New President of Worthing & Adur Chamber Appointed

Chris Coopey, Partner and Practice Director of MHA Carpenter Box, has been appointed as the new President of the Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce, succeeding Peter Bennett who has led the Chamber as President for the last 14 Years.

Chris has had enjoyed a variety of careers, initially in design engineering, before moving on as a telecommunications engineer and during this time, he also served with a Royal Signals territorial unit for a number of years. In 1994 he qualified as a solicitor and later became Partner and Practice Director at Wynne Baxter Solicitors in Brighton. Chris embarked on his current role in 2005 at the Worthing-based firm of chartered accountants, tax and business advisers.

Chris firmly believes that Worthing & Adur is an amazing place to undertake business and commerce. The area has an astonishing number of world leading companies who are often at the forefront of innovation and generate countless other opportunities which have seen the blossoming of a local supply chain providing opportunities for many. Perhaps a little more controversially, he believes that the area succeeds as a business destination despite the lack of government investment in infrastructure and that given its fair share it could do even better.

Chris commented: “I’m honoured to have been elected as the new President and relish the job of representing the interests of Chamber members in the name of better business. My ambition for the Chamber is for it to really influence and drive the decisions that are central to the wellbeing of our local economy. I’ll try to do that in a collaborative style, taking into account the views of the Executive and by engagement with members and external bodies, both local and national.”

Tina Tilley, Chief Executive Officer of the Worthing & Adur Chamber, added: “We are sure Chris will help the Chamber and its members to meet the challenges and take advantages of the opportunities that lie ahead. We have a wealth of volunteers in the Chamber Executive and membership ready to support him, and I am looking forward to us working together to make sure the voice of business is heard loud and clear on the many issues on which we should be engaging.”

We have an Oliver production that is coming up in July just before we break for the Summer Holidays. Worthing High School would like to offer you the opportunity to advertise in our show program.

It is £50 for a full page (A5) as you may be aware we have Charitable status and the monies raised by these payments will help pay for essential equipment hire like microphones etc.

Please let me know if you are interested.

I will be sending out more requests for support at individual events for next year soon but I promise they will be brief. 

Lottery funding for Growing Communities initiative

An innovative project to create happier and healthier communities by involving people with their local open spaces has received nearly £660,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.

The Growing Communities programme will work with residents in the Northbrook area of Worthing and Eastbrook in Fishersgate and is the result of a partnership between Adur & Worthing Councils and The Conservation Volunteers charity (TCV).  

Growing Communities aims to harness the ideas and energy of local people and support them in improving the places in which they live, and in doing so, enhance their own health and opportunities.

It is among 1,903 projects across England sharing more than £50 million in National Lottery funding, announced today (June 13). More than £5 million of the funding goes to 201 projects in the South East.

The Growing Communities project will focus on underused open spaces in the area, working with the local community to understand their needs and supporting them to transform the spaces for people to enjoy for years to come.

Activities will be decided by the local communities themselves, but examples could include:

·        Setting up mini allotments

·        Courses and workshops on wildlife, trees and habitats

·        A Green Gym where volunteers get exercise by planting trees or creating ponds.

Councillor Val Turner, Worthing’s Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “I’m delighted we have received this funding, which will help us to achieve our vision for greater community involvement in our parks and open spaces which, in turn, will have a positive impact on health and wellbeing.

“We outline this ambition in Platforms for our Places, our three-year plan on how we aim to create prosperous, healthy, happy and connected communities.”

Councillor David Simmons, Adur’s Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing, added: "We believe strongly in empowering people to play an active role in our communities to help them and their local areas to thrive.

“We’ve already been working with our communities in our parks and open spaces and I’m looking forward to building on our partnership with TCV.”

Darren York, TCV’s Chief Executive, said: "TCV believes that there are significant and lasting benefits to be derived - for people's health, prospects, communities and environment - by connecting people with outdoor places and with each other.

“After several years working in close partnership with local communities and Adur & Worthing Councils, this valuable support from the Big Lottery Fund will take our partnership to the next level. Growing Communities will provide a model for connecting people and outdoor places across the UK."

Worthing Churches Homeless Project Shortlisted for Sainsbury’s Local Charity of the Year in Lyons Farm and Rustington

Worthing Churches Homeless Projects are pleased to annouce that they have been shortlisted in Sainsbury’s Local Charity of the Year in Lyons Farm and Rustington

You can vote here: https://www.sainsburyslocalcharity.co.uk/

Worthing Museum’s Summer Dress blossoming thanks to green-minded visitors

Forget Paris, London or New York - eco-minded fashionistas have only one destination on their minds this summer, as Worthing displays a unique piece of horticulturally-themed haute couture.

As the days get longer, the Summer Dress in the garden of the town’s Museum & Art Gallery in Chapel Road will gradually start to blossom - thanks to eco-minded members of the public who are creating colourful flowers from things they would throw away.

The unique and completely ‘green’ dress features as part of the wider Worthing Museum and Art Gallery’s costume trail, which is a changing series of displays hosted in showcases at local businesses across the town.

Councillor Heather Mercer, Worthing Borough Council’s executive member for customer services, said:

“It’s wonderful to see such a creative way to use waste materials and put them to use in a new and exciting way.

“The costume trail has been a big hit with thousands of people across the region as the museums and theatres team take the exhibits to the masses.

“I’m delighted the spring dress is part of this and I can’t wait to see people’s imaginations blossom in the weeks to come.”

As part of a bid to encourage people to get crafty with their waste, staff at the Worthing Borough Council venue are calling for people to let their imagination blossom and create flowers from things they would throw away. The colourful additions will then be attached to the dress before being put on display all summer.

Among those already created are beautiful blooms created by cutting into empty used soft drink bottles. Other elaborate flowers have been made by stenciling and embroidering used plastic bags.

The lifesize summer dress has been created by local artist and museum education officer Anna Twinam-Cauchi.

Anna has used PVC-coated garden fencing and garden windbreak to create the crinoline frame for the dress.

Anna had previously created a winter dress as part of the costume trail from evergreen foliage and is known for creating artworks from recycled materials and found objects.

Anna said:

“The Summer Dress has been a great opportunity to create a collaborative artwork outside in the museum garden. We are inviting all ages to be inspired by the idea and to participate in creating something beautiful.”

Flowers for the dress can be donated via the museum front desk for addition to the garden-based work of art.

The Summer Dress will be on display until Autumn 2017.

Free 1-1 Advice for Businesses in Sussex

The Business Navigator Service in partnership with Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce invite businesses to attend a free 1-1 business advisory clinic. 

For each one hour advisory session, you will have theopportunity to discuss your growth aspirations with Ryan Davies, Business Navigator. You’ll have the opportunity to focus on a topic of your choice ranging from sales & marketing, access to finance or reaching new customers and new markets.  

Outcomes from these sessions can range from acquiring business premises, applying for funding, taking on more staff, increasing turnover. The meeting will result in a few simple actions that make a significant difference to your business.

To book your FREE one hour 1-1 appointment with Ryan please email: amelia@worthingandadurchamber.co.uk

*Follow up sessions are available upon request

Generating more income for your School

One of the hot topics highlighted in the general election has been the issue of school funding.

According to many in the profession, funding has become so critical that almost 3,000 head teachers across 14 counties in the UK wrote to parents outlining the current financial difficulties that all schools are now facing so that they could raise the issue with prospective parliamentary candidates.

Indeed, it would seem the issue is undeniably significant, with £3bn having been withdrawn from the schools’ budget in England at a time when pupil numbers are increasing dramatically; in real terms funding per pupil is being reduced by almost 8%. Schools are also finding it very difficult to recruit teachers in specialist subjects such as Maths, English, Science and Computer Science, as many teachers are leaving the profession as a result of working under too much pressure. According to the Independent newspaper, 10,000 teachers left between 2010 and 2015.

To help schools at this difficult time, Sussex-based chartered accountants, tax and business advisers, MHA Carpenter Box, has produced a list of ‘5 Ways to Generate More Income for your Academy’ which is relevant to all schools. The list covers Grant Funding through the Education and Skills Funding Agency, internal fundraising ideas involving the school’s families and friends and stakeholders in the school, and fundraising events such as quiz nights, pet shows or even a murder mystery evening.

MHA Carpenter Box also encourages schools to forge better links with their local business community, allowing them to highlight a range of careers experiences. Schools could also benefit financially by identifying sponsorship opportunities for local businesses, such as sports playing kits, school achievement prizes or a themed activity week in school.

Last but not least, schools can benefit from crowdfunding which has become an increasingly prominent source of alternative funding in the commercial world. There are many crowdfunding platforms that are worth investigating such as Kickstarter, Crowdfunder and GoFundMe.

Robin Evans, Departmental Director, Assurance & Advisory Group at MHA Carpenter Box, commented: “We already support schools and academies in a number of ways to increase their income and many of the ideas above do not only create the opportunity to raise funds, but also give pupils a chance to apply their numeracy and literacy skills when getting involved in campaigns! We’re happy to help so get in touch if you want to talk any initiatives through.”

Further details can be found at the following link: http://www.carpenterbox.com/2017/5-ways-generate-income-academy/

To help academy business managers and finance trustees to meet their regulatory compliance obligations and prepare for upcoming challenges, MHA Carpenter Box will be holding a free seminar at their offices in Worthing on 7 July 2017. For full details and to register for the event, please refer to the following link: http://www.carpenterbox.com/academies-seminar/