We are a property development and maintenance company which pride ourselves on the fact that all of our front line workforce are young people aged 16-24 not in education, employment, or training. They each undertake 6 month training contracts with us.

We offer a number of property development services including:

   * Painting & decorating
   * Kitchen installation
   * Carpet fitting
   * Bathroom installation
   * Loft insulation
   * Door fitting
   * Energy efficiency product installation.

For the young people the 6 month training contract comprises the following
elements:

   * 25 hours per week doing  supervised manual work (such as painting and
     decorating) in public and private owned property
   * 1 day per week in a classroom setting completing the CSCS
     qualification
   * An end of contract interview with a local recruitment agency
   * A final awards ceremony celebrating success.
   * £100 per week paid bursary to cover expenses such as lunch and
     travel.

Contact name: Chris Dodd

Office address: 63, Great Pulteney Street,
Bath.
BA2 4DN

Phone number: 07544113425

Email: enquiries@la-maison.org.uk

Website: www.la-maison.org.uk

Outset Bristol provides free training and support to people who are considering starting their own business in Bristol. You don’t even need a business idea to go to the friendly team at Outset Bristol – just be open to finding out whether self-employment could be for you. The Outset Bristol training programme is composed of 16 three-hour workshops aimed at taking you all the way from considering self-employment to starting your own business. That’s 48 hours of support for FREE!

Outset Bristol is funded by Bristol City Council and the European Regional Development Fund, and so is able to offer its training and support to residents of Bristol free of charge.

Contact name: Nicki Lukehurst

Office address: Royal Oak House, Royal Oak Avenue, Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4GB

Phone number: 0800 032 2903 OR 0117 989 7050

Email: info@outsetbristol.co.uk

Website: www.outsetbristol.co.uk

Outset Finance is fully funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Bristol City Council. It delivers a range of highly practical workshops, plus one-to-one mentoring to help businesses develop their financials and plans, and also facilitates introductions to appropriate lenders and potential investors.

Outset Finance delivers free workshops including:

- Money Matters – looking at different funding options available
- Fit for Finance – business planning
- Money Sense – cash flow management, financials and forecasting
- Pricing for Profit – understanding pricing strategies
Contact name: David Linsdale

Office address: Royal Oak House, Royal Oak Avenue, Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4GB

Phone number: 0800 032 2903 OR 0117 989 7050

Email: bristol-info@outsetfinance.co.uk

Website: www.outsetfinance.co.uk

Contact name: Dave Hunter / Alison Belshaw

Office address: Herons Green Farm, Chew Magna, Bristol, BS40

Phone number: 07900 266362

Email: hello@thecommunityfarm.co.uk

Website: www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk

We offer an unrivalled range and depth of expertise, from the age-old skills of herbal medicine to the modern technology of laser therapy.

All practiitioners are well-trained and qualified, with considerable experience in their field. Many are also involved in teaching and research.

Your health and well-being will always be the primary concern. All practitioners at the clinic are members of professional bodies which administer their own Codes of Ethics, and are covered by full professional indemnity insurance. You can rely on complete confidentiality.

Appointments range in length from 30 minutes to 2 hours. so there will always be plenty of time for the practitioner to hear the whole story and explain the treatment, and for you to ask any questions. You will never be simply a name on a list.

Ring reception onBristol(0117) 974 1199 to book an appointment. More information on therapies, including fees, is available. For discussion of your specific needs, our receptionists will put you in touch with the relevant practitioner.

Helping You to Decide

Our Natural Health Consultation is a unique service, offered by one of the practitioners, to advise you on the best course of action for your particular problem. Ring reception to book a Natural Health Consultation.

Contact name: Kristian Townsend

 Office address: 39 Cotham Hill, Bristol, BS6 6JY

Phone number: 0117 974 1199 

Email: kristian@thenaturalhealthclinic.com

Website: www.thenaturalhealthclinic.com

Team building, school education programmes and courses for adults are also on offer throughout the year.

The centre is in a rural location, surrounded by a 250-acre nature reserve. It includes many eco-features and profits are gift aided to charity.

Contact name: Philip Niemand

Office address: Stowey, Pensford,Bristol,BS39 4DW

Phone number: 01275 331590

Email: info@follyfarm.org

Website: http://www.follyfarm.org

Quarterly Inspiration Networking Event – January 2011

Thanks to our excellent speaker Beth Whittaker we had valuable tips and excellent discussions on how to promote your organisation.

Title: Shout it Out!

It’s never been more important to communicate effectively with your customers or clients, with your trustees, with your local community… but with so little time and so much to do, how can you choose the best ways to ’shout it out’? Twitter, Facebook, press releases, website, e-newsletters, networking, printed flyers… what will work best for you and help your enterprise grow? Beth Whittaker, former journalist and PR professional with more than 20 years’ experience working with the third sector, will help you focus on who you need to be talking to, what you need to say and how you can ’shout it out!’
Beth Whittaker
www.viva-communications.co.uk
beth@viva-communications.co.uk

Quarterly Inspiration Networking Event – October 2010

This time we brought you two guest speakers to offer some interesting insights, and lots of time for networking. Our speakers were Sarah Jones from national housing association, Places for People followed by Iris Eiting from Re:Work.

Sarah Jones explored how ethical businesses might be able to make business relationships with the housing association sector and also told us about the Spark Programme they support. Spark is a pioneering development and investment programme that aims to inspire organisations to build social enterprises that will prevent and tackle homelessness using sustainable business models.

Iris Eiting told us about Re:Work and her role as a new Board member from the Third Sector on the West of England Skills and Competitive Board. Re:work Ltd runs three projects aimed at supporting the local community, encouraging the growth of employment opportunities, work experience placements and training facilities, through a furniture re-use project, building and gardening service. The purpose of the West of England Skills and Competitive Board is to support local businesses and the area’s workforce through the improved coordination of public andprivate sector activities across the skills and employment agenda.

Quarterly Inspiration Networking Event – July 2010

We were delighted to introduce our guest speaker Rachael Wheatley from PACE Partners International; who let us in on her valuable secrets around ‘building business relationships’.

Building business relationships can take a while. But while it’s top of the agenda for many businesses, most have limited time and resource available for business development and are often not sure of the best method to use to generate the best results. So what framework works? What marketing and business development activities can help us get to meet people in other businesses? What’s the best way of building the relationships after that initial meeting? How do we keep the momentum going?

This event covered:

• Help you to target the right organisations in the first place
• Explore ideas on how to build and maintain relationships
• Share a way of earning the right to meet people you don’t already know
• Show you what a good first meeting looks like

Rachael Wheatley is a consultant with PACE Partners International, a business which specialises in helping firms grow profitable income, either through key client management or through applying the skills and behaviour of best practice business development.  Before joining PACE, Rachael worked in companies for over 20 years heading up marketing and business development teams.”

Quarterly Inspiration Networking Event – April 2010

We are thrilled to tell you that our first event held back in April was a great success, even with the closure of the city centre due to the political debates; people jostled their way through the city to get to us. The event included a pitch from A Clean Sweep, a cleaning cooperative and finished with a speed networking session.

Recent Clients:

South Gloucestershire CVS – Elaine Flint worked with the VCS infrastructure organisations in South Gloucestershire, both generalist and specialist organisations, to develop a vision for partnership working and to formalise this into a Memorandum of Understanding.

Interim management

A safe pair of hands when you need it

Interim management

With our experience of leadership and senior management within the sector, we are able to offer an embedded service to support organisations who require additional senior management capacity at times of change or to cover periods of senior staff absence.  We work closely with the Board and with the staff team to ensure that priorities are met, confidence is maintained both within the staff team and with external stakeholders and plan an exit strategy and hand-over at the end of our involvement

Recent client:

Voscur – Elaine Flint worked with in the Summer and Autumn of 2011 as interim project manager to support the implementation of the newly commissioned infrastructure support service for Bristol. This involved liaison with commissioners and key stakeholders; supporting the Voscur management team; and working with the staff team to design processes and tools for the new service.  During her time she also helped secure some research funding for Voscur which will provide useful intelligence for the new service.

Feasibility studies

Drawing on our past experience, we are uniquely placed to conduct feasibility studies into new projects and developments, as well as proposed enterprises and product development ideas. Our recent clients have included social enterprises, housing associations and local authorities.

Recent Clients

Ruskin Mill Educational Trust – This 10 day consultancy that included community consultation and in-depth market research and analysis resulted in detailed report and action plan to develop their in-house grocery store into a business that will open to the general public and offer work experience to students with learning difficulties.

Past clients

The National Star Centre for Disabled Youth – This six month project to identify and develop viable social enterprise ideas that provide real-life work experience alongside vocational training. The Social Enterprise activity seeks to provide a stepping stone into sustainable employment for college leavers, and other people with disabilities in the area. This fascinating work is ongoing and is providing an inspirational example of how social enterprise can form a central part of the college’s curriculum design.

Alliance Homes (formally North Somerset Housing) – This feasibility report investigates the potential of a proposed social enterprise to deliver construction services. We researched similar construction related projects throughout the UK that have won contracts with Housing Associations and Local Authorities and provided a set of recommendations for the Housing Association to improve their approach to commissioning in order to procure the services of social enterprises.

The work has equipped Social Enterprise Works with a good understanding of the commissioning and procurement processes affecting social enterprises.

Recent clients: Cosmic: The Pioneer Programme -  We delivered the performance improvement course on the ESF funded programme for Social Enterprise Leaders working with 15 social enterprises across the SW.

Past Clients: As a delivery partner of the C3 partnership we worked with 80 organisations in Bristol to embed an approach to performance improvement developed specifically for the third sector.

For further info see: www.c3partnership.org and www.exchange2improve.org