your support.”

Click here to find out more about Vicar Lane Shopping Centre

Posted in About Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure

Support local volunteers by swimming against loneliness

Chesterfield residents are being encouraged to sign up for a sponsored swim that aims to raise money for the Chesterfield Volunteer Centre’s befriending service.

The swimathon, called Swim Against Loneliness, will be held at Queen’s Park Sports Centre on Saturday 6 June 2020 and is open to anyone who wants to take part, providing they meet the minimum sponsorship requirement.

Participants are being asked to get sponsorship of at least £20 to take part in the event, but by raising this minimum amount there will be no charge for entry.

Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “I’m proud that we are able to support this event to help raise much needed funds for the befriending service.

“I hope lots of people will take part and that many more will come down to the centre and support the swimmers. Whether you swim for fun, attend swimming classes or are an experienced swimmer, the swimathon is open to everyone.”

Children who take part in swimming classes at either Queen’s Park Sports Centre or the Healthy Living Centre can use the swimathon to help in their work towards their distance badges.

Swimmers can select how many lengths they wish to swim, with the number ranging from 10 to 100 but special allowances can be made for those who wish to swim more or fewer lengths than this.

David Radford, the manager of The Volunteer Centre, said: “The Elderfriends project has been going for about 20 years now and over that time the issues we face around loneliness and social isolation have become greater, we hope this swimathon will help us raise awareness of the project and help us raise money to further expand these much needed services.

“We have a big waiting list for people who need our services, so anyone interested in giving their time to support this project, should contact us directly.”

You can find out more about the swimathon, register for your place and download a sponsorship form here: www.swimagainstloneliness.online/ or for more details info@chesterfieldvc.org.uk

The befriending service is run by Chesterfield Volunteer Centre and is completely free. The service provides company for elderly people, to help tackle loneliness and the many problems that are associated with it.

Find out more about the Chesterfield Volunteer Centre and the services it provides here: www.chesterfieldvc.online

Posted in About Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure

Chesterfield’s Great British Spring Clean

Chesterfield residents are being encouraged to take part in a local community ‘clean up’ as part of this year’s Great British Spring Clean.

The Great British Spring Clean campaign, an initiative from Keep Britain Tidy, is running from Friday 20 March to Monday 13 April and aims to bring people across the country together to help tidy our streets, parks and countryside.

As part of the Great British Spring Clean, Chesterfield Borough Council’s tenant participation team has organised five litter picks across the borough and is encouraging community groups and individuals to join the campaign and lend a hand.

The litter picks will take place at:

  • Loundsley Green – Friday 20 March – meet at Loundsley Green Community Centre
  • Newbold Moor – Wednesday 25 March – meet at the bus stop on Racecourse Road/Mountcastle Walk
  • Littlemoor – Friday 27 March – meet outside the shops, Littlemoor Centre
  • Mastin Moor – Tuesday 7 April – meet at Eventide Rest Room
  • Holme Hall – Thursday 9 April – meet at Holme Hall Community Hub

Each litter pick will start at 11am and finish at 12:30pm. Litter pickers, high visibility jackets and gloves will be provided for everyone taking part.

Councillor Chris Ludlow, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “We are proud to be continuing our support for the ‘Great British Spring Clean’ campaign once again and we want as many people as possible to get involved with this year’s events.”

“We held five events last year as part of the initiative and welcomed 107 people from across the borough who together collected 125 bags of rubbish. This year we would love to see even more people get involved and help us collect even more litter.”

“Keeping our communities clean and tidy is one of our priorities and involving local residents helps us to build a strong community through communication and teamwork. In 2019 our tenant participation team distributed free litter picking kits to local community groups and schools to allow them to arrange their own community litter picks and help keep Chesterfield tidy.”

If community groups want to get involved and organise their own events, they can borrow litter picking equipment from the council.

To find out more about how to get involved in the Great British Spring Clean or other future litter picks in Chesterfield, contact the tenant participation team on 01246 345147 or tpenquiries@chesterfield.gov.uk

anzacs chesterfield

Posted in About Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure

Ashgate Hospicecare takes steps to keep end of life patients safe from coronavirus

Ashgate Hospicecare is implementing precautionary measures to reduce the risk of coronavirus to its end of life patients, staff, volunteers and the wider community.

Ashgate Hospicecare is enabling most of the hospice’s non-clinical staff to work remotely and stopping any non-essential visitors from coming to the hospice at Old Brampton.

Services at the hospice will continue to be delivered to ensure the hospice is providing vital care for patients across North Derbyshire. Ashgate is introducing an increase in telephone consultation for patients in the community where this is appropriate and possible.

Ashgate Hospicecare shops and coffee shops will continue to operate as normal. However, opening and closing times of all shops will be adjusted by half an hour to allow for time to deep clean.

Family members and friends of loved ones who are visiting the hospice’s inpatient units will be asked at reception about places they have visited recently and if they are showing signs of illness, and are also being reminded not to come to the hospice if they are feeling unwell.

Barbara-Anne Walker, Chief Executive at Ashgate Hospicecare, said: “Our priority here at Ashgate Hospicecare is to ensure that our end of life patients are receiving the best possible care and that we are doing everything we can to reduce the risk of our patients, as well as our staff, volunteers and the wider community contracting coronavirus.

“It is important that we take all reasonable steps to protect those using our services, as well as those working and volunteering for the hospice. We have now moved many of our non-clinical staff off-site and are enabling them to work remotely from home. We are introducing change in a measured and proportionate way – for example we are gradually increasing our use of telephone visits rather than face to face visits in the community.

“We would ask that the community keeps fundraising for us and supporting us through the coming weeks and months. We rely on our community to help us raise almost 75% of our funds which enables us to provide vital care to those who need us the most.”

For further information on Coronavirus, please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public (opens in new tab).

For more information about Ashgate Hospicecare and how you can continue to support your local hospice as well as regular updates about how the hospice is dealing with the coronavirus, please visit www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk or follow them on social media.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Featured, Home

Derbyshire County Council announce £1 million to support people affected by coronavirus

Derbyshire County Council has set aside £1 million worth of funding to support residents and businesses who may be affected by coronavirus.

Council Leader Councillor Barry Lewis announced the £1 million fund today to complement the government support announced in the budget and said it was an initial amount and could rise, depending on how seriously the virus affected the county.

Nationally, a £500 million ‘hardship fund’ was announced by new Chancellor Rishi Sunak in Wednesday’s budget, which will be given to local authorities in England to help support vulnerable people through the coronavirus outbreak.

The hardship fund is one of a number of national measures to support the country through the coronavirus outbreak, including extending sick pay and suspending business rates for many firms in England, also announced in the budget.

Councillor Barry Lewis welcomed the government’s hardship fund announcement and said that all authorities needed to work together to support those affected by the virus.

There are currently four confirmed cases of coronavirus in Derbyshire, with the number predicted to rise over the coming weeks.

Councillor Lewis said:“We are pleased to be able to announce an initial fund of £1 million to support Derbyshire residents and businesses who may be affected by the coronavirus in the coming weeks.”

“We just don’t know how this will affect people personally, or how it will hit local businesses, but we want people to know that support is available to help them get through the outbreak, whether it’s advice and information or financial support.”

“So even though we can’t predict the impact of coronavirus, we are acutely aware that businesses – particularly small and independent traders – and people organising events will be worried and we want to be ready to assist where we can.”

“The £1 million fund is an initial amount, and we will consider further allocations when we know more about the government schemes and local needs, which is why we especially welcome the announcement in the budget that there will be support for local authorities to help their communities when they need it most.”

“Any further increases in the fund will, of course, need to be balanced against the additional costs the council faces in delivering its own services, particularly to vulnerable residents, during this period.”

Further details of the Derbyshire fund will be made available shortly.

Find out more information about the coronavirus on the Derbyshire County Council website.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Featured, Home, Leisure, Visiting

‘Greta Thunberg effect’ hailed as an opportunity for innovation and employment in Chesterfield

The ‘Greta Thunberg effect’ has been hailed as an opportunity for innovation and employment in Chesterfield by leaders from the town’s tourism and rail sectors.

Elizabeth Fagan CBE, Chair of D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, Jon Veitch, Managing Director of Talgo UK and Rupert Carr, Director of Birchall Properties, the company behind PEAK, spoke at the annual Celebrate Chesterfield Conference (11 March), which was organised by Destination Chesterfield in association with the University of Derby.

The creation of PEAK resort, an HS2 station and maintenance depot, as well as investment in the borough by Spanish train manufacturer Talgo, makes Chesterfield well-placed for the UK’s projected growth in rail travel and staycations brought about by the public’s growing concern for the environment.

Earlier this year Chesterfield Borough Council also announced its plans for the borough to be carbon neutral.

At the conference it was announced that Chesterfield is at the forefront of Talgo’s All Britain Strategy. The company, which has a 60% market share of the high speed rail industry in Spain, established its head office in Chesterfield early this year. It now has plans to open a research and development centre, co-located with Barrow Hill Roundhouse, with recruitment due to begin shortly. The company is currently bidding to supply trains to HS2.

Jon Veitch, Managing Director of Talgo UK, shared his ambitions for Chesterfield and the UK

Jon Veitch praised Chesterfield’s connectivity, saying: “Chesterfield provides us with an ideal location to access clients throughout the UK and take advantages of the growing opportunities within the rail sector being driven, in part, by the Greta Thunberg effect. Already this has had a detrimental effect on air travel in Spain, further opening up opportunities for Talgo. We anticipate a similar effect in the UK and we want to be at the forefront of the rail revolution in the UK.”

Speaking at the conference, Elizabeth Fagan CBE said: “The 2008 Climate Change Act allowed the opportunity for the UK Government to declare its ambition on carbon reduction and set legally binding targets, HS2 allows our region to be at the forefront of declaring itself carbon neutral as well as being a leading bastion in energy efficiency and development and use of clean energy technology.

“HS2 is a once in a generation opportunity for the town, enabling employment opportunities to be unlocked. We must ensure we take this moment in time to deliver our carbon neutral ambition to improve the skills of the people who work in this region and ensure that Chesterfield, D2N2 and Midlands region is at the forefront of leading this UK-wide ambition.”

Elizabeth Fagan CBE, Chair of D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, on stage at Celebrate Chesterfield

The decrease in air travel, coupled with Brexit, has led to a growth in the UK staycation market. According to research from UK hospitality job board Caterer.com, 70% of the British population are planning a break in the UK for 2020, an increase in the predicted number of staycations compared to those taken last year.

Riding on the staycation boom, it was announced at the Celebrate Chesterfield conference that construction on the David Lloyd Adrenaline World has begun at PEAK. It represents the beginning of the phase one delivery of the resort which, when completed will be an integrated leisure, health, sport and education destination on the edge of the Peak District National Park; set on the 300-acre Birchall Estate in Chesterfield.

At the event, Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, praised the Destination Chesterfield campaign recognising the difference it has made to investment in the borough. There is more than £1 billion of development currently happening in Chesterfield, with key developments Chesterfield Waterside, PEAK and an innovation centre at Northern Gateway all set to come out of the ground in 2020.

She said: “Ten years ago, Chesterfield Borough Council made the very bold decision to invest in establishing Destination Chesterfield. It is has proved to be a great success helping us attract new companies, like Talgo, to Chesterfield, creating new jobs and transforming local peoples lives and benefitting local communities. The next 10 years are equally exciting, as we have developments like PEAK and Waterside coming out of the ground as well as proposals on the table for the next phase of making Chesterfield a thriving borough.”

Cllr Tricia Gilby was to describe the opportunities for Chesterfield over the next 10 years in 3 words: “exciting, sustainable and inclusive”.

Peter Swallow, Chair of Destination Chesterfield added: “Destination Chesterfield as a project has put the town on the map. We have a higher regional and national profile which is certainly a tick in the box for current and prospective investors. HS2 moving into the town has further raised our profile and I am confident that international investors will now be looking towards the town.”

Mr Veitch added; “We are delighted to be investing in Chesterfield. The town is on the cusp of sustainable, generational change and we very much want to be a part of Team Chesterfield and its future.”

Celebrate Chesterfield, which was held in association with the University of Derby and sponsored by Bridge Help, Central Technology and Markham Vale, is now in its tenth year, and is one of the biggest and most hotly anticipated business events in the area. This year the free breakfast event attracted nearly 300 delegates.

To find out more about investment opportunities in Chesterfield, click here.

The free business event attracted nearly 300 delegates

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Chesterfield Food and Drink Awards, Chesterfield Retail Awards, Destination Chesterfield, Development, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield

Chatsworth’s Arcadia takes Natural Course for a monumental sculptural centrepiece

Artist Laura Ellen Bacon is to create a new installation in the gardens of Chatsworth House.

Laura has been chosen to design and build a new, monumental sculptural installation as the centrepiece of the Arcadia area in Chatsworth’s world-famous 105-acre garden as it undergoes its biggest transformation for 200 years.

Designed to appear as if seeping from the ground, Natural Course will flow down a woodland slope in the previously undeveloped, 15-acre area called Arcadia, which is being created by celebrated garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith. Assembled by coordination of hand and eye to give the great mass of stone a sense of slow, gradual movement over the land, Natural Course aims to suggest an innate life force to the hard and seemingly motionless stone.

Natural Course will push the boundaries of dry stone walling technique. Very different from a typical boundary wall, the technical challenge comes from both the sheer volume of material used and particularly its 40 metres of contours and curves. At more than 10m in length and 2m in height with a base width varying from 50cm to 3m, visitors will be able to enter up to 5m into the sculpture, giving a feeling of being swallowed by stone.

Built from more than 100 tonnes of local stone taken from the Bretton Moor Quarry near Foolow, less than five miles away, Natural Course will be made from tens of thousands of individual, hand placed pieces using a traditional dry-stone walling method. Work is underway with a small team of local dry stone wallers and Laura Ellen Bacon aims to complete the build by April 2020.

Usually working in wood, often willow, Laura Ellen Bacon is known for creating large-scale organic forms but this is her first major commission in stone. Natural Course will join more than 20 sculptural works at Chatsworth by post war masters including Antony Gormley, Angela Conner, Elisabeth Frink, Allen Jones, Michael Craig-Martin and Barry Flanagan.

Laura Ellen Bacon: “This sculpture is a development of my study of form and particularly site-specific works. Inspirations for the work have come from the vast network of dry stone walls across Derbyshire as well as the volume and handling of the immense stones in the Rockery at Chatsworth itself, which is one of the earliest and largest rock gardens in the world.”

“The form, with a quiet nod to a consumption wall in its method, appears to slowly flow over the land and confront the visitor with its sense of mass and quiet movement – referencing the absorbing process of working with one’s hands and the epic work involved in creating the dry stone walls found across Derbyshire.”

The Peak District home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth has begun work on the biggest transformation of its garden since Joseph Paxton’s work finished more than 200 years ago. Having completed the £32m Masterplan project to conserve the house a few years ago, the Duke and Duchess have since been planning to have a similar revitalising effect on the garden.

The Duke of Devonshire: “Laura created a temporary sculptural installation in the garden called Woven Space about seven years ago. Sculpture has always been integral to the garden so, as we were developing early plans for the garden’s transformation at that time, we began talking about ideas for something more permanent. We were keen on something that strongly referenced both Chatsworth itself and the Derbyshire landscape from which it was born.”

“We gave Laura freedom to explore the garden and develop her vision for the location, the materials used, and the sculptural form. I’ve visited her studio in Cromford on various occasions in the past and have been very excited to see how her plans and models have evolved into what will become Natural Course. Its use of local stone and the dry stone walling method will root it in its environment and surroundings but at the same time the ‘hand and eye’ construction and shape make it surprising and thought-provoking in keeping with Chatsworth’s best traditions.”

The Arcadia area is part of a huge garden transformation project that also includes a remodelled Rockery, the Maze borders, the Ravine, and Dan Pearson’s redevelopment of the Trout Stream and the Jack Pond. It includes the clearance of previously inaccessible areas, large-scale structure installations, new sculpture commissions, the movement and addition of hundreds of tonnes of rock, hundreds of thousands of new plants and hundreds of new trees, as well as new pathways taking visitors into underexplored areas of the garden.

The 105-acre garden is the product of nearly 500 years of careful cultivation. Although some points of interest have been replaced to make way for new fashions, the garden retains many early features, including the Canal Pond, Cascade and Duke’s Greenhouse. The famous waterworks include the 300-year-old Cascade, the Willow Tree Fountain and the impressive, gravity-fed Emperor Fountain, which reaches heights up to 90m.

Click here to find out more about Chatsworth

Images credit: Chatsworth House Trust

Posted in About Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Leisure, Summer, Visiting

Winners announced of Enterprising Women Awards announced

Neeyantee Karia, co-founder of nationally renowned, Leicester-based food producers Jake & Nayns’, has been named Enterprising Women Business Woman of the Year for 2020 at a glittering awards ceremony at Double Tree by Hilton, Sheffield Park.

She was one of eight winners on the night as a record number of guests gathered to acknowledge and celebrate the very best female business talent across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Food Attraction Ltd manufactures food for many high street restaurant chains as well as the Jake and Nayns’ brand of handheld street food for the retail market.

Neeyantee has now collected six major awards in the past 12 months, two of them national awards.

She oversees finance, production and the manufacturing site as well as HR and H&S and has been instrumental in the success of the company, which has grown from a start-up to an international business, with further growth predicted.

Neeyantee is mother to two daughters and looks out for the 100 staff in the business. Her attitude to work and passion for supporting those around her is infectious and she is influential in nurturing employees to bring out the best in them.

She said: “I am both shocked and delighted to win this award. I want to thank my amazing team for this win as well as the Enterprising Women Awards sponsors and everyone at the Chamber – this is such a huge honour.”

Other winners on the night included Mital Thanki, Spark Academy (Female Entrepreneur of the Year), Easy Internet Services (Social Commitment Award), Blueprint Interiors (Small Business of the Year Award), Emma Anderson, Freeths LLP (Female Employee of the Year), TTK Confectionary (Team of the Year), Learn by Design (Outstanding Contribution to Working in STEM) and Sophie Neil, Turner & Townsend (Apprentice of the Year).

The sponsors for the Enterprising Women Awards were Futures Housing Group (headline sponsor); Pick Everard, Leicester Racecourse, Leicester Tigers, Hastings Direct, Smallman & Son, The Belmont Hotel, Derby College Group (category sponsors); Purpose Media (media sponsor), Mercia Image Print (print sponsor), Cross Productions (design sponsor) and The Conference Works (AV sponsor). The host for the evening was TV personality Emma Jesson.

Co-Chair of Enterprising Women, Eileen Richards, founder of ER Recruitment, and Vice-President at the Chamber, said: “The standard of entries was, again, very high this year and we had a record number of submissions, which is testament to the real hunger among women in the business community to be recognised for their achievements.

“These awards go from strength to strength every year and are one of the best ways to achieve that recognition. In the past we have had some very worthy winners and I’m delighted that Neeyantee is now among them; every single finalist and winner deserves to be celebrated and should be immensely proud of their efforts.”

Co-Chair Jean Mountain, a Past President at the Chamber, said: “These annual awards never fail to inspire me, and it is an honour to be able to showcase the fantastic female talent we have in this great region of ours. My congratulations go to all the winners and finalists and a big thank you goes out to all our valued sponsors which do such a wonderful job in supporting these prestigious awards.”

Lindsey Williams, Group Chief Executive of headline sponsor Futures Housing Group, added: “Futures Housing is proud to be sponsoring this event. We are currently tackling a long-standing issue – to get more women on company boards – so it is so important to get the messages of encouragement out to women in business.

“Neeyantee’s passion and drive for both her business and her team really shone through and she has won a category in which the standard was exceptionally high.”

For more information on Enterprising Women, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/connecting-you/enterprising-women.

Click here to find out ore about East Midlands Chamber

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield

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