Waterford Gift Voucher scheme to build local business

 











Delighted to see the B2B Communications' designed Waterford Gift Vouchers hitting the streets of Waterford.
The scheme was launched by Waterford Chamber and Waterford City Centre Business Group (WCCBG) and supported by Waterford City Council.
 
The vouchers, in denominations of €10, €25 and €50 are available from Waterford Chamber Offices in George's Street and a  list of participating businesses can be found on www.waterfordchamber.ie and www.waterfordcitycentre.ie.

Enterprising students get ready for Winterval

A Waterford City student Pop Up shop opens on Michael Street for two weekends only this Friday November 29^th.

Since the start of September, 400 transition year students from Waterford City and seven Youth Bank community groups have been busy setting up small businesses and creating products to sell during Winterval. Everything from designer crafted cakes to natural wooden Christmas candles, pet tag key rings to Christmas cards and cupcakes to jewellery will be showcased at the shop.


The students have been assisted by their teachers and Waterford City Enterprise Board mentors, with interviews and tips on Beat 102 103 and an inspiring talk from entrepreneur Sean Gallagher.

This array of products will be sold from 19 Michael Street, next to the Tea Assembly. This village is part of Waterford’s Christmas Festival, Winterval, which runs from November 29^th.   For the first two weekends these unique seasonal items created by the students and teenagers of Waterford City will be on sale, offering the perfect Christmas gifts for friends and family. 

Ciaran Cullen, CEO of Waterford City Enterprise Board commented on the importance of the event, “The Enterprise Board continually tries to improve and evolve its services, this is epitomised by this year’s efforts. We learned from last year’s experience and thought the Michael Street venue might be more productive and profitable for the students. It is so important for Waterford City students to learn how to interact with customers and sell their products in a live retail environment.”

Waterford City Enterprise Board offers support services for start-up and existing SME’s in Waterford city. If you have a new business idea or are running a business that requires assistance you can contact the Enterprise Board by phoning Celia on 051-852883 or check out what they have to offer first on www.waterfordceb.com.

Waterford Hospice appoints new Chairperson

The Waterford Hospice Movement recently appointed Danette Connolly as the new Chairperson of the Board.

Ms. Connolly, who is Director of Care with Home Instead Senior Care Waterford and Director of Training at the NAS Centre, has been a board member since June 2013.  Speaking of the appointment, Danette said “I am delighted to have received the support of the board and intend to continue the hard work of the outgoing Hospice Chair Mr. Pat Gilhooly.”

“25 years ago a group of volunteers got together with the intention of providing palliative care for Waterford’s terminally ill.  As a result of their vision and determination the Waterford Hospice Movement has gone from strength to strength providing hospice care for patients with life threatening illnesses to those in Waterford city, county, South Kilkenny and surrounding areas.”

Danette added, “Back in 1988 there was a total of £2,500 available for services.  We now receive only a third of the required funding from the HSE and annually need to fund raise €400,000.  In addition to this we have committed to raising €6million for the completion of a state of the art 20 bed unit in the grounds of Waterford Regional Hospital.”

Coupled with chairing the Waterford Hospice Board, Danette, a registered nurse has been active in raising awareness about issues pertinent to seniors such as Care Choices for seniors; osteoporosis and fall prevention; Positive Ageing solutions; lobbying for the regulation of care services for the 60,000 seniors throughout Ireland and also founded the Waterford Stroke Support group in 2010.

The new appointment was widely welcomed by the Hospice Board members, including Marie Cummins, Hospice Fundraising co-ordinator.  “I am both, in my capacity as a board member and personally, delighted that Danette has been appointed.  The main focus for the Waterford Hospice Movement is to provide hospice homecare services to those in Waterford and South Kilkenny.”

“Having worked on various projects with Danette over the years I am confident that she can drive the hospice movement assuring the best facilities, care and support services for those with terminal illnesses.”

Danette continued, “Although everyone of the board is committed to the fundraising drive to for the new unit this is in addition to our day to day services.  I’m grateful that we have the support of the public to achieve this goal.”

To find out more about the Waterford Hospice Movement visit www.waterfordhospice.ie, call 051 844847 or find them on Facebook.

Minister Coveney congratulates Waterford Blaa Bakers Association on prestigious PGI award!

Simon Coveney, TD Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, at a reception in Waterford’s Medieval Museum expressed delight at the inclusion of Waterford Blaa/ Blaa as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in the exclusive list of protected food names in the EU.

This prestigious designation means that the Waterford Blaa can claim its place among the ranks of internationally renowned products such as Italy’s Parma Ham, France’s Camembert de Normandie Cheese and Greece’s Kalamata Olive Oil. 

“This is no small achievement for the Waterford Blaa bakers. A PGI is a symbol of quality within Europe and quality is an issue for every food producer and consumer. EU quality schemes identify foodstuffs produced to exacting specifications with proven links to the geographical area in which they are produced.”

The Minister added “The publication of the Waterford Blaa/Blaa registration follows close engagement between the Waterford Blaa Bakers Association, my Department and the European Commission.  I strongly encourage other groups of food producers to come together to see if your local foods could also qualify for the EU register of protected food names and to work with my Department on presenting the best possible case for recognition”.

  

“The Blaa Bakers are an example to all that Irish products can achieve success at the highest level.  I hope others will follow as we celebrate tonight with other pioneers – Connemara Hill Lamb and Imokilly Regato.  It can be done and we want more groups of producers to take on the challenge.”
 

In 2009, a meeting of four traditional family bakeries from County Waterford and South Kilkenny led to the establishment of the Waterford Blaa Bakers Association.  The main objectives of the group were to protect the Waterford Blaa as a traditional Irish food product and to register it as a protected food product in Europe.

The group members, M & D Bakery, Hickey’s Bakery, Barron’s Bakery and Kilmacow Bakery, are delighted that their famous bread product has been successful in its application for PGI status.

Mr. Dermot Walsh of M & D Bakery said that the implications of PGI for the Waterford Blaa are significant.  “The Waterford Blaa is now produced under a new traceability scheme which clearly defines recipes and baking processes.  All bakers must follow EU approved guidelines and the Waterford Blaa can only be produced within the geographic area of County Waterford and its surrounds.”

Enterprise Board keeps it in the Family

‘Keeping it in the family’ was a half day series of workshops and lectures organised by Waterford City Enterprise Board on the topic of succession planning for family businesses in Waterford City.

The morning opened with Bertie Rogers, Chairman of Waterford City Enterprise Board, welcoming the group and emphasising the importance of succession planning in modern Ireland. The rest of the morning included individual psychometric testing, a talk on ‘Change Management’ by Conor Morris of Evolve Training and Insights from Louis Grubb of Cashel Blue Cheese, a successful family business, on how they executed the transition process from generation to generation.

The range of businesses which attended the event was extremely diverse, from retail to manufacturing, child care to export, auto industry to food production which made for interesting debate during the workshops.

Tony Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald’s Menswear found the event motivating, “I have attended events like this before but none like this. The personality testing was an inspired idea and the intimacy of the group made the morning very productive.”

The event also featured the legal & financial implications of succession with talks from Clare Ryan of Peter O’Connor Solictors and Ann Grant from Ernst & Young.

Finally Ciaran Cullen CEO of Waterford City Enterprise Board explained how the Board can help those who wish to start the succession process via training and funding.

Mr. Cullen was pleased with the event and the feedback from its participants, “This is the first succession event we have organised in years and we are delighted with the change in format. As this topic is highly personal we decided to make it an intimate workshop style event. The feedback from the clients has been very positive. It is part of a five year process where we will assist the participants with funds, training and mentoring where required.”

HCS Business Solutions to announce series of free Microsoft Office training workshops for 2014

HCS Business Solutions, Microsoft’s first Gold Small Business partner in Ireland, plans to announce a new series of free Microsoft Office training workshops in 2014.

The free practical, hands-on training workshops entitled “A New World of Work” are designed to give small business managers, owners and business decision makers the opportunity to “test drive” the new suite of Microsoft technologies including Office 365, Sharepoint and Windows 8 across phone, tablet and PC.

According to Neil Phelan, Director, HCS Business Solutions, the decision to roll out further workshops in 2014 was based on the popularity of the current tranche.

“We have been delighted with the response to these training workshops.  Since they were announced in late September, the workshops in Waterford, Kilkenny and Dublin were fully subscribed within days.”

“That is why we made the decision to conduct a further series of “A New World of Work” workshops in 2014.  It goes to show that businesses today, regardless of their size or number of employees, are conscious of addressing the ever changing work – life balance.  How we work and interact with our colleagues and clients remotely has an effect on productivity, efficiencies and the bottom line.”

Michelle Casey, Pre Qualification Manager, Winthrop Engineering, attended one

of the New World of Work training workshops recently. “The course was practical and applicable to many of the situations and scenarios I encounter every day”, she said.

“Before, some of these scenarios would have seemed problematic and disruptive, however working with the Office 365 range of features made these problems insignificant.  Also because the course was conducted on a wide suite of platforms such as tablet, PC and smartphone it was easy to see how Winthrop

Engineering Ltd. could benefit through implementing these technological developments without any major outlay.”

Mr. Phelan added, “These training workshops examine how our approach to technology must change as we work increasingly on the move and away from the office.  By introducing day to day scenarios participants are able to understand how these new productivity tools and technologies can enhance their business.”

For further details of the HCS New World of Work Training workshops for 2014 visit www.hcs.ie or call 051 595200.

Solas Centre Run for Life raises €250,000

The Art Therapy Room at the Solas Centre

2013 saw almost 1,700 participants raise a staggering €250,000 for the Solas Centre which will go towards providing the best cancer support services to those affected by cancer across the South East.

The sixth annual South East Run for Life, which took place on October 13th was one of the highlights of the region’s sporting calendar.  The 10 mile route was awash with the Solas Centre’s trademark orange T- shirts as runners, joggers and walkers took to the streets of Waterford to support this worthy cause.

The Solas Centre moved to its state of the art facility at Williamstown almost three years ago and is now regarded as the leading cancer support facility in the country. The centre is a haven for those affected by cancer who can avail of confidential, informal and free support services such as counselling, art therapy psychotherapy, message, reflexology and support groups provided by highly trained individuals in a professional manner.

Dr.  Brian Creedon, Chairman, South Eastern Cancer Foundation, was delighted with the support of the people of the South East.  “Each year we try to improve the access to and the services provided by the Solas Centre.”

“In 2013 we will conduct over 6,000 individual client sessions and we will see 540 clients utilise the services, representing an increase of 15% since 2012.  That is why the funds raised from the Run for Life are crucial in enabling us to do so.  The running costs for the centre are just over €425,000 each year and without the fantastic generosity, support and goodwill of the public there would be no Solas Centre.”

The Solas Centre employs 4 staff, has 30 counsellors and therapists, 5 individuals from community employment / work placement schemes and is supported by 42 volunteers, providing a wide range of cancer support services including a series of health and education initiatives, client programmes, art programmes, support groups, and counselling for cancer patients and their families.  The Solas Centre is currently focusing on nurturing partnerships with national and international institutions in order to ensure our clients in the South East have access to and choice of services.

Dr, Creedon added “We are indebted to the people of the South East for showing the Centre such unwavering support and we are determined to continue to ensure the Solas Centre is the finest cancer support facility in the country.”

Mr. Jonathan Earl, Chair of the Run for Life committee also thanked the participants, sponsors and volunteers.  “The Run for Life and the family event which followed, the Fun for Life, would not have been a success without the support of the huge team of volunteers who ensured it went without a hitch, the generosity of our sponsors and media partners and, of course, every single person who took part in the Run for Life.  Every cent raised will go towards ensuring that the Solas Centre can continue to provide its support services to those affected by cancer, their families and their carers.”

 If you want to find out more about the services of the Solas Centre visit www.solascentre.ie or on 051 304604.