North Cheshire Chamber

The search is on to find selfless people who help others and make Wilmslow ‘a better place’

Nominations are now open for a new community awards programme. Wilmslow Town Council hopes to showcase individuals, businesses and community groups living, working or volunteering who have shown dedication and community spirit.

Winners will be selected and celebrated at an awards ceremony in May. Nominations can be made online at wilmslowtowncouncil.gov.uk/wilmslow-community-awards

Town mayor Cllr Jon Newell said: “We know that there are many individuals, businesses and groups within the community that go out of their way to help others and make Wilmslow a better place. “From litter picking to planting trees and vegetables, running community cafes to volunteering at youth clubs, there are people within Wilmslow who give hours and hours of their own time and expect nothing in return. We are delighted to introduce a new community awards programme to highlight, celebrate and show our appreciation of these people, who make a big contribution to the community spirit of Wilmslow.”

Paper application forms are also available at Wilmslow Library.

Closing date for nominations is Easter Sunday, March 31.

(Article and image courtesy of Wilmslow Town Council)

The King’s School’s under-14 titans will travel to the spiritual home of rugby to play the final of the National School Sports’ Magazine Cup.

As King’s Head of Rugby, Giles Hetherington, said: “This is arguably the biggest achievement in King’s 94 year history of rugby. We have won Bowls and Vases in major national competitions, but this is the furthest we’ve gone in the main event and it’s down to fantastic coaching, great inner belief and tremendous team-work.”

On Thursday, King’s will go head-to-head with the Collegiate School Bristol in the national final played at The Close, Rugby School, where in 1823 William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and decided simply to run with it.

The final follows a nail-biting, truly tough encounter against Northampton School for Boys with the Macc’ lads winning 6 -3. Playing into a driving, relentless wind, King’s did well to only go in 3 – 0 down at half time. But then cometh the hour, cometh the man, with talisman and fly -half Hayden Oliver drilling two penalties. Hayden said modestly: “I was very nervous, but as soon as I put the ball in the kicking tee I relaxed, remembered how I had been coached, and went through the process.  One was fairly easy but the other was 15 yards out from the left touch line and needed a good strike.”

The match was characterised by brilliant tackling from both sides, with centres Freddie Bartle and Rocky Maguire repeatedly putting everything on the line to make last gasp tackles.

The team had shown the same true grit but with decisive attacking flair in the quarter-final against Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley, West Yorkshire, winning 20 – 15. A rampaging Freddie Bartle had set the game alight with a stunning run after a precise pass from Hayden Oliver, with second row Alfie Russell then completing a brilliant team try with skills honed to perfection on the training pitch.

Giles paid tribute to under-14 coach Paul Bartle, who has taught rugby for 31 years, the first 10 years at Rugby School, where he will return for the final. “This team have great skills, outstanding team-work and a never say die spirit that have all been developed by Mr Bartle. Win or lose, it is a great achievement, but make no mistake we are going to Rugby to play rugby and bring the cup back to Macclesfield.”

Earlier in the year, King’s was named as one of the Top 25 schools in the UK for sport, in the School Sport Magazine’s national league tables.

(Article and picture from wilmslow.co.uk – Lisa Reeves)

Ecosystem of industry mentors and corporate partners, including KPMG and Deloitte, to accelerate the potential of growing life sciences businesses

Bruntwood SciTech – the 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal and General – has launched a nationwide initiative to connect experienced mentors, advisors and corporate partners with high-growth businesses in the UK life sciences sector.

The Biospheric Network will support customers within Bruntwood SciTech’s network of more than 500 businesses, based across innovation districts in cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge and Cheshire’s Alderley Park.

As the UK’s leading property provider dedicated to the growth of the science and technology sector, Bruntwood SciTech has launched the network which will see established entrepreneurs and senior executives provide funded growth-oriented support – including business consultancy, deep sector-specialised networking, and access to finance – to some of the most promising businesses in the life science sector.

The initiative’s first cohort for 2023 is made up of 15 corporate partners and 21 mentors, with the total number of advisors and mentors expected to reach 20 and 30 respectively by 2024 – at which point the network will be maintained at 50 participants.

Corporate partners already signed up to the initiative include: Acceleris KPMG, Brabners, Coulter Partners, Deloitte, Granted Consultancy, Leaman Life Sciences, Marks & Clerk, Oyster Venture Partners, Pinsent Masons, Praetura Ventures, RSM, Shore Capital, Singular Talent, SP Angel, Ward Hadaway.

The Biospheric Network will add to the existing package of tailored support and collaboration opportunities offered to customers across Bruntwood SciTech’s UK campuses; including funded seminars, entrepreneurship training, investor readiness support, access to accelerator programmes, access to highly skilled STEM talent, scale up support and venture finance.

Dr Kath Mackay, Director of Life Sciences at Bruntwood SciTech, commented: “Our customers already enjoy access to a wide range of specialist life science support services to help them grow, but the Biospheric Network takes that concept of a supportive ecosystem even further.

“We have a deep understanding of life science businesses and the challenges that entrepreneurs face. The Biospheric Network is a collaborative approach that has huge potential in its ability to support innovative, high growth businesses and individuals right across the sector in a structured, meaningful way that will ensure our regional hubs of excellence continue to thrive and businesses grow. We’re looking forward to seeing the positive impact that this first cohort leads to – and to welcoming more mentors and corporate partners in the months ahead.”

(Article including images courtesy of Bruntwood SciTech)

South Park is the largest park in Macclesfield. It celebrated its centenary in 2022 after it was gifted to the people of Macclesfield by local Alderman William Frost. It has been a vital green space for residents ever since The Park is a true asset for our town, and one that we have an opportunity to improve for our residents, our community and to attract visitors from near and far. Local residents have campaigned for a pavilion building in South Park for the past 20 years. Several in-depth consultations have been carried out with the community group SPARK (The Friends of South Park Group) and the Town Council as well as a recent round of face- to-face consultations held in August 2022.

The current pavilion is deemed not fit for purpose and in part condemned (the upstairs) due to its lack of accessibility to the first floor and its poor state of repair. The ground floor layout is not flexible for multiple user groups and the building’s construction method means the building is reaching the end of its lifespan and cannot be modernised. The lack of a pavilion for a park of this scale fails to meet the needs of visitors to the park and also fails to provide opportunity for the park to be of greater value to the community and engage with park users.

In short, to provide a new pavilion building in the park. Macclesfield Town Council are asset transferring the building from the local authority and want to demolish it and build a fully accessible and environmentally friendly building, available and open to all the community. A building that meets the needs, expectations and ambitions of the community, the park services as well as encouraging visitors to the park. Through project forming and evaluation, a building that is flexible and sustainable and that can provide for the community well into the future.

In early 2022, Bower Mattin and Young were hired as architects and were tasked with creating different designs to take to the public for consultation so in August 2022, we held 4 public consultations, in the park and in the town centre. Over 750 detailed written responses were received. Our residents wish us to proceed with the project and identified two of the five designs that were presented to them. We have merged these two to provide a two storey building with a number of the design features that were most valued.

• The proposed scheme is for a two storey, environmentally sensitive pavilion designed to provide a wide range of flexible spaces suitable for family gatherings, fitness, dance and regular cultural events.
• The ground floor consists of a large café area with chill out spaces housing local art exhibits and magazines. It will lead to a canopied outdoor terrace with seating overlooking the bandstand.
• There are also two large multi-purpose rooms which can provide a space for people to gather. The first floor overlooks the park and tennis courts. It will provide an event space for exhibitions, music, comedy nights and large family celebrations of up to 100 people. The building will provide an information point for future events in the park and local area, together with a first aid post including a defibrillator.
• There will be a Changing Places toilet with baby changing for all park users.
• It is intended that the new building will reuse the existing pavilion slab and foundations. It will be super insulated and
  incorporate a turf/sedum roof to create a high thermal mass which will also assist water attenuation.
• Passive solar gain combined with a heat recovery and recirculation ventilation system and air source heat pumps will be
  at the core of the renewable energy proposals.
• Local stone and timber will be used in construction which will feature green walls as a part of the target to control the carbon
  footprint.

For more information on the project visit: https://www.macclesfield-tc.gov.uk/south-park-pavilion-consultation/

(Article including images courtesy of Macclesfield Town Council)

Thermmark Ltd is a leading and award winning thermoplastic marking manufacturer, exporter and installer. As experts in thermoplastic road, playground and decorative public space markings, they have years of experience working with both the public and private sector, so when they were approached by Bentley Project Management back in April 23 to join forces on a streetscape project in Waverley, Rotherham, they were delighted! Funded by Harworth Group, as the master developer for Waverley and as the custodian of the vision and masterplan, the brief was to establish wider community facilities in an attractive brownfield lakeside mixed use development.

Situated just outside Waverley Junior Academy and Waverley Community Garden, the area had been carefully considered and designed by the Harworth Team before discussions began with Thermmark about making the design into a reality. With the area spanning a huge 435 sqm and the vision being an intricately designed Fibonacci spiral in a specific colour way, the team at Thermmark got straight to work. 

“With the design being so mathematically critical and scaled up to cover such a large footprint, we had to concentrate on a really methodical approach to this project so we actually made use of drones to ensure it remained accurate, as it was impossible to see this in its entirety at ground level “ says Ian Dunning, Project Manager at Thermmark Ltd. 

Vicki Robson, Director at Thermmark Ltd agrees. “Although, thanks to weather conditions, the project took longer than anticipated, we are really proud of our whole team who approached this project with the enthusiasm and excitement it rightly deserved – from our graphics department, to manufacture, and finally to installation, the attention to detail required has been huge to drive this to a successful conclusion. The nature of the project showcases the Fibbonaci spiral beautifully and is an area which we are sure will be enjoyed and admired for years to come. It is a real accolade for all involved.”

Contact www.thermmark.co.uk

Cheshire East Council has asked the government for “exceptional financial support” to avoid having to declare itself effectively bankrupt.

The authority, which has faces significant financial pressures, has asked for an extra £17.6m.

It said it needs money because of costs related to the cancellation of HS2 and special educational needs.

The council said the support would reduce the “imminent risk” of a Section 114 notice.

A Section 114 notice is a warning a council issues when it expects its spending to exceed the money it has available.

Cheshire East Council is forecasting a £13m overspend in its current financial year.

It has £14.1m in its general reserves, and has warned that it may have to use that money to cover shortfalls.

Like many local authorities, it has faced rising costs in areas such as adult social care and children’s services.

But Cheshire East’s leadership has also raised concerns about SEND funding and costs incurred by the council related to the now-axed northern leg of HS2 coming to Crewe.

It has introduced a number of cost saving measures, including charges for garden waste collections, cuts to library opening hours and a decision to close its headquarters.

The council is also set to face further challenges in its next financial year and is proposing measures such as temporary tip closures, cutting staffing costs and asking parish councils to contribute to libraries and leisure services.

In a statement, the council said the extra cash would help it spread the cost of the extra financial pressures, free up reserves and reduce “the imminent risk of a Section114 (S114) notice”.

The statement added the money would also help towards the cost of services and a project to change the way the council is run and managed.

(Story and image courtesy of BBC News)